Bleach: The Alternate Tale
by blackout2010
Summary: We all know that Ichigo Kurosaki was a human who became a Shinigami, but what would happen if he was always a Shinigami when the events of bleach happened, perhaps an altered story. Very minor crossover with Sakura Wars. A/U A/T. Contains incest in later parts.
1. Meeting of the Strawberry and the Bee

Bleach: the alternate tale

Authors Note: Hello any and every one out there. First off thanks for choosing to read this story today, and hopefully it entertains you. Now I'll come out and say this if you don't like AU/AT stories you'd best leave. Also this is my first real LONG story so try to be nice with any reviews as I'm still getting the hang of things. Final thing, some character might or will act different I will try and explain why through the course of the story, and if I don't that probably my inexperience showing up. Now you might be wonder why I'm saying all these negative things in the beginning. Simple, I'm honest or at least I try to be. Anyway without further ado, enjoy your fic. Oh and I don't own anything

Beta edit by Mbpicke

* * *

Ch.1 The meeting of the Strawberry and the Bee

The Seireitei. The epicenter of the court of pure souls where the Shinigami live, individuals who protect and guide the innocent souls of the dearly departed to Soul Society, while at the same time destroying their sworn enemies who threaten the balance of the afterlife: The monsters known as Hollows. It is here that almost fifty years ago that several Taichō's and Fukutaichō's mysteriously vanished, labeled as monsters, K.I.A or traitors by the members of the central 46, one of the main ruling bodies of Soul Society, the details of the incident forever locked away under red tape. Though the focus on story our takes place one morning, several decades after that forbidden incident in the second division barracks, particularly the Taichō's office.

"Goddamn it! Where is this man!?" the angry second division captain hissed, as she pounded her clenched fist into the desk causing some of the finished paper work to fly up in the air, while the desk itself rattled and creaked in its attempts to not break and fall down in a broken heap on the floor.

The petite dark blue haired captain of squad two got up from her desk to pick up the completed reports, and after returning them to their previous spot on her desk, she started to pace back and forth, her twin bands of hair that had constantly tailed her for the past fifty years, moving with each motion of her lithe form. She stopped after the third repetition of her small line walk, her foot tapping in annoyance as she glared holes through her office door.

The woman was currently not a happy camper and wasn't known for her patience when it came to dealing with others. In fact, just recently at the Captain's meeting, she was assigned a so called 'prodigy' to help train him, the same 'prodigy' who was currently pissing her off by making her wait on him, cutting into precious time that could be better spent training for the eventual encounter against _'Her'_.

The woman's face, which was perpetuated with vexation, gave way to a scoff at remembering the events that had transpired leading to now '_Wonderful…_'

(Flashback)

In a building at the center of Seireitei, a quick meeting was called to order; to address a request from one of the Taichō's. The doors opened and a scarred, aged man with a cane, and white Haori with the kanji for one, walked in between two lines of various looking individuals whom all sported a similar white Haori before standing at the end of the hall and turning to face the individuals with a hard look.

This man was the Sotaichō of the Gotei 13 Shinigami Corps and leader of the first division, Yamamoto Shigekuni-Genryusai. The aged man banged his staff against the floor to gain their attention and call the reason for the assembled committee of captains. "Greetings Taichōs, today I have a very important announcement to make regarding one of our Shinigami." the old man declared, causing some of the Taichō's to tilt their head slightly, but otherwise remain unreadable in their respective place in the line.

"Oh, and what's that Yama-jiji?" the very flamboyant voice of eighth division captain, Shunsui Kyoraku inquired, tipping his samurai hat up past his eyes to reveal his rugged face, while the pink cloak on his shoulders swaying slightly from his sudden movement.

"It is about one of our newest Shinigami. Kurosaki Ichigo of the Tenth division. I believe you know of him, as well as Unohana-Taichō, as does Ukitake-Taichō, who sadly couldn't make it due to his illness." said the aged man as he glanced towards Unohana, while his staff pointed to the empty spot across from Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

"Yes, Yamamoto-Sotaichō. I am familiar with the man through his mother, Masaki-sama." The smiling dark haired woman, with a coiled ponytail going down over her full chest with a Haori with the symbol for four, spoke up in her calm gentle voice with just a hint of curiosity, "Though, what does this meeting have to do with him, pray tell?"

The old man turned his head slightly, "You see, Unohana-Taichō, the boy has recently and unexplainably jumped staggeringly in power, in terms of both his spiritual pressure and strength, almost overnight. The request, coming from Hitsugaya-Taichō himself, wishes to help the boy mask and control his powers, somewhat."

"Why the hell would you want the boy's powers restrained, old man? I thought you wanted people to always go all out. You know 'be all they can be and that bullshit', and now you're hindering them?" the spiky haired captain, wearing the eye patch with the ripped Haori of eleven, asked in his usual fashion. "Hell, transfer him over to my squad, we could use people like him." He smiled wickedly already, stepping back to picture the blood bath they'd create if he was an _unbound _individual like himself.

"No, Zaraki-Taichō, I said 'mask' as in hide, not restrained as in your case." He clarified to the man before looking further down the line "And no, Kurotsuchi-Taichō, you may not perform any experiments on him, and that is a direct order from me." He proclaimed effectively shutting up the deranged man before he could speak, who discreetly glared at the aged man knowing that any research was efficiently canceled.

Well, until he could think up something else to do to go around it, that is.

"The boy's spiritual pressure is simply too strong for his own good and those around him, but not strong enough to warrant the expenses of producing another reiatsu-absorbing eye-patch." He explained, causing some of the Taichō's to either get confused, as to why this boy was having such a random jump in power as most Shinigami in the academy max out rather quickly about three or four years into the service, or wide eyed over the fact that one of their own was a danger to even his own allies, albeit unconsciously.

The young white haired boy in the two lines of people, with the kanji of ten on his back, stepped forward, "That is why I am requesting that he learn how to mask and control it during a tour of service in the Second division," he said in a bored tone, wishing to get this meeting over and done with, so he could finish the paperwork that his Fukutaichō -once again- didn't finish due to her renown drinking habits.

The proclamation instantly grabbed the attention of Soifon. A 'tour of duty' was usually a couple of years, which meant one of two things. Either: A. this Ichigo Kurosaki person had a lot of spiritual pressure and needed remarkable training to suppress it OR B. he was an inept loser like Fukutaichō Omaeda, and was getting passed on to her to make up for any losses in her ranks, under the clever façade frequently called 'talent and promise'.

"Hitsugaya-Taichō, why would you nominate me and my squad? If he went through the academy he should know the basics, surely, your squad couldn't be so ill-suited to deal with the task?" she asked in her stoic tone, though inwardly she was silently cursing the fact that she could be inheriting another potential problem.

One she _really_ didn't need.

"Your squad is the best suited to stealth and covert operations, there's no denying that fact. If anyone could teach him to properly master control over his power it's you and your squad," the captain of ten answered turning his cold gaze to her, "not to mention, I feel a changing in the guard is in order for my division."

"'A changing of the guard', could you please explain and clarify for the rest of us, Hitsugaya-Taichō?" the seventh division's Komamura-Taichō requested in his deep gravelly voice, genuinely intrigued in what the young Taichō might say.

The youth sighed and closed his eyes. "I feel that my squad should try and learn as many different types and forms of combat. It has recently come to my attention, thanks to Aizen-Taichō's observations and insights, that some individuals within my squad have become overly reliant on a particular style of fighting, which could be fatal in crucial battles against Hollows, because their favored attack aren't effective. That is why I wish to try this experiment on one of our more promising and truly capable individual. Depending on the results, I may just go ahead and send more of my forces to other divisions so we can reduce overall casualties by being better prepared for anything that comes our way," he explained methodically.

Yamamoto began to think over what the boy was saying before he nodded in agreement "You have a valid point. To be complacent could mean death, and we have a very minimal margin of error in that regard. Before I make my final decision on the matter, do you have any counter arguments or wish to contest this, Soifon-Taichō? If so, speak now, the floor is yours." he turned opening his eyes to stare back at the now frowning woman, awaiting any response she might have to say.

Soifon honestly didn't know what to say. On the one hand, this Kurosaki fellow would literally be the epitome of what the stealth force wasn't, considering he couldn't even control his own power. Yet, at the same time she had nothing to counter with, seeing as Hitsugaya was asking; reasonably, to help out his soldiers for the betterment of Soul Society. If she went against this for unfounded or personal reasons: such as distaste for the individual. It would easily tarnish her reputation as being both fair and loyal to Soul Society, and could potentially force others to question her judgment of whether or not she was truly capable of being a Taichō, an action she could not have.

So with a heavy heart, she closed her eyes and accepted her defeat on the matter "No, Sotaichō." She muttered just loud enough for him to hear "I have none."

Yamamoto nodded and banged his staff against the wooden floor again, closing the arrangement. "Very well. Hitsugaya-Taichō your request has been granted, as for you Soifon-Taichō, Kurosaki-san will be reporting in two days time. Meeting adjourned you may return to your duties."

(Flash back end)

Soifon trudged back to her desk again and sat down, rasping her fingers against the mahogany wood, in a rapid tempo, irritated at waiting for her 'charge' to arrive for this ordeal.

"Now calm yourself Lin-chan. He still has about one minute and eleven seconds left to get here before he's officially late." a slender figure informed, from the nearby doorway of the room that connected into hers, causing the captain's eyes to shift dangerously at the figure.

Before an identification order or attack command could be vocalized by her mouth, she recognized who her unannounced guest was and relaxed herself again. Instead of immediately speaking, she turned her gaze back to her door, filled with barely renewed patience in the endeavor of waiting for her latest wash-out to arrive.

Standing in the doorway was a person just a little bit taller than the captain, at about 5'1, who was dressed in a typical all black garb of what one would call a ninja, the standard for members of the punishment force: Onimitsukido. The person had blackish violet hair that extended down around the side of her face before ending at her jaw line, with skin slightly paler than the beautiful tan skin of the recently appointed captain of squad two, with a bust size just a bit bigger than the other woman's. Her dark lavender eyes switching from her Taichō's form to the strange kitty clock on the wall that had its curved tail wagging back and forth endlessly counting the seconds away with each swipe.

"Need, I remind you third seat Kujo that we are currently at work and as such we can't allow our personal relationship to cloud our judgment at this time." Soifon replied methodically, though in a noticeably warmer tone than most would receive or ever hear. Her face a mixture of silent anger and immediate boredom, from having to wait until the person arrived.

The third seat shrugged like she didn't care, though Soifon knew otherwise. "I was merely offering you advice, as you seemed to be distressed Soifon-Taichō. Is it not my place to aid those who are having trouble, and are currently not interfering with my missions, or abilities in performing my missions?"

Soifon couldn't help, but smirk at the statement made by her friend; after all, it didn't go against what she believed in sacrificing those who were too weak to continue the mission. "Always twisting things around and finding loop holes," the woman cocked her head to the officer, "eh Subaru…?" she said willing to talk to her third seat to at least pass the time since all the paperwork was done.

"It is my job as a spy as you already know," she replied in a pseudo-humble manner, "Anyway, it was also through the various blackmail and information I had uncovered: against you and your clan, that has allowed both you and I to enjoy the close relationship we have both come to treasure over these many years." Subaru stated plainly while pulling down her face mask to reveal a small smile. She turned to look at the clock on the nearby wall again slowly counting off the remaining time in her head.

Soifon huffed lightly "Subaru, remind me why you're my third seat and not my Fukutaichō again…" she asked as she was reminded by the way Subaru appeared just now in her office, about the time she and _'her' _encountered the woman inside the Seireitei at a Taichō's and Fukutaichō's meeting. A meeting that the current third seat was definitely not invited too, but snuck into anyway.

Subaru calmly raised three fingers "Reason one, we all know that Fukutaichō Omaeda is only where he is because of his family, and they will cut their funding should something happen. Two, I have not been chosen because I am of more use to you in the field and spy network rather than behind a desk. And three, your new fourth seat won't be around long enough to replace me and force me to ascend and fix whatever blunders Omaeda-baka has made." She easily explained, lowering each finger as she riddled off her reason sinking Shaolin's 'New Lieutenant' dream.

"What about your husband? Surely, he could have been picked to replace the fat oaf." Soifon asked sardonically, causing Subaru to laugh at the jab at Omaeda while blushing at her best friend throwing around her husband's name so casually at the work place.

Sometimes people could be so hypocritical…

"Unfortunately for you, Tosen-Taichō reserves the rights to use third seat Taiga as he sees fit. Even then his samurai pride would be too much in the way to perform the duties of the stealth force, not to mention his preference to use swordsmanship over Hakudo or Hoho skills."

Soifon let out an annoyed sigh before placing her hand on her forehead "It's always the competent ones that have some kind honor to hold them back."

"Yes, well, Tosen-Taichō has seen fit to give him leave to help assist us in this experiment. His reason being he didn't want it to fail because of how you typically are to those in your squad…" Subaru stated unusually bubbly as she fished into her pocket for something.

Soifon rolled her eyes at the comment, muttering something about 'doing things her way', and then noticed a purple Ougi fan in Subaru's hand, her most treasured gift received from Shinjiro on her birthday so very long ago.

"I see you still carry that small trinket with you, even though you should be carrying your Zanpaktou…" she quipped

"I beg your pardon, but I believe someone in this room still hasn't taken down that cat clock off the wall." Subaru joked before she suddenly grew quiet as the room grew much colder and Soifon started to slowly release KI while she narrowed her eyes to the ticking device on the wall, as if trying to destroy it by releasing enough of her spiritual pressure on the time telling device.

A couple of moments passed in tense silence between the two women, before Subaru, realizing her mistake, walked over and grabbed Shaolin's hand and whispered a quiet apology for what she said.

It seemed that the betrayal of Yoruichi Shihoin was still fresh in the heart of her friend. Not that she and her husband hadn't also felt the cold sting of betrayal themselves, but it was more concentrated on Shaolin as she had known her much, much, longer, and they had gotten to know Shaolin much more than the former commander of the stealth force.

It was perhaps only thanks to the combined efforts of both Subaru and her husband and her drive for revenge that Soifon's mentality hadn't broken from the intense emotional strain, causing her to undergo a psycho killing spree upon all those within her sights, or worse directing it at herself and attempt suicide to ease the pain deep within her broken heart.

"…I'm really, really, sorry Shaolin that was inconsiderate and exceedingly rude of me." Subaru pleaded speaking much more informally while still holding her friend's hand for dear life to let her know she wasn't alone. She also steeled herself ready to accept any punishment from her captain.

Soifon took a quick breath and closed her eyes, while clenching her other hand into a tight fist "I know you are," she opened her eyes again with steady determination in them "…I swore that I would catch her one day, and I will. She will pay dearly for what she's done to me," She turned a warm loving gaze to her surrogate sister, before finishing "…to us."

"And rest assured Soifon-dono, Shinjiro and I will be there to assist you when that day comes." said Subaru giving Shaolin a warm smile before reluctantly letting go. Backing away slowly to take the seat in the corner to await the new arrival with her that would be here in five…

Four…

Soifon's smile left her face and was replaced with her usual cold indifference.

Three…

Subaru, as she sat in the corner content, pulled her face mask back up to hide her identity as Soifon's hand pulled out her Zanpaktou, Suzumebachi.

Two…

Soifon expertly twirled the blade in her hand, gauging the weight and calculating the necessary strength for her task, as her grey colored eyes focused on a single spot on the door, taking careful aim at the wooden slab.

One…

Soifon cocked her arm back before launching the blade like a javelin towards the door.

Zero…

A tall, orange-haired Shinigami with a large Zanpaktou on his back blazed through the door and closed it just as a blade zipped right past his head and imbedded itself in the wood, just a few centimeters to the right of his skull. The boy predictably jumped back a step and started to sweat bullets at nearly having his life taken from him within a matter of seconds of entering the fearsome person's office who was accurately dubbed the 'Ice Queen of the Seireitei'.

The man nervously looked over his shoulder, back at the other two occupants in the room, slowly turning more and more with each second, as he watched them. His apprehension quickly faded, though when his mind caught up to him, as he continued gazing at the two Shinigami.

He concluded that the one behind the desk was both the head honcho in charge and, despite her seemingly mad appearance, was a rather beautiful looking woman, especially with the two bands running down from her hair, while the other one sitting in the corner was probably one of her lackeys, giving a report of some kind prior to his arrival and decided to sit in and see the new recruit, him.

Ichigo bowed quickly in hopes to not offend them, if the blade sticking out of the door was to be perceived as an indication of their current patience level, "Ichigo Kurosaki, reporting in. I was sent by Toshiro-" he flinched as he saw the gaze of the two occupants harden at him letting him know he slipped up, "I mean Hitsugaya-Taichō to work under you all in the second division."

"Well, seeing as how you can arrive on time for an important meeting, such as this, you've just proven you're not entirely incompetent," said Soifon in her usual frigid and abrasive tone, her expression changing into a look of boredom. "Although, that doesn't mean you've shown your worth. Remember, I do not wish to do this and I find the fact you can't even control your own powers appalling, to say the least. So rest assured, you will be working hard or you will not survive, understood?" releasing some of her spiritual pressure on the boy to emphasis her point, who as she expected for his condition didn't crumple under the force, but remained standing, a firm, solid look fixated on her.

Subaru decided to speak from her chair in the corner of the room in the hopes of removing some of the tension and administer a small _test_ on the would-be squad two Shinigami. "Perhaps you could tell us a bit about yourself, and the skills that you may possess, Kurosaki-san." Silently making a note of every answer he gave, including both body regulation and time to answer, and made a special mental mention at the look his eyes held briefly when he was staring at the navy haired Taichō she called sister.

Ichigo broke his eyes away from the captain and turned to face the other resident in the room "Of course…umm…" his voice trailed off after realizing he didn't know this person's name and only knew Soifon's name because she was a Taichō.

"Third seat of the Second division under Soifon-Taichō's personal command, Subaru Kujo." the woman stated, giving a bow forward out of respect as she sat in the chair.

"Well, I was a sixth seat before the awakening of my sword's Shikai, which then led to me being transferred into your division; because of my enormous spiritual power. I went to the academy so I received proper training in most aspects of being a Shinigami. I'm very good when it comes to fighting with my Zanpaktou and Zanjutsu related skills. My skills in flash step were above average and I'm decent in some of the basic moves of hand to hand combat. I can perform a few kido spells up to number 33 without too much difficulty and can do a very basic healing, but I can't seem to do bind spells all that well," he reported to the pair, having already recited his speech several times on the way here.

He then pulled his blade from off his back careful to not knock something over. The cloth around the blade fell to reveal a giant sized clever blade, "and this is my partner Zangetsu. Right now, I'm not entirely sure what his powers are and because of my spiritual power it seems to stay in this form, but I hope to grow to understand him in the future as I work under you!" he finished with a semi-forced smile, hoping to leave a good impression on the women and prove they could count on him through thick and thin.

Sadly, it was very difficult to impress them. While Soifon was briefly in awe at the sheer size of the blade, she had already figured she would have her work seriously cut out for her, since size meant a rough estimate of spiritual strength. She had also learned that this man really didn't bother to try and understand the fundamental behind their division, so with a disappointed sigh and quick motion with her hand to Subaru, she watched as Subaru got up before tapping the man on the head with her paper fan and muttered, "You didn't do your homework. How disappointing."

Naturally Ichigo was taken aback from their disappointment, I mean who wouldn't after being so casually dismissed like that? "What was that for? And what do you mean 'I didn't do my homework'?" he asked clearly wondering where he screwed up in his introduction, yet no matter what his brain tried to do to find any errors he couldn't see anything wrong.

Subaru sighed wondering how he still hadn't caught on, "It was your introduction and the telling of your skills, Kurosaki-san."

The boy frowned and was about to protest, since they asked him for skill and introduction speech, but Soifon spoke up, before he could get a single word in. "What Kujo means is that WE", moving her fingers between Subaru and herself, "the members of the stealth and punishment force specialize in speed, intelligence, stealth, and secrecy. From your casual and unconcerned listing of your skills, I can now officially conclude about twenty-six members of squad two who could defeat you with that information alone." She explained causing the boy to lower his head in disturbed wonder after hearing that little fact from the woman in charge.

She took a brief inhalation of air before continuing, "We guard our secrets closely, as they could literally mean the difference between life and death, a success or a failure, and spouting out what you can and cannot do will not get you far." Soifon then turned away from the man rudely, and opened her mouth "Third Seat Kujo, please show him the proper way to have responded to your question." she requested, adding further insult to injury.

Subaru nodded her understanding her task. She then pushed herself off her chair and walked beside the ex-tenth division members and cleared her throat to begin her introduction "Greetings ma'am, I am the sixth seat of tenth division, Kurosaki Ichigo. I believe you already know why I was sent to you Soifon-Taichō. As for some of my skills, I possess good understanding over all four aspects required of Shinigami. I am particularly efficient with Zanjutsu and know how to heal the wounded so long as their injuries aren't major. By the way this is my Zanpaktou: Zangetsu." she finished her summary and then turned fully to Ichigo "Now can you tell me the difference between what you did and what I did?"

Ichigo nodded in understanding. He clearly saw the difference between the two introductions. He had gone into a decent amount of detail, while she had given a vague understanding at best that still answered the question. He made a mental note to be much more careful with his words because he honestly didn't think something as trivial as an introduction would have mattered after the initial meeting, but apparently under the right persons influence it could have destroyed him on the battlefield.

_**'**__**Don't worry about it King. Even if they knew about all your other powers you'll grow to possess they can't compete against your ace in the hole. ME!'**_ The hollow Zangetsu snorted arrogantly in Ichigo's mind, otherwise unimpressed at the whole meeting so far, not that he would have been anyway, unless it turned into a fight. Then he'd be both interested and impressed.

'_True, but I did reveal a lot of limitations and weaknesses; I could have kept under wraps. I'll have to watch my mouth from now on.'_

_'__**HA! Whatever you say, remember if you need something destroyed I'm your go to Hollow!'**_ The hollow laughed manically before growing slightly more serious, but he kept sporting his infernal grin, _**'By the by king, what do you think of that sexy lady behind the desk? No, scratch that. What would you like to DO with that sexy lady behind the desk?'**_ giving an invisible nudge to his king.

Ichigo stiffened up at both the nudging and at the doppelganger's tone when he said the words. A wave of uneasiness flooded his body, as he felt like it was something a rapist or stalker would say.

Reclaiming a handle on his nerves he responded back, '_I don't know what you're talking about, Zangetsu',_ he mumbled out his denial back at his hollow, who laughed manically in return.

_**'**__**Don't try and bullshit me King! I clearly saw that your eyes were definitely on the 'prize'. Hell! Maybe if you're lucky and you play your cards just right, you could get a three-some with Kujo too!'**_ He said smugly, enjoying his King squirm inwardly under the implications.

Whoever said talking with yourself was a bad thing clearly knew nothing of comedy.

'_No way! I'm not into guys!' _He fervently denied, attempting on closing any claims to the rooms second occupant, though inadvertently forgetting to mention the first.

_**'**__**Oh this is just too rich!'**_ The hollow cocked his head back, covering his forehead with his hand, all the while laughing even harder than before, _**'I couldn't help but notice you didn't deny the three-some idea, and FYI that Kujo person is actually a girl. I can smell her from here.'**_

'_Just Shut UP! And leave me alone!' _he roared all the while blushing furiously.

Too bad the women saw his blush and were beginning to raise eyebrows. "Is something wrong Kurosaki?" Soifon asked slightly wary of the boy, since he spontaneously started to blush and avoid looking at them, more specifically at her.

While this wasn't too uncommon since no one wanted to tell her that a mission she assigned them ended in failure or she just finished threatening someone with bodily harm, if they didn't give into her demands, nobody blushed while averting their gaze. _'I hope I didn't inherit a crazy person or one of those pleasure-from-pain individuals…'_

"Nothing, Taichō!" he quickly said, perhaps a bit more forcefully than actually needed. Still he hoped it got the point across to the two, which indeed it did if the ease in their posture was anything on what they thought.

Deciding to simply let whatever was on his mind go, Soifon began to inform him of the rules and regulations of the stealth force as well as her considerable expectations of him. Once she finished, she proceeded in ordering Subaru to take him to the nearest available room for him to stay in until an assessment of his new found power could be conducted, at a later date of course.

Soifon watched both of them get up and stand on the other side of her desk and bow prior to leaving. Once the door closed, she turned her attention back to the connecting room that served as her living quarters to get a shower and rest when she happed to see a piece of paper lying in the chair that Subaru was sitting in.

She picked it up and skimmed over it lightly, having reached the conclusion that its contents must not have been terribly urgent, since Subaru failed to mention it, before the nuisance arrived and prior to leaving the room after receiving her orders.

As a tired yawn escaped her, she rubbed her eyes while callously throwing the report back down unto the chair, feeling far too exhausted to deal with this extra work today. She started walking towards the shoji door, slowly removing one of the straps of her shoulder so she could take a shower and melt away her weariness.

Meanwhile, Ichigo and Subaru proceeded through the Second division barracks in a mock tour like fashion; stopping momentarily at particularly important places for a brief description of its function or importance to the squad, as well as allowing the boy to express any questions or concerns that he might be having.

Ichigo for his part was thankful that 'outside of the office hours' as Subaru put it she was actually a semi-relaxed and sort of nice person; unlike the ice cold vibes he was constantly receiving from his new Taichō. Though, when business was at hand she seemed to revert to a cold and logical person that would stab someone in the back at a moment's notice.

When he asked why Soifon was such a cold person, she merely responded 'that it took all kinds of people to make up Soul Society, and that he shouldn't judge a book by its cover'. Ichigo had to concede her point seeing as how Zangetsu was either a cool, calm, and collected old man or deranged pure white version of himself.

Subaru herself was slightly disappointed that the boy seemed to be distracted by something. During her time in the stealth force she had grown exceedingly better at being able to understand the inner workings of people, but she chose not to voice her opinion on the boy's troubles, since it clearly wasn't her place and it could have been from his recent moving mere hours ago.

They continued moving through the halls until they stopped at a door. Subaru then addressed Ichigo in a semi-cold tone "This will be your temporary room. I say temporary because it may change do to either Soifon-Taichō's decision to move you or you wash-out because you aren't fit to be here, in either case meet at the training field in the center pavilion at exactly six am tomorrow morning for drills and introduction with the rest of the squad."

Ichigo nodded in understanding, his mind out trying to find another way to make up for his disastrous meeting with the Taichō earlier. Subaru was going to leave it at that, but she decided to give him a suggestion, mistaking his contemplating face "I also recommend that you get up an hour earlier so you can get something to eat as well as arrive early; considering your near miss at today's meeting," she explained, an evil grin gracing her face at remembering the reaction to the boy's…greeting.

Ichigo's face went pale for a moment then turned into a scowl. "Sooooo do I have to wear that ninja uniform that you have on, or do I go like this?" he grunted out returning the stab back at her, feeling less than amused at her jab a moment ago.

Subaru quietly pulled out her fan from earlier, flipped it open, and began to fan herself lightly, "Firstly, Ichigo-san this 'ninja outfit' you speak of," gesturing to her own uniform with her free hand, "is worn by the special forces part of squad two. Secondly: No. Seeing as you are only a part of squad two and not the special force section you may attend in your traditional Shinigami raiment." she said looking him in the eye which silently said 'and don't you forget it either.'

"Now," she pulled back straightening up again "Do you have any further questions or should I leave to let you retire for the evening?"

Ichigo paused for a moment, "Well, do you think you could tell me a bit about yourself and Soifon-Taichō?" he asked, seeing her cock an eyebrow at him he decided to elaborate further, "As far as I know, you two are my superiors and I really want for us to get along; at the very least not cause unnecessary trouble for you guys."

The woman tilted her head away from Ichigo and gazed at his room's door, silently mulling over what she should say if anything. After all, secrecy was a big thing in the Second division, and she as well as Shaolin had more than their fair share of secrets. Taking an unseen glance back at the man, she concluded he didn't seem to have any ulterior motives, in fact he reminded her of Shinjiro, as he too was as open as a book.

"Perhaps, it depends on what you wish to know from me. I know many people's closely guarded secrets it is my job as a spy, so I know the power of blackmail and I refuse to fall victim to it by spilling my own to an outsider of my heart." She said cautiously logic fueling her words. "However; I will give you the benefit of the doubt, if you can survive, complete and not quit tomorrow's training. I promise you that I will answer a question or two; though, I retain the right to refuse any I wish, without any explanation needed to be given, understood?" She finished, her hand stopping the cooling breeze of her fan to be extended forward to Ichigo.

"Agreed." The still frowning Shinigami affirmed, as he firmly grabbing the extended hand of the third seat to seal the promised commitment between them.

Subaru nodded and said her goodbyes before flash stepping away, leaving the man to himself. Ichigo entered the room and was quite shocked to see what was in the room.

Almost nothing.

Ichigo eyes focused on the only three important things in the room which was a small bed in the corner of the room with a small window above it; a very small dressed with only four compartments and door that lead to a small toilet and shower. With a sigh, Ichigo placed Zangetsu against the dresser and decided to turn in early for tomorrow's training session. He gave a quick prayer for the safety of his mother who still lived in Rukongai, before letting his mind fall into the ocean of dreams.

* * *

(Omake 1: Irony/One man army)

Off stage (I perfer to think of each chapter as a movie scene, so off stage mean people who otherwise couldn't met on stage can joke around and stuff)

Subaru: Hey hollow Zangetsu are you there?

HZ (annoyed): Yeah what is it?

Subaru: You know how you mentioned a possible three-some with Ichigo, myself and Shaolin correct?

HZ (grinning): Yeah what about it?

Subaru (embarrassed): Well you see technically it does happen

HZ (excited): This I gotta hear!

Subaru: Well you see the English VA (voice actor) for my husband Shinjiro Taiga is actually Johnny Young Bosch, who also plays the role of Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach, so technically he does get to sleep with me at some point or another…

HZ: HAHAHAHA! That's a riot; I didn't know he had it in him!

Subaru: Now that I think about it. Doesn't he also do you too?

HZ (Serious): You're right…DAMN! That's a two to three girl to guy ratio that doesn't work. FUCK!

Subaru (blush): I may have a solution. Perhaps if we invited Yoruichi-dono things will even out…

HZ (Grinning wider): That's a damn great solution Kujo! King can get the chance to 'unwind' the stiff one while the devil gets to enjoy a goddess. HA! This is great!

Subaru: I'm glad to see you approve. Though it all is a bit ironic in the end…

(Omake: Irony/One man army end)

(Omake 2: Why?)

Soifon: Blackout, tell me why exactly did you decide to write a story about Ichigo and myself?

Ichigo: Yeah I kind of have to agree with her on this one.

Blackout2010: Well, pardon me for saying but I ship you too, plus I found a picture while surfing the web that gave a bit of inspiration, it's currently on my profile now. Anyway to be honest I believe you're (gestures to Soifon) lesbian or at the least, according to Suzumebachi, bisexual. In either case I wish you luck with Yoruichi in the manga, however you see her.

Soifon (blush): T-thank you…

Blackout2010: As for you Ichigo, well sometimes it's nice to see what other girls you get along with aside from Orihime and Rukia, nothing against them personally.

Ichigo (frowns): Still, that doesn't really explain why you ship us.

Blackout2010: Well, for one thing you're really one of the only believable options out there, well at least in Shaolin's case in reference to fan fiction and guy couples.

Soifon: How so?

Blackout2010 (frowns): Well… (Scratches head) Byakuya Kuchiki and Shuhei Hisagi have been soul reapers alongside you in canon history for quite a while, why is it only now that you would suddenly take an interest in them? Ichigo (gestures toward him) is someone you've never met before excluding a two second conversation against Aizen hence I find it more believable with you taking an interest in him a person you can grow to know rather than a man from Soul Society whom you've been working alongside for nearly a century. Hell, if Ggio Vega wasn't an arrancar I could see you with him too; at least he's somewhat level headed in personality to an extent.

Ichigo: Hmm. You do have a point

Soifon: That is true but still…

Blackout2010 (shrugs): That's just my belief and opinion on the matter and everyone's entitled to their belief in Fan fiction and is allowed to express it as such and must be accepted.

Ichigo/Soifon:"…"

Blackout2010: Anyway no need to dwell on it, just accept and roll with it. (Smiles) at the very least you Soifon (points at her) are not in a harem with Kon and you Ichigo (points at him) aren't being forced to work alongside Don Kannoji

They both shudder at the thought of either being a woman in harem with Kon or around the dreads hair styled ghost hunting maniac

Ichigo/Soifon (sweat drop): You're right it could be worse…

They turn to leave

Blackout2010: Oh! Hey Ichigo.

Ichigo (turning around): Yeah?

Blackout2010: THE SPIRITS ARE ALWAYS WITH YOU! BWAHAHAHAHA!

(Omake: Why? End)

* * *

Ending Author's note

Shinjiro Taiga and Subaru Kujo are not owned by me either nor Tite Kubo. They come from a game called Sakura Wars: So long my love. I only own their Zanpaktou, as that was my idea that I wrote a long time ago, which hopefully no one's used yet.

* * *

Blackout2010: So ends chapter one. I hope you enjoyed it and if you did feel free to leave a review.

Ichigo: Aren't you gonna tell them?

Blackout2010: Oh right! Thanks. I've got this weird habit of writing on ahead and only posting chapter after a certain point in time. It's my thing sorry. So any story wise suggestion i'll see if I can work in, but it probably won't happen, though feel free to ask me questions.

Ichigo: And.

Blackout2010: Oh yeah, Hey from one person to another how does the whole beta-things work? I don't have one and I've heard it's a good thing to have, I just don't want to be a burden by not sending in my Chaps. and leaving the person hanging.

Ichigo: You mean you would like to have a beta right.

Blackout2010: I was getting there. Tch. Now you ruined it. Stupid strawberry.

WHACK

Ichigo: See you in chapter two.


	2. Day One

Blackout2010: I gotta say, you guys really liked the story. 100 hits in like 5 hours it's amazing. I honestly wasn't expecting that, so I'm releasing chapter 2 now.

Ichigo: Be honest it's because you have no will power, since you intended to hold it off for a month or at least two weeks.

Blackout2010: Alright fine your right. But there won't be a next time!

Ichigo: Whatever...

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters that appear in the fic. I only own two Zanpaktou that I made a long time ago, which you probably won't see for a while!

Beta edit: Mbpicke

* * *

Ch.2. Day one

Ichigo awoke from his dreams early the next morning very annoyed; because, during his nice, quiet, peaceful and serene dream sequence involving a quiet stroll through the lovely gardens of Soul Society with his beloved mother, Masaki, at his side, it was completely fucked up by the presence of hollow Zangetsu busting in and taking it over in a hostile fashion.

Which was then made worse by the fact he started to send many, MANY, vivid images of the two Second division women he met earlier, doing some rather risqué things with the orange haired teenager, forcing the poor boy to knock his hollow's head into a building and contacting the other Zangetsu for cleanup. Right now, Ichigo was truly thankful he lived through the night and NOT died of blood loss due to a nose bleed.

_**'Pffft! Whatever King! I know you wanted it and you know you wanted it. So let's cut the crap and cut loose today so we can get YOUR captain's UNDIVIDED attention!'**_ The hollow declared proudly, eager to get the king laid because essentially, it would be the same as him getting laid.

And he was all for that!

_'Do you really have to be like this?'_ Ichigo asked incredulously.

The hollow shook his head in mock disappointment, _**'Ichigo, Ichigo, Ichigo…I'm a being with very simple and basic needs. One, I need to talk with someone else aside from pole ass. Two, if it can be helped, by all means kill or destroy something by the end of the day. Third, you need to release 'stress'.'**_ His grin grew wider revealing all of his sharp white teeth, with barely concealed joy, _**'Maybe you could find a cheap hooker like that Matsumoto chick, if you're feeling adventurous you could have some 'off time' with the 'cold queen' and if you play your cards just right, you could cash in on that three-some I mentioned earlier!'**_ He then erupted into a cackle of laughter at seeing the king blush.

Damn it was a good day to be alive for the Hollow.

Swearing off his Hollow's thoughts for his sanity's sake, Ichigo got dressed and went down to the cafeteria to grab a quick bite to eat, before the grueling training that was to ensue later that hour. After finishing his food and properly disposing of it, he proceeded down the hallway towards the central pavilion where they were to gather, when he ran into Subaru again.

The two talked for a bit about little things before she told him it was nearly time to begin. And, for his safety, instructed him to keep his mouth shut and stand next to her, _if_ he wanted to live. Ichigo's eyes widened and a lump hung in throat, not at the words in her statement, but the way her tone gave life to what she said. It sounded more like a promise than a threat.

A few more minutes past and the members of the Second division formed up in several lines and stood at attention, awaiting their leader, who arrived exactly at six as promised. Her expression stoic, her soul-piercing gaze carefully looked over all of them, making note of those who were here for drill and those who weren't present and would be verbally _smoked_ before being punished accordingly.

Ichigo, while loath to admit it, was very intimidated by his new Taichō and her entrance. The moment she arrived, he could have sworn that the atmosphere around him dropped a couple of degrees. Everyone went so quiet that a pin drop could be heard from the other side of the grounds, he was now looking at the feared Ice Queen. Her eyes were as cold as steel and her power radiated off her commanding respect from even the bravest Shinigami.

She took two lithe, predatorial, steps forward calling the attention of everyone there and began speaking in her arctic tone, "Alright trash, today we just received yet another sad soul to join you all in hell!" she quickly nudged her head over towards Ichigo's position, but didn't even bother looking at him "State your name, dead man!"

Ichigo scowled at her insults, but let it go chalking it up as her normal behavior, "Ichigo Kurosaki, formerly of the tenth division," he spoke tersely, having learned not to reveal too much information again.

Seeing that she found it acceptable, he remained silent and listened to her rant a bit to the troops until…

"Sorry, I'm late Taichō, but I just finished the paperwork!" a loud voice yelled as a large heavily built, as in fat, man came barreling through the entranceway. The man didn't even get five more steps in before, Ichigo saw something zoom by him and propel the large man backwards into a nearby tree.

As he turned away from the spot where the poor guy crashed into, he saw Soifon standing in front of where the guy was just a second ago, her arm fully extended and hand coiled into a fist letting all assembled know what happened to the giant of a man, and what would happen to them if they crossed her.

"Your tardiness is inexcusable Fukutaichō Omaeda!" the woman snarled out in her cold, biting tone. "I ordered that your share of the work be done at seventeen hundred hours yesterday! That was nearly thirteen hours ago! So as punishment, for your tardiness, failure to complete your duty and then trying to use it as an excuse, once exercises are over you will be seeing me later to have a _friendly spar_ understood?"

The man slowly got up and nodded his head quickly, lest he incite more of her wrath on himself. As Ichigo saw this exchange happen, he briefly looked at Subaru, specifically into her eyes, and gave a silent but understood thank-you, who merely nodded in return, since that would have been him, if not for her informing him when and where to arrive the previous day.

Seeing that judgment had been given Soifon flash stepped back to her place in front of the assembled horde and allow Omaeda to slip into ranks. "If there are no more interruptions, I want A through D squads out in the forest for tracking practice, your previous time during 'Hollow hunt' was beyond pathetic! Stray Star Squad, return to you posts and continue your monitoring and observation duties. Shadow Squad get those messages delivered on the double and remember to prioritize in accordance to rank: Starting with Taichō's and descending downward. Everyone else report to your team leader for guidance, otherwise I want to see you at training field B. That's all! Now get out of my sight!"

Her voice instantly caused them to scatter to perform their respective tasks, leaving the strawberry, weary captain, and silent third alone. The woman sighed and turned to the third seat next to Ichigo "Kujo, I'm ordering you to go bring your husband here since he is also supposed to help make _this_ work." the woman spoke in clear disdain with this event. Subaru nodded her head before flash stepping away to bring her husband back to the second division.

Now that it was just the two of them, Soifon turned her gaze to Ichigo "Alright, Kurosaki, I'm going to test you out a bit to see where you stand, and I swear, if you disappoint me you will pay dearly!" she said leaving the execution of her threat to his imagination.

She told him to drop his Zanpaktou on the ground as she was going to test his Hakudo and Hoho skills as they were the primary form of combat for most in the punishment corps. Doing as he was told he jabbed Zangetsu into the ground and he then settled into stance that befitted more of a brawler than a trained warrior, which didn't go unnoticed by Soifon.

"Are you ready?" she asked _'God, what a pitiful stance. Judging him from that alone, I take it that means he's all power no control and here I thought his spiritual pressure was all that I'd need to help him improve on.'_

Ichigo nodded his head, and not a second later did he get sent skidding across the meeting ground by a swift kick from the lightning quick girl.

As soon as he stopped and got to take a look at his surrounding Soifon was already launching another assault consisting of vicious hand to hand blows. His body shook and rattled with each blow that he couldn't defend against. The difference in power and speed was painfully obvious.

No pun intended.

A somersault kick later and he was launched backward into the air and then slammed into the ground from an elbow to his stomach after the Captain flash stepped above him while he dangled suspended in the air. Ichigo tried desperately to get up and when he turned he was staring into the cold stormy grey eyes of his Taichō.

"Is that all you've got!?" she questioned in clear disgust, "I'm fighting at the level of a fifth seat and you're barely able to protect yourself! It seems Hitsugaya-Taichō was wrong, you're not overly favoring. You're dependent on your Zanpaktou, Kurosaki!"

The woman mentally cursed herself even more. This was practically a waste of her very important time and she hated anything that got wasted.

Ichigo, though clearly hurting, willed himself back on his feet. "Perhaps…but that's why I'm here. To learn everything I can from you, and if I have to suffer and endure this to protect those close to me than I gladly accept it!" he roared back launching a quick elbow to the woman who instinctively leapt back.

'_Huh, so he's willing to keep moving forward despite his set-back and obvious flaws,'_ Soifon thought, as she handsprung backward twice in order to give some more space between them, _'I suppose he's not as useless as I originally thought, but still no match for me even with that determination.' _Her opinion changing just a bit for the better, but still unconvinced of his potential that Hitsugaya had spoken of.

She then returned her attention back to Ichigo and launched a faux rush forward before suddenly flash stepping behind him and attempted to deliver a kick to his spine.

Keyword being attempted. To her surprise, Ichigo turned around and blocked the kick with his arm and shoulder and then launched his right fist at her head. She quickly ducked and swept his feet from underneath him and kicked him away once his body hit the ground.

As Ichigo was sent away again, he kicked off the ground with his foot and used a flash step to balance and slow himself down, to avert crashing into the wall behind him. He disappeared with another flash step but unfortunately for him, since Soifon could sense his massive spiritual pressure, she intercept his attack and threw him over her shoulders, before jumping on his top of body effectively pinning him to the ground, with her Zanpaktou stretched across the length of his neck ready to slash his throat open and kill the man.

Soifon narrowed her eyes at the man and gazed into his trying to see what was truly driving this man as determination alone only took you so far. As she continued to look into the beautiful brown eyes of the trapped man, her eyes widened as she could now see it, she could see the battle-worn defiance in them, the urge to rip her off of him and inflict the same wounds unto her that she had so maliciously done to him. She smirked inwardly. She liked that look as it was always found in the ones who would eventually be known for their strength of heart, mind and body.

'_Hmm. So it seems that he __might__ be something bigger than even myself in the future. I suppose I could train him a bit so at least his power doesn't go to his head, and potential gets wasted because the idiot goes off half-cocked and gets killed for his over confidence.'_ she concluded to herself before dismounting off of Ichigo, and returning her Zanpaktou to back into its sheathe behind her waist.

"Alright Kurosaki, for the most part I think you're worthless," he winced slightly under what he assumed was her brutally honest assessment of him, "but then again you were out of your element whereas I had the advantage." She admitted making him perk up at the spot of goodness, if only a little.

Soifon pretended to not notice and instead turned towards the entranceway expectantly, "Now where is Kujo? She should be here already…" and not a moment later three individuals appeared. Ichigo turned to face them as well, the first one he recognized as Subaru because of her outfit as well as her raven dark purple hair, an ougi fan was in her hand as she looked towards Soifon and himself.

The second one was a boy around his height probably 5'6 since he was only a bit shorter than Ichigo himself with a confident and friendly smile on his face. His black hair was bobbed extending around his face and ended past his ears, he wore regular Shinigami attire the only differences in it was that on the left shoulder there was a small white star in the center of it and on his right shoulder a white Kanji for the words 'Yamato Spirit', firmly attached around his hip was his Zanpaktou. The Zanpaktou didn't look anything special at all, in fact that was probably the only thing unique about it, and the hilt itself was a gray in color almost like it had seen much use and the color faded over time, if not for that it would have passed as a regular katana.

The third person was glancing around nervously as if expecting to be attacked at any moment. He seemed to be a timid/gloomy looking individual he also had short hair, like the other guy though it was dark blue like his captain, he also had a strange sling like pouch on his back which also held his Zanpaktou, but otherwise didn't look anymore extraordinary. Hell, Ichigo would probably admit he wouldn't even notice him if he wasn't looking in his general direction, he just seemed to blend to the surroundings like a rock.

Subaru kneeled down and bowed her head, "My apologies, for running late Soifon-Taichō. I felt the need to grab Yamada-san along the way in case of injuries and had to get Unohana-Taichō's approval, before abducting him" she then stood up after giving her report and awaited for a sign from her friend to which she agreed it was fine, seeing as how logically getting a medic wouldn't be such a bad investment.

The timid looking boy quickly bowed "I-It's good to see you again, S-Soifon-Taichō." the boy stuttered out.

Soifon sighed before smirking back at them, "Didn't I tell you to lose the stuttering, Yamada-san?" Ichigo tilted his head and looked at her from behind her back in slight confusion; her tone was not the usual ice cold but a fragment warmer, betraying her familiarity with the stuttering medic. _'How does she know a shy guy like him?'_

As if somehow sensing his thought, Soifon explained who the two individuals were and why they were here to Ichigo. The taller boy turned out to be named Shinjiro Taiga and was in fact the husband of Subaru Kujo as well as the third seat in the ninth division. He was ordered/asked by Tosen to help out since it would help benefit Soul Society in the end if it was successful, and the fact that he knew the two in charge would help in the transition.

When Ichigo asked why Subaru didn't change her last name, Shinjiro informed him about it compromising her job as a spy, so once they officially retired then they would change the name, though he did admit he wouldn't mind changing his last name to hers as it was still up in the air. Maybe even a hyphen.

The other one revealed to be Hanataro Yamada, seventh seat of the fourth division, said that he was usually the one who took care of Fukutaichō Omaeda when he was sent to the fourth division hospital due Soifon's physical abuse, though she interjected saying it was perfectly justified. They had also met on more than one occasion and over time he learned of Taiga and Kujo, who attempted to teach him how to defend himself, when all three Soifon, Shinjiro and Subaru witnessed him getting attacked by some squad eleven thugs.

They all merely stated, well except Shinjiro he openly wanted to assist him since it was the right thing to do, that they needed Fukutaichō Omaeda back and couldn't wait forever considering his assigned healer was being targeted by others and interfering with his duties, which inadvertently hindered their own duties; something they took very seriously. As such Hanataro was dubbed as the unofficial healer assigned to squad two by Unohana and was always the first to be dispatched there should complications or injuries ever arise or joint missions requiring a medical expert.

"Now that the introductions are out of the way" said Soifon as she looked toward Hanataro, before continuing "could you heal him? I feel now would be a good time to help him learn how to suppress his reiatsu like I was originally charged to do."

"Sure. Leave it to me Soifon-Taichō." The peppier boy answered, pulling out his Zanpaktou Hisagomaru.

Ichigo took a step back when Hanataro approached him with the blades edge facing him "H-hey keep that away from me."

"Oh it's ok. Hisagomaru doesn't hurt people, he heals them." Tapping the sword against one of Ichigo's bruises, a loud hissing sound was heard as the discoloration turned back to its normal peach color "See? All better now. So can I continue working?"

"Sure. Sorry for the doubt."

So while Ichigo let the blade begin to treat him, he saw Soifon and Subaru in deep conversation with each other before Subaru nodded her head and disappeared. '_Probably going to train or something.'_ Ichigo thought, while Shinjiro sat down in a meditative position not too far away from him. Once Ichigo was fully healed, Soifon instructed him to sit down next to Shinjiro and asked if she could question him a bit, to which he agreed.

"I am curious Kurosaki. Why is it that your lack of control over your power has only suddenly come up now?" Soifon asked as she didn't see how someone could just let their power run rampant for so long and not care how it affected others, especially when the person claimed to want to protect people close to him.

"You see Soifon-Taichō. My jump in power was because of the awakening of my Zanpaktou's Shikai state which occurred about two months back. Tosh-Hitsugaya Taichō" He corrected himself after seeing the warning glare, "had sent a report to the central forty six and only two days ago, received confirmation for the move."

"I see," she said placing her hand around her chin, "at least, now I understand the situation better. Well regardless you are now officially a member of my squad so I will try and fix your problem. Don't get me wrong, I am only doing this special treatment because I was ordered to, and I don't want you killing more of my men than needed. Though starting tomorrow you will have to work hard alongside everyone. Today was also your only easy day, as I had to evaluate how good you were in the main forms of combat of our division, and while your Hakudo is lackluster, it can eventually shine. So starting today, you're officially a part of the Special Forces branch of the division too." She said analytically before adding with a smirk, "Congratulations Kurosaki."

"Thank you Soifon-Taichō. May I ask you some things?" he said sitting down cross legged on the meeting grounds

"What is it, Kurosaki?" she asked in a neutral tone, also sitting down in a meditative position.

"Could you please call me Ichigo?" he requested, trying to break the ice like he had done with Rangiku and Toshiro.

The captain shook her head "No, Kurosaki. To address you as 'Ichigo' would signify that we have a close relationship, which we do not. As such it would be enough to say that I am disrespectful of others. I am nothing else if not respectful." she paused for a moment before quickly adding, "Off duty at least."

'_At least she's honest…'_ he thought sarcastically "You said that I'm officially apart of the 'Special Forces'. If that's the case, who do I take orders from and do I keep my ranked seat?" he asked, faintly concerned since if the division and Special Forces were different entities how it would affect him.

"You will take orders from me and anyone higher in rank than you. As for your seat, I'll award you the fourth seat seeing as how it is currently unoccupied because the previous fourth died on a recent mission, so you only have to take orders from Myself, Subaru, and unfortunately Omaeda." When Ichigo gave her a puzzled look she explained that it was the rather large man she had punched out earlier.

'_Fuck that! I ain't taken orders from that fat ass I saw earlier. Ask her if there are any chances for promotion!'_ The hollow yelled out in resentment at even the thought of being under that man especially after the display he showed. Ichigo wasn't all that keen on it himself, "Tell me do I really need to follow the orders of Fukutaichō Omaeda?" he said with dread.

The woman paused again to think it over, understanding his hesitation.

After all who would willingly work for the guy?

"Only if it comes to day-to-day squad affairs; otherwise, since you're a part of the Special Forces and he isn't: no." she spoke with finality on the matter. "Now if there are no more questions, let's begin your training in reigning in your power."

So for the next few hours Soifon and Shinjiro began to teach him the basics in suppressing and controlling his spiritual power. They didn't make as much progress as they would have liked seeing as how the boy was impatient almost impulsive, and one of the key things you needed in controlling such power was restraint. You needed to be calm and patient, not hot-headed, and the sheer volume of his power was much more than either instructor had previously imagined. The overall result of the training exercise was that they managed to help Ichigo cut down his power output to a meager ninety-seven percent of its one-hundred percent.

Once the sun had started to set, Soifon called off the practicing and told him that they would continue again every day after training until she could barely sense it, and seeing how progress was going she knew that that day was going to be a long damn time from now. She then bid Hanataro and Shinjiro farewell, ignoring Ichigo completely since he was the source of her new found stress, before returning to her office to call in Omaeda for his 'punishment'. The boys parted ways soon after the captain, Hanataro to return to his division, while Shinjiro had to see Soifon for a place to stay as he wasn't really allowed back into the ninth division because he was on leave by his captain and was helping to oversee things.

Ichigo proceeded back to his room when he started feeling like he was being watched by someone, shrugging it off as merely being around a bunch of spy-ninja like individuals he continued to his room and entered yet the feeling remained. He quickly did an about face turning back to the door and still saw nothing in the hallway as he turned back around he nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Subaru sitting on his bed barely two feet away arrogantly fanning herself like she owned the room.

"You know you could have knocked or came out and said 'hi', Kujo-san." Ichigo snarked irritably, while he tried to calm down his racing heart rate from the sudden appearance of the girl. '_Seriously who sneaks up and stalks people like that?'_

The woman closed her eyes and didn't even face him as she continued in fanning herself, "I will remind you that your body was aware of my presence, though I did allow you to notice me, and since you did nothing about it, I simply took it as your allowance of my actions, at any time you could have called out and asked that I reveal myself. On a further note, I did tell you that I would answer some of your questions should you still be here, which you are hence I am honor bound to fulfill my end of the deal."

Ichigo thought for a moment before remembering that he did ask her of this and nodded his head before he sat down on the bed next to her so they could begin their question and answer period. "So I can ask you anything Kujo-san?" he asked, seeking clarification on the matter.

Subaru paused slightly hesitant and thought about what words to use before responding, "Yes, though I do reserve the right to refuse any questions you may have. Also as we're not on duty at the moment if it pleases you, you may address me as merely Subaru, nothing more, and nothing less."

"Agreed, but only if you call me Ichigo," he proposed to which she nodded her head in agreement, and not a second later launched his first question, "So, how exactly do you and Soifon-Taichō know each other?"

"…first: Ichigo, since she's not here you don't have to say 'Taichō' at least to me, and secondly: may I ask what brings this specific question up? As you can plainly tell, we work in the same division so we're going to know each other, no?" she answered cautiously, keeping mental tabs on everything.

"Actually…from what I 'felt?' about her from the impression she gave me yesterday and today. She doesn't really tolerate outbursts, upstarts or interruptions and thinking back to when I first met you both, you had a few outbursts but she didn't do anything." he stated having remember what Subaru did and compared it to that guy who was late today, "So why exactly is my question?"

Subaru looked into the eyes of Ichigo to see if anything might betray underhanded intentions, when she couldn't detect any she decided she could answer the question…loosely.

"We've known about each other for a good while probably longer than you've been alive. Our first encounter of each other occurred many years ago when Shinjiro and I were living in the Rukongai districts." she paused to allow the information to seep in and allow her to phrase the answer to her liking, "One day, we happened to arrive at the Fon family estate and saw her. That was our first encountering of each other." She finished while Ichigo looked on sort of expecting more and when nothing happened, he started suspecting that she didn't wish to continue any further on the subject.

"Would you consider telling me more about that later?" he asked hoping to be able to keep that conversation open for a rainy day.

"Perhaps, anything else you may wish to ask?"

"What can you tell me about Soifon herself exactly?" he asked, since his inner Hollow wanted this question asked almost immediately and he himself was kind of curious, though not entirely for the same reason as him, well mostly since there was always sliver of truth when it came to dark Zangetsu.

"Normally, I believe if you're going to ask _those _kinds of questions, you should go to the source itself. Unfortunately, Soifon normally doesn't have that kind of time to sort through and listen to such trivial matters." She said with cold indifference, which wasn't lost on Ichigo subtly letting him know he needed to pick his words very carefully now or else they might be his last.

"I…just wanted to know…what she was like as a person. You know her best and I'd rather not get on her bad side." he said half-truthfully though it didn't seem to convince her at all since she was supposed to be good at detecting lies.

"I don't fully intend on answering your question, though I will grant you that you dying because of your stupidity would reflect badly on Soifon." She conceded knowing that her sister's reputation would be called into question as she wasn't promoted to the Taichō seat by…normal means. "If you try and abuse this knowledge in any form, fashion, or way I will _personally_ ensure that your mother, Masaki Kurosaki, pays the price." she threatened the boy, already knowing his default reaction and having calculated the risks long before hand.

Ichigo's eyes lit with fury as he roughly grabbed the girl by the collar of her shirt and pulled her in close, his fist shaking in barely controlled rage with his inner hollow roaring to rip some shit up, "Alright bitch, listen closely." His typical pleasantness gone, "Don't ever threaten my family or I will destroy you, now tell me how you know that information!" he demanded resisting the itch to starting swinging with Zangetsu to end this person.

Subaru's eyes took on a much darker look that promised equal pain and suffering, as she gazed back into Ichigo's brown spheres, "To answer your question Ichigo, I know this because it is my job to know such information. There isn't a single soul in Rukongai, hollow on the battlefield or Taichō in their office whose secrets and background information I don't know." She spoke in a tone that felt like a violent gust slapping him in the face in the middle of winter, coldly biting into him before breaking away for next wave of air to continue the assault. "I have so much information and blackmail material that I know personally and have the means to have even more at the tips of my fingers within seconds of my so choosing that I could literally force Soul Society to disband itself, though it comes with my job."

Ichigo's expression briefly opened up into astonishment, at what she claimed to be able to do if push truly came to shove.

"Next, I threatened your family as you may be a threat to mine." She said and when confusion came on Ichigo's face she sighed before gently removing his hand. "Soifon is kin to me and Shinjiro, and I've noticed your behavior whenever she's around. It's as if you have some kind of hidden…obsession with her. I will not put my sister in danger because I am honor bound to someone else; my loyalty is to her and my family which takes precedence over everything, that includes all of the Gotei 13 itself." she stated in gentle yet firm voice much like a mother looking after a child instead of an icy blizzard moments ago.

Ichigo turned away from the female and cast his gaze down at the floor slowly calming his anger for her dangerous but justified outburst moments ago. He sighed because he knew that he couldn't really hold it against her, since he would probably have done the same thing if someone was eyeing one of his siblings, if he had any, and could get away with it. He raised his head back up to face her and moved his line of sight into her eyes and saw absolutely no contempt for himself only concern for another, her apparent sister Soifon.

He caved, knowing that neither of them was right or wrong for their words and actions. "Look, I concede that your sister is beautiful but…I don't think I see her like that." He said though he had a slight blush for some reason, he wasn't entirely sure on, though he quickly banished it for a scowl.

"Really now," Subaru raised an eyebrow and managed to suppress her smirk, "You honestly expect me to believe that?"

"W-what?" he said blushing harder at her words.

Subaru shook her head in disappointment and muttered something about Shinjiro being sharper than him, "Ichigo, I believe I stated earlier that I know everything about others, I've encountered or my spies have encountered. I already know your mannerisms, as well as you celibacy of the opposite sex, and my sister is a clear break in your traditional responses when dealing with women."

"Bullshit!" Ichigo snapped not willing to believe what she was saying slightly out of embarrassment at being found out by the target of his minimal affection's sister.

Subaru cleared her throat before speaking in an attempted Ichigo voice, "I'm sorry Matsumoto-san; however you're just not my type. You're a fun loving girl and I like that about you, but I just don't see us working out sorry."

Ichigo paled slightly, because that was what actually what happened almost word for word. Subaru smiled a bit more before quoting again, "Forgive me, Hinamori-san. I do think you're kind of cute, but I just don't see you that way, I'm sorry."

Ichigo now started to twitch and was beginning to wonder if this constituted as an invasion of privacy, "I'm really, really sorry Kiyone-san, but I will not be your 'Kaien'."

"Alright! I get it! Enough!" Ichigo yelled completely flustered that this…this person knew nearly everything about him and seemed to derive some sick form of pleasure from showing and saying all these things to his face.

'_Daaaaamn King. This chick's got all kinds of dirt on you. Remind me to remind you to never get on her bad side!'_

"I'm also going to remind you that when you said all of that you kept a straight face and didn't flinch or blush in the slightest," Subaru said back in her own voice, "though when you looked at my sister, I saw your breathing level change in elevation, while your gaze held a certain…light to it. Let's not forget the way you blush almost immediately on your own and refused to meet Soifon's gaze, so I'm already aware of your attraction to her. Although, I'm going to admit it did come as a surprise to me, considering you Ichigo."

Ichigo decided to forgo the ending commentary, "So now that we're back on friendlier terms, will you please answer my question Subaru?" he asked scratching the back of his head.

"Forceful aren't we?" she joked and then she laughed seeing the boy's reaction. "Well, she is a very fair minded individual. She, like you, believes that hard work should be rewarded and doesn't take kindly to those who don't or haven't earned their keep. Omaeda for instance comes to mind. She also believes firmly in the law and it is because of certain…incidents that she's become more ruthless, though it's only a façade that those truly close to her can penetrate." She said solemnly, her face contorting into a look of hate for the briefest of moments for reminding herself of the incident that changed her sister.

Ichigo decided to not question what the incident was since it seemed to not only be personal to Soifon but also to Subaru herself and possible Shinjiro if they were all as close as she was saying. "Thank-you Subaru, you've helped me cultivate a new opinion on Soifon. I will…reflect on what you've said." he said sagely wanting to take this new found information to heart.

The dark violet haired girl smiled fox like, "Don't worry about it, besides contrary to popular belief Soifon is still a person under her rough exterior, and in every person beats a heart," she moved closer and looked right into Ichigo's eye and whispered, "I wonder if you will touch hers…" Ichigo shuddered slightly from the seductive way she made it sound and watched her get up and proceed to leave as she opened the door, she turned back to face him one last time. "Good Luck Ichigo. You will need it to survive, both in this division and in the real world." and left, leaving him all by himself.

* * *

(Omake Without Morals!)

Off stage

Ichigo: Hey Subaru I heard an interesting rumor earlier and thought I'd ask.

Subaru (curious): Very well, please enlighten me.

Ichigo: I heard that you play chess with Mayuri…using people.

Subaru (calmly): That is correct.

Ichigo: How can you do such a thing!

Subaru (bored): Simple. I don't know them hence I don't care about them

Ichigo (angry): Their people Subaru!

Subaru: Answer me this then. Do you mourn the loss of people around the world each day? Do you cry with every death that occurs?

Ichigo (taken aback): Well no.

Subaru: It's exactly the same thing as me. You don't care because you don't know them. All I was doing was proving a point to Mayuri that just because Generals use Shogi or Chess to plan doesn't mean it computes to the real world.

Ichigo:...

Subaru (candidly): Besides we were only using virtual simulations of people…

Ichigo (surprised): What?

Subaru (incredulous): Wait…so you thought I used REAL people? Are you insane do you know how illegal that would be! Granted I don't care about people I don't know but that doesn't make me some cold evil heartless bitch!

Ichigo: S-sorry, it's just its Mayuri who you're doing it with!

Subaru (sheepishly): I…see. I suppose he is without morals. But still…!

(Omake Without Morals! End)

* * *

Author's end

Blackout2010: And so that's chapter two. I gotta say fightings hard.

Soifon: Well hopefully you get better over time.

Blackout2010: No kidding.

Shinjiro: Relax, everything will work out in the end.

Blackout2010: Hopefully...anyway leave a review to let us know what you think or any questions you may have.

Subaru: See you in act three.


	3. Good news for you, Ichigo!

Ichigo: I called it.

Blackout2010: Shut it...

Soifon: Here's a training regimen I came up with, perhaps it will help you with your will power problem.

Blackout2010 (reading): You want me to wrestle a TIGER...BLINDFOLDED!

Soifon: Whatever doesn't kill you...

Blackout2010: But this will!

Shinjiro: Tell you what why don't you maintain a five distance.

Blackout2010: I suppose I could try it.

Ichigo: Or you could do Soifon's training regiment

Blackout2010: I'll go with Shins Idea...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Well... except for my stuff.

Beta edit: Mbpicke

* * *

Ch.3 Good news for you Ichigo!

Several months had passed since Ichigo began to work in the Second division and during his stay he had improved quite a bit. His Hakudo skills had gone from the level of a street brawler to a semi-skilled Martial Artist and his speed both flash step and regular running speed had gone up in leaps and bounds after lots of practice at speed tasks assigned at morning drills, in comparison to when he first arrived with only better than average Zanjutsu-ship and a rough fighting style.

This was due to his new training regimen which blew his training back from the tenth completely out of the water. He could scarcely recall the hardest day back in the tenth not even being close to half the work he had to put into in the Special Forces especially under the vigilant eye of Captain Soifon.

The woman just seemed to take a delight in making sure that his training was much harsher than the others of her squad and then forcing him to spar with her after every drill session was over; though afterward, she'd show a small switch in attitude when she helped assist Ichigo with the suppression and control of his spiritual power. Ichigo however chalked the small increase in pleasantry to the presence of Subaru or Shinjiro, since they were in a similar boat as her.

So far they had made significant progress: His constant energy output had been reduced to about sixty-five percent of his total power, which he was grateful for since he saw his fellow Shinigami were a little less on edge around him over the few months spent during his stay. To further assist his growth Ichigo had been keeping in close contact with his Zanpaktou spirit; the real one not his deranged psychotic one, although his progress with that had led to some-what mixed results.

He had come to learn that Zangetsu would always be in constant release form, no matter how much he would try and suppress his power. The wise spirit also informed him that he also possessed a signature attack that would greatly assist Ichigo in combat thus explaining the reason as to why it preferred to stay in it's constant release state, but also warned him to be patient in learning it; because, as Ichigo was, he didn't have the resolve or the experience to employ the attack without disastrous aftereffects.

Today, Ichigo had been called to Soifon's office apparently to discuss something important concerning Ichigo himself. He knocked on the door leading to her office and waited until she gave her acknowledged "enter". Stepping in, he saw her sitting at her desk facing the paper work, giving only a sparing glance at him at first.

Placing the document down, she turned fully to him. "Sloppy-Kurosaki." she said making Ichigo scowl fiercely at the nickname.

Ichigo had hated that nickname with a passion, ever since the day he first received it from her during one of their training sessions. He constantly asked her why she gave him such a demeaning designation and she would always say, 'it befits your pathetic abilities, and I'll keep calling you it until you can prove yourself competent, Sloppy-Kurosaki.'

Shaking his head, he squared his eyes at her, "Ichigo Kurosaki, reporting Soifon-Taichō."

She arrogantly smirked, "It seems you've learned to control your emotions better. I'm glad to see that you really are actually learning something. Now for the reason as to why I've called you in today: it was simply to inform you that tomorrow is actually your scheduled day off. With the build of work as of late I had forgotten to tell you earlier, consider it rectified now."

Ichigo looked at her suspiciously, he normally wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth but this was Captain Soifon, the cold hearted workaholic assassin of squad two.

When did she ever do days off?

"Are you…feeling ok, Soifon-Taichō?"

The woman arched her eye brow in confusion "I am. Why do you ask exactly?"

"It's just…umm…well…" he struggled not sure how to put his words together without coming off as insulting.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for his meaning to suddenly click for Soifon. "Ahh, I see." she said adjusting in her chair to get a better view of whatever reaction he might have, "You must think that I don't give people days off don't you?" his silence was all the answer she needed. "(Sigh) Look sloppy-Kurosaki, despite how I may occasionally come off to people, I do give respite to the deserving. I am not an ogre;" a mean-spirited smirk crossed her face "However…if you truly wish to come in to work I can arrange it as such."

"No, thank-you Soifon-Taichō!" he said rapidly, not eager to lose his first ever day off since joining the squad.

"Good, now get out of my sight. I have to train some of the Trackers."

He quickly bowed and exited the office, while she flash stepped away to other duties. As soon as he exited, he ran into the gelatinous form of the Fukutaichō of the stealth forces: Marechiyo Omaeda. When Ichigo's eyes told him who he was seeing, his expression contorted into disgust as he grit his teeth for the impending squabble between the two of them.

This intense dislike started shortly after Ichigo got the formal introduction to him, since he had assumed the large man was sort of like Hanataro Yamada, with his whole clumsy but determined thing. Oh, how wrong he was! After spending a good two minutes with the guy both sides of Zangetsu were calling for the man's death.

He was a bully: arrogant, weak and only received his position of power because of his family's connection, not his own self-worth. He sooner shirked off his duties on other unseated officers or new faces, before accomplishing them himself; something he had tried to do to Ichigo which only further the divide between them.

Ichigo had decided to bide his time. He knew that directly attacking a fellow officer, especially a senior, outside of very specific circumstances would have a backlash against him and, if big enough, towards Soifon as well, who would be none too happy with him. So instead he met him verbally, never getting into the physicality of things, but soon. Soon he'd challenge Omaeda for his 'prestigious' Fukutaichō position, all he needed to do was have be with the squad for a year and have approval of the match from the acting Taichō in charge aka Soifon. He wasn't too worried about getting the Taichō approval; especially, if some of the rumors he had heard about the woman's displeasure with the man. He just needed to wait till the year stint was up.

And then the blood would fly.

When Omaeda realized he was bumped into, he looked down at his _assailant_. He practically became livid when he saw the spiky orange hair of Ichigo, "Watch where you're going commoner!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Then maybe you shouldn't be standing right outside the only entrance and exit of a room, Dumbass!"

"Shut it, fourth seat! I'm still your superior and you know it." Omaeda snarled, his short temper kicking in.

"Tch, yeah I know. You never seem to forget to flaunt that fact; even though, you seem to forget that I could, no, I **can** kick your ass on and off the battlefield!" Ichigo boasted, feeling the ever returning itch to use his blade; an itch that wanted to desperately be scratched.

"Oh yeah!?"

"Yeah!"

"I think you two should stop your arguing before I will be forced to intervene, for the peace of the squad and Soifon-Taichō." a familiar peaceful sounding voice threatened the men.

They both looked down the hallway and saw the approaching form of Shinjiro Taiga. Both men paled for different reasons. Ichigo: because he was not only higher up in rank, but was also stronger and a more experienced warrior then himself. Omaeda: because while he did have 'seniority' over Shinjiro, it didn't take a person very long to see that the samurai was not only very good friends with the Taichō in charge, but also seemed to be her close confidant; who again outranked everyone in the escalating situation…and while he never publicly admitted it, the second division lieutenant's crush on his captain would never be realized, if he got on the bad side of those who knew Soifon's emotional weaknesses and things that could win her affection.

An Omaeda always tried to keep the odds in their favor after all.

"No, that's perfectly alright Taiga-san/Shinjiro-sempai." They said as one, both not wanting to ruin the eternally cheery mood, the third seat was in.

"Good." He smiled childishly, "Oh yeah, Ichigo-san. Your mother sent a letter saying she would like to see you soon and know how things are going. So you should probably hop to it, after all a mother will always worry."

"Yeah, you're right thanks, Shinjiro-san!" and flashed stepped out of the complex, determined to have a home visit.

Shinjiro turned back to Omaeda who looked warily at him

"W-what? What are ya starin' at?" the giant asked, trying to avoid saying something he might regret.

Shinjiro tilted his head at the question still smiling "Well…It's just that Soifon-Taichō is currently unavailable and there is paperwork still left over…" his voice trailed as he got a bit closer to Omaeda "I'm wondering if she'd be happy to return to no paperwork since you're the only one allowed in there during this hour?"

Shinjiro was about to go on but Omaeda turned around and ran into the Taichō's office at full speed, spouting something about impressions. Shinjiro shrugged before turning back towards the training field, eager to get a bit more sword practice in before going on a date with Subaru later.

(Rukongai district 24: on the path to the Kurosaki residence)

Ichigo raced home through the streets of Rukongai as quickly as possible. The public's opinion on Shinigami presence in this particular district was mostly mixed. The area was made up of mostly common class nobles and high ranking 'citizens' unlike the first ten districts with people such as the four great clans of soul society and the last ten with murderers and hollow attacks. Ichigo was one of the few Shinigami that were accepted, though it might have been because of his relationship with his mother and her current marital status.

Ichigo's face broke into a sweet smile as he thought about his mother. Oh, he missed her dearly, her long vibrant locks of blondish-orange hair, her smooth skin, beautiful blue eyes and that eternally kind smile. She was an impressive woman, constantly hounded by higher nobles for her grace, beauty, and poise but what made her accepted and by extension Ichigo was the woman underneath. She was a very kind soul with a heart almost if not bigger than the fourth division's smiling angel Retsu Unohana; to him she was the goddess of his world.

Before Ichigo knew it he was standing in front of the apartment that his mother resided in, he flashed up to the door, ignoring the stairs that he used to take before becoming a Shinigami, and gave two gentle knocks on the door.

"Who is it?" his mother called with her soothing voice.

"Mom! It's me! Your son, I've come home!" Ichigo replied.

A sudden crashing of noises was heard and the shuffling of feet, and the door swung open and standing there was his disheveled looking mother happily surprised to see him.

"My strawberry, you're back!" she yelled throwing her arms around him and pulling him in for a tight hug, causing Ichigo to blush, "M-mother not in public, and didn't we agree that my name meant 'number one guardian' not 'strawberry'?

Masaki laughed "Ohohoho! Strawberry-chan, don't you know mother is always right? Now come inside and tell me how you've been." Ichigo nodded his head as he couldn't agree more to the request, lest his hard earned reputation go down the drain because Subaru's spies, where ever they were, happened to hear this little gem of blackmail material.

He walked inside the apartment following his mother to the small table in the center of the kitchen, where various memories of the many conversation they had occurred from a simple 'How was your day?' to the important 'I wanna go to the Shino Shinigami academy!' he sat down in the wooden chair, while his mother sat across from him with her joyful smile.

"It's good to see you again, son. How have you been these past few months?"

"I've been doing pretty well recently. I don't know if you got the letter I sent you, but if not then I'll just tell you myself. I just recently got a transfer and a promotion."

"What? Really! I'm so proud of you, so which division was fortunate enough to get you're helping hand?" she asked starry eyed, causing him to smile.

"I was transferred over to the second division's SPECIAL FORCES unit and was promoted to the rank of fourth seat from my old position of sixth!" he said his tone proud of his accomplishment's even though technically they weren't accomplishments.

But hey it's his mom, what son doesn't want to make her proud?

She leaned in closer and started to clap her hands rapidly, like a child who was getting their way, "Oooh! So you're the fourth seat, now! Congratulations! So who are your superiors?"

"Well, the third seat is a strange woman named Subaru Kujo," He said a mental image of the enigmatic third seat popping into his head, "I say strange because she has this weird habit of knowing everything about people and using it against them, but otherwise she's a nice person to be around and…umm oh!" remembering Shinjiro, who also appeared, now standing beside the mental Subaru, "She's also married to a friend of mine, third seat of the ninth, Shinjiro Taiga. Speaking of Shinjiro, he's kind of like his captain Tosen in that he wants to eventually bring peace to the afterlife which is kind of awesome. He and I occasionally spar with each other in Zanjutsu matches non-release of course, and he occasionally gives me advice on things." Ichigo did not feel quite ready to reveal that he'd secretly been getting dating advice from the man, lest he figure out his angle and tell Subaru or god forbid Soifon.

"They sound like wonderful people, who else is there in the second division?"

His previous enthusiasm hit rock bottom when he remembered the Fukutaichō "Well, the second seat is kind of a jerkass. He's one of the major nobles and he's got an attitude to match. I just can't stand the guy, he's all about posture and image, not what's underneath. We just don't see eye to eye at all…" his voice trailing off and his eyes digging holes into a nearby wall, as he imagined kicking the guy's ass all over Seireitei.

Masaki saw this and put a firm hand on his shoulder and used her other to gentle make her son look at her in the face, "Listen, Ichigo," her voice soft and soothing, "I know you don't like them, since your father and I went our separate ways when you were born. But please don't hold it against all nobles; you never know Ichigo in a moment of crisis he could very well show his hidden character."

"I suppose you right." he conceded since he didn't feel like arguing with her.

'_**Yeah! The hidden character known as the left side of his ass!'**_ His hollow sneered.

Ichigo frowned at the commentary, which Masaki saw and grew concerned; "Are you ok son?" she asked gingerly "Is it…that voice in your head again?"

"No, Not at all. Just didn't want to accept what you said being true but it is…" he spoke trying to wave off her fears, which worked as she returned to her normal cheery behavior.

"Well, that's good. So now that I've heard about all the other who run's your division?"

Ichigo blushed as a mental image of Soifon appeared "Ummm…my Taichō is new you might not have heard of her and all…"

Masaki tilted her head "Well then tell me and I'll decide."

"…Soifon-Taichō" he muttered almost inaudibly, his blush getting a tint redder.

Masaki looked at her son wondering why he was so quiet and blushing when he said the name 'Soifon'. She slowly started to put two and two together, the mystery about it was starting to make sense to her now and a wide grin started to spread across her face, much to Ichigo's dread, "Now mom listen it's not what you think it's-"

"Oh, Ichigo is it true?" she paused for a second to see his reaction, which said it all to her "Ohh! It is!"

She then ran from the table at speeds that would have impressed any Shinigami and went to her room, locking her door behind her in one quick action. As Ichigo reached the door he heard a few banging noises and the opening and closing of dressers and drawers, before his mother loudly yelled out "OOOHHH, ISSHIN! OUR LITTLE STRAWBERRY HAS FINALLY GROWN AND BEGAN TO BUD. HE NOW HAS THE DESIRE TO GERMINATE WITH OTHERS AND GROW! OH, WHAT A TRULY HAPPY DAY!"

Ichigo dropped his head in defeat, before banging it against the door repeatedly, until it opened and Masaki jumped at him and started to kiss his check rapidly, "So, you've finally felt the tugging of a heart string. I'm so proud of you my son!"

"Look, mother, it's not what you think." he tried to explain only to be cut off by being embraced in a hug.

"You don't have to say a word." Her voice becoming much calmer, "I'm just really, really, happy that you might have found someone and that you've got some friends, honey."

Ichigo didn't say anything. "You've changed a lot since you've gone to this 'second division', before you were never this enthusiastic only giving brief glimmers of smiles on your face whenever we talked about either Hitsugaya-san or Rangiku-chan. I was worried about you and now that your back it makes me want to smile even brighter. So please have your fun and enjoy your time with them, for me ok, son?" she spoke giving a wry smile.

"Alright, I promise." He said, leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Oh yeah, mother. Tomorrow I've got a day off, would you perhaps like to see the second division with me?" He invited, since what better way to spend his day off, then with his mom and new friends?

"I would love to son." She said happily before adding, "I'll also be able to visit my future daughter-in-law!"

Ichigo just buried his head into her shoulder and left out a muffled groan while his mother laughed at her son's misfortune.

* * *

Ichigo: So that Chapter 3 huh?

Masaki: Thank-you for allowing me the chance to be with strawberry-chan for a while longer, I usually don't get to show up at all.

Blackout2010: That's alright, there's a reason. As I said some characters will show up while others may not.

Masaki: True. But I'll be able to see my beloved Isshin right?

Blackout2010:...

Masaki: Right?

Blackout2010 (turning away):...

Masaki (bawling): OH MY GOD, MY ISSHIN-CHAN!

Ichigo (sweatdrop): ahh...see ya next chapter.


	4. A mother's visit to the fabled second

AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENT!

To Mr/s. Unknown Reviewer of chapter 2. I would first off like to say to you (if you are there) thank-you for taking the time to read my story and reviewing. I do wish that you had signed in so that I could try and address your issues and concerns privately, so as not to possibly spoil something for others. I will say this everything I do has a purpose to it, even if something seems radically over powered or whatnot, it's only because it has a subtle weakness. I will try and take some of your words to heart, so I can improve. So again thank-you for your review.

As for everyone else out there, well enjoy your fic and please don't be afraid (not that I'm calling you a coward or anything) to leave a review, it let's me see what YOUR perspective on things are. Which can lead to enlightened conversation on how you got to think that or answer a question you might otherwise have. Again I'm here to help you, with spoiling too much. Anyway thanks for listening now please enjoy Chapter 4.

Disclaimed: I do not own any characters that appear in this story. They belong to their respective creators.

Beta edit provided by mbpicke

* * *

Ch.4 A Mother's Visit to the Fabled Second

The next morning, Ichigo and Masaki got up early to dress and prepare breakfast, so that Ichigo could get around to showing her the second division. As Ichigo pulled on his Shinigami hakama, the smell of eggs and toast filled his nose and forced his body towards the kitchen where his mother was cooking in a light orange-colored kimono. He bided his mother a good morning which she cheerfully returned as she brought him the food so he could set the table. They ate quickly so that they could avoid any unnecessary detours and spend as much time together on Ichigo's only day off, even going as far to just leave the dishes in the sink instead of washing them immediately just to save time, though Ichigo simply considered his mother just wanted to get to the second as quickly as possible to satisfy her excitement. As they stepped out of the family home, Masaki locked the door and at her son's insistence hoped unto Ichigo's back before they sped off back towards the Seireitei.

After about 30 minutes of traveling they stopped in front of the second division barracks. As Ichigo began informing the guards who he was and the purpose of his guest, Masaki was looking around everywhere in awe having never actually come to this particular division before. After confirming his identification the pair entered the building and started to proceed through the dim hallways.

"This is so exciting, honey! I'm so proud of you!" the orange-haired female gushed in a giddy pitch; after all it wasn't every day that your son was among the elite of the elite and gave you a tour.

"Shhh! Keep it down! And stop with the '_honey_' mom. I don't want people to hear about that nickname especially the people of this division!" The taller of the two hushed, not wanting anyone to hear such pride-scarring information.

Masaki smile falter a bit and she glanced around the area quickly. "What people are talking about? I mean besides the guards we saw earlier I haven't seen anyone. It's just us here sweety."

"I believe he means someone like me, Masaki Kurosaki-sama." A mysterious voice whispered next to the pair startling Ichigo's mother and leaving Ichigo to groan at his misfortune, he closed his eyes seeing Subaru of all people emerge from one of the many shadowy corridors.

Masaki looked between the two Shinigami, silently taking in the interaction between them which led to her greatest conclusion imaginable "So, wait, are you Ichigo's soul mate?" she asked mistaking Ichigo's action of placing his hand over his face as a way to hide his embarrassment instead of exasperation and mental resignation.

Ichigo groaned out even louder as Subaru chuckled at the implication, "No, Kurosaki-sama. I am not the one to your son's heart." The spy corrected in a quiet voice. "However; I do know the girl who is and she is very close to me." The woman gave a very deep and respectful bow, "Allow me to introduce myself, third seat of the second division, Subaru Kujo."

She then turned to Ichigo "So Ichigo, what brings you back here on your first ever day off? I would have thought you'd go somewhere else instead of your workplace."

"Actually Subaru, I was telling my mother about you all here in the second division. She seemed really interested so I thought I'd show her around."

The woman's eyes lit up with understanding, "Oh I see. Well just remember Ichigo: that we can't let any of our or Soul Society's secrets get out or they might cause trouble for you and her. So I implore you to be mindful of where you decide to wander to." Subaru cautioned.

"Riiight." Ichigo replied acknowledging her concern. He didn't want to ruffle any of the higher-ups feathers especially his merciless captain "Oh, by the way, are Shinjiro and Hanataro here as well or is it just you?"

"Yes, they are here too. In fact I was on my way to meet them. Would you care to accompany me?"

"Yeah, sure."

"If you would be so kind Kujo-san."

"Of course, please follow me." she said with a faint smile as she took the lead.

So the three set off in the direction of the training field, along the way Masaki asked Subaru questions ranging from, 'What do you do around here?' to the popular 'Where is my son's soul mate?' which forced Ichigo to cover his mortified face. Ichigo could tell that Subaru was answering some of the easier questions truthfully while some of the 'harder' ones were said with lots of double meaning if not intentional misleading.

As they arrived at the training grounds they saw Shinjiro standing next to Hanataro and seemingly instructing him on something, a moment later a fireball erupted out of his hands and hit the training dummy about 10 feet away from them.

"And that's how you do Soukatsui." He instructed calmly before backing away to give the medic the floor "Your turn Hanataro-kun."

"Y-yes, Taiga-san!"

Hanataro took a small step forward and extended his hand out and began to chant the incantation. Shinjiro watched on to check the young healer's form and only turned away to Ichigo and company when he saw them out of the corner of his eye.

"Well hello there Ichigo! What brings you here," he asked and took a curious glance at the orange haired woman next to him, "And who's your friend?"

The woman bowed "I'm Masaki Kurosaki, Ichigo's mother."

"Ah, where are my manners," The man returned the bow, "Third seat of squad nine, Shinjiro Taiga, at your service milady."

"Not to interrupt the niceties, but to answer your question; Shin, I'm showing my mother the second division and introducing her to some of my friends." said Ichigo, extending his hand out towards Hanataro and himself.

Shinjiro nodded his head "I see, I see, well it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. So I guess you guys ran into Su-chan on your way here." He concluded as he turned a loving expression back at his wife.

The response that Ichigo saw from the woman exceeded anything he had ever expected "Y-you! That ack-err…Don't call me that Shinjiro!" A blushing Subaru yelled at him "…at…at least not at work." She muttered, getting a chuckle from those present and hollow Zangetsu saying he would definitely file that away for later use.

"So you were just practicing some kido with Hanataro?" Ichigo asked as he turned the group's attention away from the embarrassed woman.

"Yup! Though he messes up the incantations every now and then, he's definitely improving!"

"Hadou 33: Soukatsui!" Hanataro yelled from behind the group, causing everyone to turn and see the fruits of his labor. A much smaller burst of flames shot out of his hand and struck the shoulder of the dummy, leaving a small but noticeable scorch mark. Hanataro's nervous attitude turned into elation at the attack, "D-did you see that! I actually managed to hit it!"

"Congratulations Hanataro-kun." said Shinjiro as he patted him on the back "You've come a long way these past few weeks."

"Well, that's because I've had a good teacher…" the modest seventh seat said.

Shinjiro shook his head "Not true. I'm not all that good, heck I think Ichigo probably uses Kido more handedly then I do. If he wasn't so busy with second division, I'm sure he would have been glad to help."

"Speaking of helping, how about a friendly spar Shin?" asked Ichigo, a bit eager to get the lead out and show his mom what he could do. He thought maybe if he impressed her enough he could finally put an end to that ridiculous nickname she always called him.

Upon hearing the challenge his mother frowned with concern, "Is that allowed? Won't you get in trouble for that since you told me he was from another division?" she asked knowing that fights between different divisions usually ended up in trouble.

"Oh, it ok Masaki-san, we'll be fine so long as we don't get too rowdy." The male third seat said hoping to put whatever fears she might have to rest "Truth be told, I'm supposed to help Ichigo train to suppress his power, but since that won't happen overnight I've decided to help out and improve his skills in Zanjutsu." The man moved his hand over towards his undecorated Zanpaktou ready to draw it. "Your son is very skilled too and I'm proud to have been a part in his growth. Believe you me; he'll definitely be a forced to be reckoned with once his tour of duty is over."

The mother's face lit up considerably at the man's words and a sense of pride began to fill her at knowing that her son was becoming a man of worth all on his own merits.

As the two swordsmen were getting ready for the match, Subaru recalled a very important detail that she had forgot to mention, "Oh, before you guys start." Subaru interrupted. "Ichigo, I have a very important mission for you tomorrow. I will inform you of your task at nineteen hundred hours in your room. Shinjiro will also be there as well."

"Ok got it." The carrot top confirmed absentmindedly.

He then turned to his mother while his hand reached for Zangetsu "Mom you might want to step back and stand over near Subaru wouldn't want you to get hurt with my spiritual pressure." He then glanced at Subaru, "Subaru if you could please make a small barrier it'd be appreciated."

The woman nodded "Of course. Leave it to me. Hanataro-kun, please stand next to me so as to minimize collateral damage."

The group separated leaving Shinjiro and Ichigo in the center of the training ground. Once Subaru and Hanataro raised the barrier to protect themselves and Masaki, both combatants drew their swords and firmly planted the blade's edge into the ground and bowed their heads in respect.

"To those who came before us, watch us and guide so that we may forever uphold the ideals and beliefs that not only we have lived for but for what others have died for. To those who came ahead know that we hold the fallen within the highest of reverence!" the two men chanted in unison.

Behind the barrier Masaki tilted her head in confusion "What are they-"

"They are showing their respect for the various fallen Shinigami before them and asking for their continued guidance in maintain the beliefs and ideals they treasure." Subaru explained to the mother for the men's strange action "It's their little thing whenever they spar. I personally think it's rather thoughtful."

After saying their mantra, the pair both pulled their Zanpaktou out of the ground and gave the other a quick bow.

"You ready Ichigo?" the dark haired boy asked gripping his otherwise undecorated and unreleased Zanpaktou.

"On three." Ichigo replied lifting his huge weapon steadily in his hands and placing his foot back in his regular stance.

"One." said Ichigo tightening his grip on the blade.

"Two." counted off Shinjiro as he gathered reiatsu into his arms and blade.

"Three!" they yelled as they both charged at each other, the blades colliding into each other with enough force to cause the branches on a nearby tree to go flying off of it.

Ichigo being the physically stronger of the two pushed Shinjiro back and brought his sword forward, following up the opening that he created from the quick dead lock.

Shinjiro smoothly side stepped to avoid the attack and swung his sword over the length of Ichigo's blade, aiming to cut his chest and disarm him.

Ichigo, seeing the blade rushing at him, pushed all his weight into his foot and jumped back narrowly avoiding the swipe and quickly flash stepped behind Shinjiro, his blade coming to crash down from over-head on his sempai, who was still mid-swing.

Shinjiro managed to spin around enough and blocked the strike with his Zanpaktou causing them to dead lock again. The blades started to screech against each other from the force being applied, neither one giving an inch.

"Not bad Ichigo!" the third seat grunted out, seeing as Ichigo's speed and strength had increased by leaps and bounds since his initial arrival.

Ichigo grinned in kind, slowly applying more strength to the struggle "It's still too early, Shin. Let turn it up a bit!"

The pair jumped apart but this time Ichigo thrusted his hand out and yelled "Hadou 31: Shakkaho!"

A burst of flames erupted from his hands and rushed towards the dark haired boy who held his blade across his body while being supported by his free hand "Bakudo 7: Kaze Kabe!" he shouted, as a barrier of wind emerged in front of him and dissipated the fire, but left him blind from the smoke. He returned his hand back to his sword in preparation for the imminent attack.

Shinjiro's eyes started to scan around to see where his friend would come from next, a moment passed before pain erupted from Shinjiro's side as Ichigo had flash stepped towards him and gave him a swift kick to the side sending him flying to the wall. Just before crashing through it he put foot on the wall and kicked off it and landed in his typical kendo stance.

Ichigo using his momentum from earlier launched a Shakkaho fire spell at the man who countered with his own. When the spells collided with each other a great flame burst outward sending sparks towards the protective barrier and surrounding area. Though the flames did little to diminish the intensity the two fighters had as they merely weaved through the remnant sparks towards their opponent.

Shinjiro swung his blade diagonally across to weaken the Ichigo's kido slinging arm. The man grimaced at the slight blow and counter attacked by tackling the swordsman to the ground.

Once Shinjiro was pinned down, Ichigo started to wail down on him trying to beat the man into submission to which his opponent dropped his sword to block against the blows. After Ichigo's third strike, Shinjiro punched Ichigo in the gut as he was pulling back and used the momentary pause to throw Ichigo off of him, before quickly rolling backwards to retrieve his blade, and then launching into a flurry of attack, determined to really cut up Ichigo.

Ichigo quickly leaned back and then twisted sideways before lifting up his foot and back flipping, desperately to avoid the quick high powered slashes of the samurai.

As Ichigo dodged yet another slash he slowly lead the swordsman until Zangetsu was behind him. _'Now I got you sempai.'_Ichigo thought, a small idea to regain his blade dawning on him.

Shinjiro seeing that Ichigo looked distracted swung from overhead to cut the man in half, but was nearly surprised when Ichigo caught the blade with his bare hands, preventing him from splitting his face. Ichigo held the blade firmly preventing Shinjiro's attack, and was going to throw it to the side, but a fierce kick from Shinjiro knocked the Shinigami back and freed the blade to cut Ichigo's hand a bit.

Ichigo still feeling the sting of pain, flash stepped behind Shinjiro and delivered a powerful round house kick to his back sending Shinjiro to stumble across the barren dirt, while he used the time to regain Zangetsu.

Pulling the mammoth sized blade out he turned around to see Shinjiro slowly getting back to his feet, with an eager look of excitement on his face to see his Kohai push him around quite a bit, even if he was holding back.

"You're going easy Shin. Are you trying to lose on purpose?" Ichigo taunted, since he did have the upper hand so far at least.

Shinjiro smiled despite his bumps and bruises "Weeell if you insist on getting beaten so much. I'll comply kohai!"

Shinjiro then sheathed his Zanpaktou and turned his body and crouched down, his arm lifted just above his sword in a quick draw stance. A stance that Ichigo had come to fear as the next move that would come would be what Ichigo dubbed as Shinjiro's unavoidable slash.

On the sidelines Masaki was shaking with anticipation, fear and excitement. She couldn't believe the sight before her. Her son, her strawberry was doing all these amazing feats of skill like it was nothing against someone who was supposedly stronger than himself by theoretically three seats. _'Despite how much he hates him he's so much like him at fighting.' _She thought _'Oh…Isshin…if only you could see him…'_

'_Wooaah…I wonder if I'll be…? No! No more wondering one day I __will__ be on their level!' _A resolute Hanataro promised as he looked on in awe of his two heroes.

Subaru was also impressed by the display that Ichigo had shown thus far _'He has learned much, from us all. He's no longer dependent on his blade if some of those moves I saw mixed in to his regular style of combat is a sign of his progress. Congratulations, Kurosaki-san.'_

Back on the battlefield Ichigo gulped and tightened his grip further on Zangetsu, _'I'm not quick enough to dodge it maybe I can distract him with another kido spell.'_

"_**I got an idea king."**_Whispered Hollow Zangetsu.

Shinjiro seeing an opening launched his attack, within a blink of an eye he was behind Ichigo his Zanpaktou out of its sheath a trail of blood flying off the blade, as a large cut appeared across Ichigo's torso. Shinjiro immediately spun around and slashed the back of Ichigo, leaving another cut on the orange haired man.

Ichigo's body slumped forward slightly, but remained otherwise unmoving causing worry to fill those present that Shinjiro may have put too much force and accidently hurt him.

How wrong they were.

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise when Ichigo's body violently whipped around his blade coming towards Shinjiro in a rising arc, making the man jump from shock and try to put up some kind of defense after being caught off guard from the sudden attack.

The attack ripped off a piece of the third seat's outfit and managed to cut him across his shoulder, making him wince from the cut and allowing Ichigo to take the offence and force Shinjiro back, with a mad flurry of sword strikes each one more devastating than the last.

'_ugggh. He's really going all out here. I might just have to release at this rate…'_Shinjiro thought as he blocked yet another vicious blow "That was pretty good acting. I see Subaru been teaching you a thing or two besides fighting." Said Shinjiro knowing that when he and his wife had been alive she was a very famous actress, or at least as she told him since he couldn't remember since becoming a Shinigami.

"I've got to use everything to win, especially against an opponent who's stronger than me such as you, Shin!" Ichigo replied as he jumped back launching another Soukatsui spell to the man, who dodged as it went screaming past him and blew up one of the nearby trees in the square.

"Then I better end this here and now!" yelled the other combatant as he pointed his sword directly at Ichigo, whose eyes widened at what that stance meant. '_He's going to release. I gotta stop him!'_

'_**Trust me! Trust your instincts and swing damn it!'**_The hollow yelled in Ichigo's head.

Unbeknownst to Ichigo a very faint strange white energy started to appear over the blade as Ichigo began to swing his sword. While an equally strange nearly inaudible sound resounded in his head that almost sounded like spoken words.

"Curse those who cross you!" yelled Shinjiro seeing Ichigo move to stop him from bringing out one of his own deadly weapons.

Before either combatant could continue a voice yelled out "Hadou 52: Howaitopirā no bakuhatsu" forcing the two to jump away as a beam of light erupted from the ground where they would have been if they had continued their attack.

Once the beam of light ended, Soifon appeared between the two men with a visibly displeased look on her face. She turned her head to Shinjiro, "Shinjiro what are you doing? You know that fourth seats and up with the exception of Kurosaki over there are forbidden to release their Zanpaktou unless dire situations have occurred. What do you have to say in your defense?"

Shinjiro scratched the back of his head "Sorry Taicho. It's just that Ichigo's come a really long way, and he was practically forcing me to release if I wanted to stay in one piece." Indicating the rather deep cut on his shoulder for emphasis, "Though it's my fault this occurred, please don't hold Kurosaki accountable for this as I challenged him." He explained quickly bowing his head and hoping he wouldn't get Ichigo in trouble.

Soifon silently took in both men's disheveled appearance before letting out a sigh, "I'm not angry, Shinjiro. I'm just surprised. I sense two powerful reiatsu's clashing on my squad's turf what else should I expect but something dangerous being here and considering the condition of the place you can't fault me for my presumption." She said gesturing to the damaged surroundings, to which now that everyone wasn't so focused on the match had to agree that the area had definitely seen better days.

The female Taicho then turned towards Ichigo, "and what about you? Why are you here? I'd have thought this would be the last place for anybody to be at on their day off." A cruel grin suddenly graced her face "unless you actually are a workaholic in which case I have some paperwork in the back that could use some attending…"

"No, not really Soifon-taicho. Actually I was showing my mother the place that I do my best every day." Ichigo said, still trying to appease Soifon.

Soifon merely grunted.

"Mother?" the woman's face spoke volumes of her confusion. Never had she expected that answer from him or anyone for that matter.

"Yeah. She's the woman next to Subaru." Ichigo said as he lazily pointed towards his mother behind the shimmering reiatsu barrier.

Soifon glanced over towards her surrogate sister and sure enough there was another person she didn't recognize but presumed it was indeed his mother because of her vibrant orange hair. The strange orange haired woman smiled and waved at her, to which Soifon nodded so as not to seem rude. "I see." She said accepting his words as truth as she turned back to the man.

"Normally when you wish to show outsiders a division, this division in particular, you must report it to the Taicho in charge for security reasons. Although I don't know what protocol was over in Hitsugaya's division, and I for one know that I never informed you of this, so I'll let this incident slide under the guise of miscommunication." She then waved her hand dismissively, "Besides Kurosaki-san today is your day off. That means you're not on duty, so we lose our commander-subordinate relationship, so just address me as 'Soifon-san', Kurosaki-san." She stated firmly, which got a curious glance from Subaru and Shinjiro, who was currently being healed of any other injuries by Hanataro.

Ichigo frowned at what she said, particularly when she didn't call him 'Sloppy-Kurosaki'. It almost felt like they were suddenly strangers to each other. "Yes, Soifon…san." He said weakly unsure of what to make of it. His eyes shifted over towards his mother who had a faraway look in her eyes, which made him worry for a reason he couldn't quite remember.

Masaki continued in her daze state until she had an 'aha' moment. Quickly she moved around the barrier and walked right up to the captain who had returned her attention back to the devastated surroundings "It's a pleasure to meet you, future daughter-in-law. I am your future mother-in-law Masaki Kurosaki!" his mother chirped eagerly, firmly clasping the hand of the now startled second division captain.

Soifon was completely taken aback from what she said. It took several moments for her mind to properly process the woman's words but when it finally did she felt her body burn like fire. Her fists clenched and unclenched and her eyes twitched as she tried to maintain a straight face.

Turning her head to face Ichigo, she was pleased to see that he had enough dignity to not actively try and hide his embarrassment.

Yes. The hand over his face was a clear sign that he knew this was going to suck.

"So what lies have you been spreading, replacement fourth seat Kurosaki…" she said in a cold un-amused tone causing a few in the group to snicker at the jump in conclusion.

_'Oh Gods…'_ Ichigo moved one of his fingers revealing one of his brown eyes "It's a misunderstanding. Believe me." He said flatly also not wanting this to continue.

"I…see." Soifon mumbled to herself before speaking louder "Well see to it that it doesn't happen again or you will pay the price for your slander!"

As Hanataro finished healing Shinjiro he went over to address Ichigo's wounds, while Soifon looked over the damage caused _'geez. It's a good thing I interrupted when I did otherwise we might not have a meeting ground anymore.'_ She then walked over toward Subaru and whispered so as not to be over heard, "Tell me did you see that strange light around Kurosaki's blade?"

Subaru nodded her head "Yes, I did. If you had not intervened when you did, I think we might be at the fourth division barracks right now begging Unohana-Taicho to save Shinjiro-kun. That blade of his seemed to gather energy and use it with his swing, though he seemed to be unaware of it." She paused to think and breakdown this new information, "Perhaps that is an innate ability of his or maybe even one of the powers of his Zanpaktou?"

Soifon narrowed her eyes "Perhaps. We will have to keep a much closer eye on him lest he releases it against another one of our own. This information stays between us Subaru as an order from your Taicho and older sister." Seeing Subaru nod her head in agreement she continued, "Also in about two weeks you, Shinjiro and Ichigo will go out on a hollow hunt in Rukongai. Perhaps we can get him to learn that strange attack of his."

Having finished the private conversation the two women turned back towards the group and noticed that Ichigo was fully healed courtesy of Hanataro. Feeling that her presence was no longer needed Soifon prepared to flash step away when Ichigo called out to her.

"Hey, Soifon-san can I ask you something?"

Soifon tilted her head slightly in his direction "You already are, but I suppose it couldn't hurt." She responded crossing her arms in front of her.

Ichigo looked straight into his leader's eyes and spoke in a calm tone. "Why aren't you calling me 'Sloppy-Kurosaki'?"

Masaki tilted her head in confusion not really understanding what was going on, so she asked Shinjiro, "What's he talking about?" she whispered like a gossiper hearing a new rumor.

"It's Soifon-Taicho's nickname for him." He whispered back.

Masaki's face went from confusion to cheery at the information, knowing full well what a nickname meant or at least implied.

Soifon shifted her eyes away from the man "Simple. You are not on duty. Hence we lose our Commander-Subordinate relationship. That's it. I've already told you that I'm respectful at least when it comes to off duty matters." She said tersely, her desire to leave suddenly growing in urgency.

Ichigo scowled because something just didn't seem quite right in her mannerism. Like she was trying to hide something. "You said specifically that you'd always call me that until the day I showed I was actually competent. When do you go about changing rules that you set yourself?" he pointed out still not convinced seeing as how Soifon was particularly stiff when it came to rules and regulations.

The assassin took the man's tone as a sign of challenge. "Are you questioning me Kurosaki?" she said dangerously.

"Yes." He said immediately getting bewildered looks from those around him particularly his Taicho.

Now Soifon turned to face him fully; while on the outside she maintained her ice cold poker face on the inside she was having mixed reactions. No one. No one had ever questioned her like that and yet…this man did.

One side of her; the cold methodical captain was ordering her body to kill the man on the spot for his insubordination, but another side…a side that was curious, more disarming, more dominant simply asked her to find out why. Why had she been questioned? Why had he questioned her? And why was she so averse to leaving when he approached her?

"Why exactly?" she asked unsure of where this conversation would go, since most people didn't get a chance to explain, only the business end of Suzumebachi.

"I…don't know why exactly." He admitted which only perplexed the both of them further "It's just you seemed a bit off, almost distracted." He tried to explain "The Soifon-Taicho that I follow is a calm and collected woman who won't hesitate at all to do what she must. From what I'm seeing now; the way you're acting and thinking back on it, it seems almost different. I was just worried I guess." He clarified.

Soifon was floored from what he said. For the first time in a long time she really didn't know what to say, so taking an invisible glance toward her brother and sister she only saw them looking on eagerly to see how this development would go. Though Shinjiro took notice of the invisible hint she was sending and moved to intervene, since Subaru was busy analyzing his answer and seeing what was true and what was false.

"Perhaps, she's having a much more stressful day than normal Ichigo." He said drawing attention towards him and away from Shaolin.

Ichigo stopped and thought about what he said. Before remembering that as a Captain, Soifon had to deal with things that he didn't, plus with running not only the second division but also the Special Forces it must have been hard on her. The orange-haired Shinigami nodded his head and mentally berated himself for his behavior both in front of his mom and to Soifon.

"Hey listen, Soifon-Taicho...err Soifon-san." He corrected throwing in a bow to show his sincerity, "I apologize. I forgot that as a Taicho you've got a lot on your plate and me wrecking the training field and asking you these questions probably isn't helping. So sorry about that."

"It's ok. You were merely worried about my…health." She said continuing the lie Shinjiro inadvertently started, "So I won't hold it against you though this incident isn't to be spoken of. We don't need any more dissention within our ranks, understood?"

"Yes, Taicho!" the Shinigami present agreed.

"Good. Now I shall take my leave. Farewell." And in a flash step Soifon was gone leaving the group to their own thoughts on what had transpired.

Subaru decided to speak up to break the awkward silence that had settled in "Hmm. Since you are here Ichigo perhaps we can use this time to help restrain your power, through meditation. It might be best to do it now since you just go out of a rather lively spar."

"Yeah sure. You don't mind do you mom?"

"Not at all. Go ahead." She then got into a thinking pose, "Is it alright if I join you?"

"Not at all Masaki-san." Answered Shinjiro.

"Well, if you guys aren't going to be doing any more dangerous stuff, I guess I won't be needed here. So I'll see you guys later!" said Hanataro as he started to gather his various healing items and put it in his sling for his walk back towards the fourth.

"Ok Hanataro. Remember to practice the kidos we've been working on when you get back!" Shinjiro reminded the young healer.

"Of course later!" and in a flash step he disappeared also.

After the departure of the two the group sat down into the Lotus position and began to meditate for a little bit simply enjoying each other's company and whatever was left of the surrounding environment.

Masaki having reached a point of tranquility within herself opened her eyes and decided to strike up a conversation with the two third seats, "Excuse me Subaru-chan, Shinjiro-kun may I ask you some things?"

The pair opened their eyes and looked over to her. A cheery smile crossed Shinjiro's face."What exactly would you like to ask Masaki-sama?"

Ichigo's eyes opened as well somewhat interested to see what his mother would ask, "Well I was curious about you two. I just wanted to know a little bit about who you were is all."

Shinjiro and Subaru glanced at each other and both nodded.

Subaru moved her hand and pulled down her outfit's face mask revealing the rest of her face, "I suppose we could answer a question or two. I've wanted to tell Ichigo anyway, as I'm sure he must have some desire to know as well." She said hinting to Ichigo about the last subject they had discussed about, "My husband and I are from the Rukongai districts such as yourselves. We were at one time human beings though we had died from a rather unfortunate accident that I'd rather not discuss at the moment."

The two Kurosakis' were intrigued from hearing the information, "How did you know that you were humans. I thought that Shinigami forget who they were in their past life?" Masaki asked.

Shinjiro frowned "It's a small side effect of Subaru's Zanpaktou. It's a gift and a curse." He said vaguely not wanting to go into the details since it was personal to his wife.

"I don't understand" Ichigo replied.

"That's a bit personal Ichi-"

"No its fine, Shin." interrupted Subaru causing her husband to look at her worriedly "We are…friends, and you're always telling me to let other into my heart. This man is similar in nature to both you and sister; I will trust he won't abuse this information." She reassured hoping to convince Shinjiro to follow her wishes.

Shinjiro bit his lip but relented with a nod of his head and so Subaru turned back to them to explain "Part of my Zanpaktou's spirits power is that it allows me to remember all things that have happened in the past. Usually it's general information such as wars or figures. But occasionally it's important people of places that I had experienced in life, however most spirits forget such information when they cross back into the realm of the living. You see Zanpaktou's are eternal creatures that live in another world that's parallel to our when their master's no longer possess the ability to call them into our world. During the cycle of reincarnation a new Zanpaktou spirit is created with each new life that's introduced into the cycle that wasn't there before; however, there are the rare occasions where two people have the same Zanpaktou spirit." She paused to let them process her words.

"Anyway normally the two souls, the Shinigami and Blade spirit, are forever interlocked and no matter how many years our decades past they will always be together when they awaken to Shinigami powers unless some unknown force drives them apart. Anyway, while it is a gift in the fact; that since the past always repeats itself I can act accordingly. I am…cursed to be the only one to remember all the memories…and…all the friends Shinjiro and I left behind." She lowered her head as she started to get teary eyed "I…am jealous of the fact that others will forget such things and remain unchained to such regrets while I will forever be haunted by them. Even to this day I still see the faces of my friends at night and it frightens me to know that it will happen to everyone I eventually meet."

Shinjiro gently put his arm around his lover and pulled her close to him, whispering calming words into her ear in a valiant attempt to bring her in a better mood and prevent her from crying. Ichigo bit his tongue knowing that was probably one of the worse things that could possible happen to someone, his thought drifting back to both Zangetsus' and how miserable they would be in the city by themselves forever alone and haunted by false visions of people they once knew.

Masaki bowed her head and spoke in a solemn tone, "I shouldn't have brought that up. It was a bit personal."

Subaru surprisingly shook her head. "No. I've…been trying to become a bit more open…more approachable individual. I shared that with you because I felt that I can trust you with that information. Believe me; thanks to Shinjiro I've come a long way when it comes to the interaction with other people. Anyway is there another question that you might wish to ask of us?"

Ichigo decided to try and inquire about their time in Rukongai, "You guys said you were from Rukongai. What exactly did you do when you lived there? Were you from a noble family and that's how you got into becoming Shinigami?"

They pair laughed bitter-sweetly at Ichigo's question before Shinjiro spoke up, "No, we're just regular souls from there though we did put our talents that seemed to carry over from the human world to good use. You see in the human world, I was actually a guy raised under the samurai code even though I was born in 1902. So I learned how to fight with a katana as well as the Bushido code. I was also an ensign for the Japanese navy, and managed to reach the rank of Captain of Star Division before I died." he pointed to the white star on his shoulder "That's the reason why I have this star here on my shoulder. It's a reminder."

"As for myself, when I was a human being I was an actress for a theater in New York City called the 'Little Lip theater' it was also the place where I had met Shinjiro. On a further note due to my impressive acrobatic abilities I was rather good in the art of…stealth. That was why when we reached Rukongai we employed our skill to full effect. During the day Shinjiro would serve as one of the local guards, while I performed plays to either the nobles or other souls. While at night Shinjiro would perform bodyguard-ship, and I would rob others." Subaru explained recalling the number of times she'd hit the filthy rich Omaeda residence.

Ichigo nodded his head pretty impressed by his sempai's achievements "May I ask how you two eventually met Soifon-Taicho?"

The two once again glanced at each other, this time a bit longer before turning back to orange haired man.

"Maybe next time Ichigo. Perhaps when Soifon is also present as it is her story too." Shinjiro spoke with subtle finality. "Anyway it's almost night time. You should probably escort your mother back home and hurry back for that mission briefing." He continued changing the subject.

Ichigo nodded his head and got up as did his mother. She bid them a goodbye before Ichigo and her disappeared in a flash step. Once the Kurosakis' were gone the husband and wife duo turned towards the other, "We should go check on Shaolin real quick." Suggested Shinjiro and with a quick nod from his wife the two disappeared as well.

Ichigo and his mother just arrived back to his old residence, and Ichigo himself was just sticking around long enough to make sure she got in alright.

Masaki smiled brightly at her son "Thank-you for such a wonderful tour today. I enjoyed myself and was glad to meet some of your friends especially my future daughter-in-law!"

Ichigo face turned to a look of resignation, "Look she's not my girlfriend, fiancé, or wife. So just drop it alright? Besides if you weren't around then she'd just be calling me 'Sloppy-Kurosaki'."

Instead of broking an argument Masaki just laughed at her foolish son, which confused Ichigo "You really don't get it do you?"

"Get what?"

Masaki let out a contented sigh "Oh Strawberry-chan, when a girl gives you a nickname. It means you hold at least a certain amount of interest to her."

"Interest? Her?"

"Yes. Since she cares to remember your name and face that means she's actually willing to give you the time of day, and from what I saw today she's a no nonsense woman with a good head on her shoulders."

Ichigo looked away slightly at the implication. He never really thought about it that way before now, but surely she wouldn't hold any interest in a guy like him.

_Right?_

"So what should I do exactly?" he asked trying not to sound too eager for advice though it didn't seem to convince his mother.

"Just try and get along with her. If it works out wonderful, if not you could at least be friends. Her family seems to like you, so that's a plus honey. So just do what seems natural, you can only be yourself and she'll have to accept that no matter what."

Ichigo smiled a sweet smile. "Thanks mom." He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Not a problem son. Now go get them!" she cheered and with that Ichigo nodded and flash stepped away. Once the coast was clear she ran all the way back to her room and into the closet where her shrine for her beloved Isshin was. "OH HAPPY DAY INDEED MY DEPARTED BELOVED! I HAVE MET MY FUTURE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW!"

(Meanwhile)

Back in the Taicho of second division's office Soifon was sitting at her desk stewing in her own thoughts. '_What was wrong with me? Why is it that when that man questioned me I was so conflicted in punishing him?'_ Soifon thought to herself still unable to believe she let him off the hook almost scot free. _'and why was it that I was so shaken when that woman indicated being my possible future mother-in-law? Was it perhaps because that was the first time someone had ever said such a thing to me?'_ Mentally going over all her memories when people had ever approached her and none came anywhere near as close to the words the strange mother said to her, not even the ones who asked her out, to which she coldly declined.

'_Maybe you have a slight crush.'_ Soifon's Zanpaktou Suzumebachi responded as she materialized before her mistress on top of the desk. Her two red ponytails falling over the side, while her golden stinger that matched her clothes rested across her lap as she lay stretched out across the wood feeling quite at home.

Soifon glanced at the small bee fairy-like creature, while she loathed admitting it she did get along with her Zanpaktou at least on certain subjects. She had recently learned from her Zanpaktou that her monstrosity of a Bankai was actually a corrupt version of what it's true power should be, though Suzumebachi wouldn't admit to what was causing the corruption if she actually knew, so Soifon and Subaru had resolved to figure out a way to fix it somehow.

"And what pray tell leads you to have that notion?" she huffed in annoyance, clearly unamused by the bee girl's theory.

"_Weeeelll!"_The spirit said happily, _"I am a part of your soul and I find him kinda cute. So there."_ Throwing in a cheeky smile at the end, making Soifon's desire to strangle the annoying bug soar to new heights.

"Can you ever be serious?" asked Soifon while she glared at her partner.

To her surprise the spirit clamped up and looked at her in surprise._"Wow. He must really be on your mind if you're like this. Maybe you should see what his true character is like."_The fairy girl teasingly suggested.

Soifon was about to respond by swatting the spirit with her hand when she felt something approaching her office at incredible speed. Her eyes narrowed to her door as whatever it was slowed in speed, when Shinjiro and Subaru appeared in front of her desk she relaxed. Though she did see the rather concerned look the two had on their faces, obviously about her as they both took the chairs to sit down in.

Suzumebachi kicked herself up and spun around to smile at the newly arrived pair, _"Hey you guys. Great timing maybe you can help me with her."_

"It's actually about that. We were a bit worried about Shaolin and were wondering if everything was alright with her, "spoke the only male in the room, "Is she?"

"_Weeeelll!"_ the little girl exclaimed turning back to her mistress, _"Why don't you ask her?"_

The pair's eyes returned back to the captain, who suddenly became interested in her clock on the nearby wall, inwardly mulling over what she should do or say since this was considered uncharted territory for her. After feeling the intense stares from all the occupants in the room, she sighed and turned back to face her family. Perhaps coming clean wouldn't hurt her pride too much. After all they were her family and they had never steered her wrong before when it came to big or important decisions.

The captain sat up from her chair and leaned forward onto the desk, her hands interlocked with each other while her eyes released their retrained emotion showing fear, worry, and doubt to the her trusted confidants. "You recall fourth seat Kurosaki correct?" she asked, hearing the two third seats resounding 'yes' she continued. "I've come to feel…conflicted about him."

"How exactly?" asked Subaru though she could hazard a rough guess, sometimes it was best to hear straight from the source itself.

"When he questioned me earlier today, he almost reminded me of _'Her'_ and a part of me wanted to reprimand him but another part simply couldn't." she said solemnly almost sadly, having bad memories that she had once treasured brought up again to the surface, "What do you guys make of it? Suzumebachi unbelievably thinks I have a small infatuation with the man."

Shinjiro raised his eyebrows in surprise, as he honestly didn't expect her to actually develop feelings for another person especially after _'Her'_ betrayal, and only encouraged Ichigo to pursue since it did make him happy. "I admit I'm surprised, but you've been acting a bit different. Not enough for it to be noticeable by a vast majority of other who don't really know changes in your behavior, but Su and I picked up on it, and Ichigo apparently picked up on it too, most likely because it's directed at him."

Subaru continued where her husband left off, "The man in question seems to be a moral individual and we've seen firsthand the principals he follows. He is strong, stubborn but determined man, who I would gladly share the battlefield with. He acts rash from time to time though he has the makings of a leader."

Shinjiro spoke again "He doesn't like delegating tasks to others that he feels he can't complete himself, and during my various training sessions with him he's eager to learn and puts only his best effort forward. From what Su-chan told me, he's also had quite a few girls approach him about companionship in the romantic sense, though he turned down all of them, these people included Fukataicho's Hinamora and Matsumoto as well as third seat Kotetsu of the thirteenth."

Soifon face subconsciously turned into a scowl at hearing of all of these women, who seemingly threw themselves at him and scoffed that the man was truly what they made him out to be, though secretly she was rather impressed of the man's fortitude to resist any urges of taking advantage of said women's crushes since most would kill to have that kind of attention from the more lavish and beautiful women of soul society

"I see, though you still haven't answered my question." The petite woman reiterated, trying to get back on topic and stop any stray thoughts from drifting to Kurosaki, though for reasons she wasn't entirely sure on.

"Well from what I've seen thus far the man is at least interested if not infatuated with you, Shaolin." The other dark haired girl replied, "I suspect he was quite taken with you at first sight, if the report I had read about the man and after witnessing his body's reaction near your presence are any clues to his inner psyches workings in regards to you Shaolin. I will also say this bluntly Shaolin; perhaps you might in fact have a small crush on him as Suzume-chan has pointed out."

"Could you please clarify as to why exactly?" the navy haired girl asked quickly ignoring her Zanpaktou's claims of _'I told you so!'_

"Of course. This man to extension not only reminds you of _'Her'_ but also portions about yourself. He holds some of the basic ideals and principles that you value and believe in yourself, but also is willing to challenge the beliefs of others and stem cowardice and promote better beliefs." Subaru pointed out, she then went into a thinking position, placing her hand across her chin. "I take it back perhaps you're not 'smitten' with him, maybe you just seek companionship like you had obtained in us. Maybe you feel drawn to him because of your similarities, after all birds of a feather flock together."

Soifon remained silent unsure about what her feelings on the matter could truly be. She acknowledged that aside from Shinjiro, Subaru, Hanataro, Unohana and Yachiru she really didn't have any friends which technically was a much shorter list since two of them were family, Hanataro was more of a friendlier acquaintanceship, Unohana was her assigned doctor and fellow Taicho and Yachiru was her leader in the S.W.A and Subaru always doted on her forcing her to spend time with the child.

Soifon sighed, "So you think that it's loneliness," her skepticism evident, "so why is it that I suddenly feel it now of all times? After I became the sole surviving heir of the Fon clan, the only true family I had left was you two but I never found myself wanting." The blue haired captain shook her head in frustration as she let out a groan, "I just don't understand!" Hating the fact something as insignificant as this was throwing her off her normal behavior and she didn't even know the true reason why yet!

"The matters of the heart are something not even we Shinigami are capable of truly mastering or understanding. We simply live to experience all kinds of emotions both pleasant and not, as you know already dear sister when I was a human I was referred to as a genius and was constantly placed on a pedestal. It was not until after meeting my love Shinjiro that I truly realized how alone I was. I admit while I disliked him originally, he proved his heart and soul to everyone around him, and eventually, he caused me to change." Subaru spoke capturing her sister's attention as it would eventually relate to the matter at hand knowing Subaru.

"I wanted nothing more to disappear leaving no trace behind of my existence as I always knew it would only be a matter of my finite time before I would fade into history, forgotten. Shinjiro showed me to no longer to live in darkness." She paused a blush appearing on her face before she continued, "And I admit us falling in love with each other was purely coincidental."

The female third seat turned her gaze back into her leader's eyes, and she gave what she felt was the most heartfelt advice she could, "So what I think you should do Shaolin is that you give him a chance. At the very least you could have another friend to rely on, when you're in trouble. Just take it slow and get to know him, at the worst if you hate each other it's only temporary."

Suzumebachi and Shinjiro stared at Soifon, hoping their words were reaching her and hopefully helping during this rather strange unforeseen event that occurred. Suzumebachi seemingly relaxed a bit, perhaps giving an invisible sign that the woman's emotional and soul state was stabilizing again. "Thank-you. All of you." Soifon whispered, a calm smile on her face, "By the way what brings you two here? I know you were worried about me, but I think it could have waited till after work."

Shinjiro glanced out the window "Well, tomorrow we were gonna have Ichigo on a special assignment. You would know for what exactly, so perhaps you can use that mission to see what his character is like for yourself and not hear it from us."

"I see. Well that is acceptable, and I suppose it does benefit me in the end. Is he aware of it yet?"

"Not yet. We were going to inform him but felt this should come first."

Soifon rolled her eyes at the pair, "Don't you remember the motto of second division?"

"I'm not part of second division remember? Anyway you're more important than that." said Shinjiro happily.

"I may occasionally abandon allies but I will never turn my back on my family." Said a grinning Subaru.

"Tsk. You two are incorrigible."

"Only when it relates to you sis." The two third seats replied together.

"Fine, I understand." She said wearily, "Just go and inform him of the mission. I'll simply pretend I don't know anything unless I choose to."

The two got from their chair and left in a flash step, leaving Soifon alone with the unusually silent Suzumebachi. The captain returned her gaze back to the embodiment of her soul. "Friendship, huh?" she mused, wondering aloud if that was what she sought.

Suzumebachi leaned forward with her hands on her hips as she smiled, _"Maybe things will work out in the end!"_

Gently Soifon stretched her hand out in front of her and Suzumebachi hopped in it as she returned it just above her heart, "Maybe indeed." She whispered.

(Ichigo)

After leaving his mother back within the safety of her home, Ichigo was hurrying back to his room having remembered that at seven he would receive a mission. Once he arrived at the second division compound he tore across the meeting square and down a nearby hallway and made to the left and then went up the stairs arriving in front of his door with five minutes to spare. When he opened the door he was a bit surprised to see Shinjiro and Subaru already inside waiting for him. "You guys are early."

"Yes, well we managed to finish up our duties sooner than expected and didn't want to keep you waiting, as we felt you would need your rest for the mission we're about to brief you on." answered Shinjiro.

"Oh…well thanks that's pretty consider it of you. So what's the mission exactly?" he asked putting his game face on.

"Tomorrow on February eleventh at five am in the morning, your assigned mission of bodyguard duty to our Captain, Soifon-Taicho, begins. You will follow her around all day and ensure that she remains safe and doesn't perform any task related to the work-place. Failure of this mission like any other mission of the stealth and punishment forces will not be tolerated. Any questions you may have I will answer at this time. So are there any?"

Ichigo thought it over for a moment "Yeah. Why would she need any bodyguards? She's a captain. She can take care of herself."

Subaru nodded her head in agreement with the statement glad to see he could comprehend the obvious, but appreciative that he was curious for details, "What you say is absolutely true Ichigo, and if this was just a matter of theoretical discuss than yes, any person with a working brain would agree with you. However because of Soifon-Taicho's importance to the function of Soul Society and it's missions; it is something never left to chance, even if it does seem redundant. As you know we specialize in stealth, but what you might not know is that a certain number of individuals in our division always tail the Taicho in charge. The reason for this is should the captain come under attack for whatever reason the Taicho will assistance in eliminating the threat thus not only granting them a greater chance of survival but also to retrieve valuable data on the incident to prevent future attacks."

Ichigo shook his head in agreement now that he saw the big picture "I getcha now but if you don't mind my asking, why me?"

"While I know that you don't quite meet the stealth requirement for the task, I'm assigning you it because tomorrow most of the people in the division we'll be very busy and we can't spare the usual individuals assigned to the task. That's why I said you will be a bodyguard instead of tailing her. Though if you can, try and stay out of sight unless she otherwise orders it."

"So it just going to be me and Soifon?" Ichigo asked

"That is correct. However, if more operatives become available I will send them to assist you in your task." She replied. "You are also to make sure she arrives at the location 'Health Land' by fifteen hundred and meet up with either Shinjiro or me there to give your report on how things went."

Shinjiro dug into his pocket and handed a small envelope to him, "Prior to entering Health Land you need to hand this letter to her not a moment sooner. If she asks what it is tell her it's a letter pertaining to today and if she asks who it's from, you can say it's from yourself. At no time are you allowed to read it."

Ichigo nodded though inside he was wondering why they said he could say it was from him when they gave him the letter. He decided if it came to it he'd just be honest and say it was from them but only if she asked. "I understand. Leave it to me."

"Very well, we shall take our leave."

The pair walked past him giving him a good luck pat on the shoulder before exiting the room. Once Ichigo was alone again he decided to turn in early so he could be up to do this mission, after setting his alarm clock for O-four hundred, he drifted off into dreamland, wondering what could occur on his newest job.

* * *

Author's note

Howaitopirā no bakuhatsu - White pillar explosion

Chant: Hear the roar of the beast that dwells in the dark calling the rays of heaven to open and strike down the prideful human invoking a righteous name! Hadou 55: Shiroi hashira no bakuhatsu!

Kaze Kabe – Wind Wall


	5. Mission! Follow the bee on February 11th

**Blackout: I'll be. I managed to stave off for a few days.**

**Ichigo: Yeah, well. Just remember to ONLY submit after you've finished a chapter. You know maintain the distance.**

**Blackout2010: Right. Right. Anyway Enjoy the fic and your disclaimer!**

Disclaimer: If I owned anything, which I don't by the way, and I made Ichigo Soifon canon or at least friends, I wonder how many people would be happy or approve.

Beta edit: Mbpicke

* * *

Ch. 5 Mission! Follow the bee on February eleventh

Ichigo hit the snooze button after the alarm clock blared off for the third time in a row. He tiredly looked up since he wasn't used to going to bed as early as he had gone and forced to get up about two or three hours sooner then he usually expected. Still he none the less willed his body to move and after a couple of minutes his body started to return to its normal functioning capacity.

He took a quick five minute shower before dressing himself in a rushed manner and quickly grabbed Zangetsu; so he could hurry over to the cafeteria and grab some breakfast to go before his mission began. After hurrying out of the division building, he jumped above the entrance way and sat down on the roof to eat the toast and apple he obtained while also try and stay out of Soifon's sight for when she would eventually come through to go about her-whatever she normally did- agenda.

'_It's almost time' _He thought to himself as he took one another bite of his apple while he slowly adjusted himself up to his feet in a crouched position ready to jump from building to building. A few more minutes past in silence, while Ichigo's eyes remained steady over the open entranceway, occasionally sneaking a bite in but remained unmoving. Then he caught sight of his Taicho's back as she was leaving the premises, so he finished his food before preparing to jump after she had left in whatever direction she chose.

As soon as Soifon stepped out of the barracks she only needed to take two steps before pin pointing where Ichigo was. She closed her eyes in disbelief. _'I know stealth isn't his forte, but hiding above me and praying that I won't see you is rather amateurish.'_ She stopped and considered her previous thought _'Then again it IS sloppy-Kurosaki.'_ She sighed in exasperation _'At least he's making an effort by trying to staying out of sight.'__ A devilish grin then spread across her face. Sure she wasn't one for wanton teasing by this opportunity was just too good to pass up.__ 'I wonder what he'll think of this?'_

'_Hehe yeah let's give him a real surprise!' _Suzumebachi suggested mischievously, already knowing this was gonna be a fun day

Taking the moment Soifon disappeared in a flash step which none but the fastest could dream of keeping up with, an act which Ichigo nearly caused him to blow a gasket as he knew for a fact that he couldn't keep up with her at flash step speed. He jumped down from his hiding spot and landed where she had been and started to focus his reiatsu in hopes to see where she had decided to go.

'_Shit! She masked it, I don't know where she went!'_ Ichigo panicked, unable to find where she went at all. Not even ten second and he already lost her. That had to be a new record in failing a mission!

"What are you doing Sloppy-Kurosaki?" the familiar voice of his Taicho ringed from behind him

Ichigo turned back towards the entranceway and saw his Taicho standing there with her arms crossed, with a very subtle upward curving of her lips.

"I...was umm..." Ichigo started not entirely sure how to explain his action since he was supposed to stay out of sight unless she said otherwise, which as far as he knew would be very unlikely considering that she didn't know that he had to follow and protect her. Inwardly he was silently hoping his captain didn't beat the crap out of him thinking he was a stalker of some kind.

'_What are you doing King? Stuttering and showing weakness in front of a girl, is NOT cool. Tell her anything just make sure it's true!'_

"Yes?" she said expectantly, her foot tapping against the ground with an 'I'm waiting' look on her face.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck today and ahh, hoped you enjoy it." He forced out

'_Really? Well I can tell he's being truthful but let see how long he can keep it up.'_ Soifon decided to give him an odd look "Yes...I will try. Though I must ask why you would be here at this hour, shouldn't you be asleep or preparing for whatever mission or training is assigned to you today?"

"Well to be honest Taicho. I don't know if I'm prepared for the mission but I will do my best. Hopefully the mission will go smoothly." He said not wanting to let her know she was his mission

'_He maintains a cool demeanor under pressure; perhaps he does have some qualities as a leader, though the day is young.'_ She silently filed away "Very well, return to your duties and pray that you don't get in my or anyone else's way, Sloppy Kurosaki."

"Yes, Soifon-Taicho." He saluted to the woman, glad to have gotten himself out of that tight spot safely

Soifon was about to walk right off when Suzumebachi chimed in again _'Hey, why don't you ask him to come along with you, that way you can keep an eye on him.'_

'_Not yet, though I will bring it up at our next stop, when I 'test' him again.'_ She replied back, and proceeded to walk away following the passage to her next destination

Ichigo seeing her resume her walking, turned back to the entranceway so as to seem like he was returning to his post after a few more steps he quickly and quietly ducked behind the door and kept an eye out on her, waiting till she was far enough away for him to move again lest he get caught again. He sat there for a few more minutes until she was almost out of sight before he silently ran after her trying to keep her in his sights.

He managed to keep her within his sights grateful that she wasn't using any flash steps or speed techniques of any kind along the way. As he continued he started to see the first division building in the distance getting closer and closer. "So we're going to the first division? I wonder why?"

'_Hey Ichigo, remember what Subaru and Shinjiro said about making sure that your woman wasn't supposed to do any business related shit today? We better hurry up, otherwise you're going to fail this mission again!'_

'_Damn it! You're right. I've got to get a move on!'_

Ichigo then sprinted towards the building, carefully going around Soifon so as to stay out of sight but enough ahead to where he could sense if she was really coming to the building. To his dread Ichigo's hunch turned out to be right as her reiatsu signature was coming straight for him. He quickly entered the barracks and started talk to one of the guys at the counter to at least seem like he was on a delivery mission and asking directions in case Soifon saw him and approached him again, wondering why he was before her again when he clearly went towards the second division barracks.

Sure enough Soifon came in through the doors and quickly strutted by him seemingly ignoring him as she disappeared down the hallway that had a sign saying Sou-taicho and an arrow point in the direction; Ichigo took a reflexive sigh of relief that he wasn't caught. He immediately broke off the conversation and went down the hallway as he managed to catch a brief glimpse of Soifon entering the office of the Sou-taicho.

Ichigo frowned at what his options for the situations were. He didn't know if he should enter the room or listen in as he felt that it would be an invasion of privacy and if the Sou-taicho attacked her he wouldn't be able to save her. Ichigo's eyes widened at the realization and his blood ran cold at the thought. _'No. He wouldn't do that and she'd flee immediately if she felt something was off. Yeah that's right; Subaru's words are just making me jumpy.'_ He thought shaking his head free of the stupid idea _'I guess to keep me on my toes.'_

As Ichigo was about to move a bit closer to the office door, to at least be ready should something happen or if she needed to summon a messenger he could walk in reasonably, a hand suddenly touched Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo quickly and expertly whipped around and sent a right hook into the persons face, knocking the man who touched him completely over from the counter attack he had honed in squad two and unto the ground rather violently.

"Ahhh, ow. You are most certainly a strong one; I just hope you didn't break my glasses." The man said slow to pick himself up from the wooden floor, his hand touching his cheek where he had been struck rather hard.

"I'm sorry. It was a reflex, are you ok?" said Ichigo, helping the brown haired man back to his feet, Ichigo's eyes widened in fear when he saw the captain's Haori around the man's shoulders _'Damn it. I hit a friggin' captain! Can this day get any worse!?'_

While Ichigo was freaking out his hollow was having his own thoughts about the man _'What the fuck was that? This pussy is supposed to be a captain. Shouldn't he have been able to avoid that and failing that not have even been hurt since the king is still weaker than him, at least for the moment? Something smells like bull shit. I better warn Ichigo about this guy, later.'_

The man waved his hand to alleviate the younger man's concern "It's quite alright. It was my fault I should have called out to you not just startle you like that."

"Are you sure you're ok?" said Ichigo feeling guilty that the guy he just clocked was more concerned about Ichigo than himself

The man gave a bright friendly smile "Yes, I'm fine. Though your concern is appreciated Mr.?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki of the second division." He introduced extending his hand out for a traditional handshake between them

The man gladly grabbed it "Sosuke Aizen Taicho of the fifth division." The man gave a curious stare at Ichigo, possibly sizing him up "You seem to be a man of ideals, perhaps I can have a moment of your time to partake in an enlightened conversation."

Ichigo was rather interested as most Taicho's were busy people and to be given a chance for a good chat with one outside of your own was almost an honor. He looked back down the hallway to check on Soifon and still felt her signature in there, so with a good-natured smile he accepted "Alright, I don't mind."

"Thank-you, allow me to start with a question. Tell me what do you think of the way Soul Society is run?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow as he didn't expect that kind of question "I suppose our governing body does a good enough job of running it. I mean it's been working good for who knows how long." He answered mostly honest as he never was one for such thoughts, since Soul Society never did anything extreme without some justification. Not that it was always agreeable.

"While that is true, it's always good to look towards the future. As all things eventually break down to have a backup plan is sometimes…required." The brown haired man said, trying to challenging Ichigo's beliefs and thinking

"You sound a lot like my friend, Toshiro. You two would probably get along great." Ichigo commented, seeing a great deal of similarities between this Sosuke Aizen and his white haired pint-sized friend, Toshiro Hitsuguaya.

"Ah, yes Hitsuguaya-Taicho. I've met him on several occasions such as when he chooses to visit my fuka-taicho Momo Hinamora, both of whom have spoken fondly of you and I was interested in meeting you." Aizen said kindly, his gentle smile growing a bit more into a smirk

"That's good to hear. I've been so busy with my new division that I haven't had the chance to see them in a while. Thanks for reminding me."

"Not a problem at all." The Taicho of five tilted his head down a bit so Ichigo couldn't see his face as he was deep in thought. After a couple of seconds he raised back up, with his serene smile still there "I just thought a bit and I wanted to ask you if you would consider joining my squad after your tour of duty is over with Soifon-Taicho."

Ichigo paused for a moment, to allow himself to consider the option. He was rather curious as to why he wanted him to join his division, not that he wouldn't mind since he seemed to be very even natured and nice. '_It might not be such a bad option'_ he mentally considered. He opened his mouth and was going to respond when a mental image of a frowning, disappointed Soifon flashed in his mind.

He closed his mouth, and thought harder about the option. He frowned because he knew that if he took this, it would be the same as giving up on her. Soifon was almost always understaffed; it came with the territory of being leader of the Special Forces, and while she would never admit, he knew that she'd welcome any extra pair of hands to help especially from those she viewed with potential to be capable. "I…don't know." He said softly, weighing all the new information in his mind.

He then sighed after remembering why it was always so understaffed "The second division supposedly has as many deaths as the eleventh division has injuries since they came under a new Taicho. I could very well die before my service here is over, and I wouldn't want to give you false hope, and…well" he looked away from the neutral faced man "there's something else that may also affect my decision."

Aizen narrowed his eyes quickly his mind racing through a thousand different scenarios. He had already calculated that the possibility that him saying yes was near given if he had asked using his 'current' persona and failing that surely Soifon's attitude and treatment would have helped to make him leave or at least make him loyal only to the Taicho who had him, which he had originally anticipated since it was the main reason he had suggested such a move to Toshiro Hitsuguaya. He mentally cursed at the small miscalculation created by sheer chance, not that it would have mattered in the end. He decided to try something else…to nip the bud of this potential loose end "Tell me Ichigo-san is that giant blade on your back, your Zanpaktou?"

Ichigo's head shifted toward his shoulder where his hilt stuck out "Yup, want to see it?" he offered since people only pointed things out if they were usually interested in something

When Aizen said yes Ichigo took a step back so he wouldn't accidently hit him when he pulled it out. The blade's cloth wrapping came undone as it was drawn from it's resting place. Ichigo gently placed the edge of the blade against the wooden floors so it wouldn't scratch it. "This is my partner Zangetsu." His pride firmly secure in his tone

Aizen's eyes widened in disbelief _'The sheer size of this blade is incredible. So much reiatsu and power must be stored within him. He truly is the son of 'Miracle Worker' Masaki Kurosaki, the teacher of Retsu Unohana our smiling angel. I better not take any chances.'_

"Well, I think fair is fair, Kurosaki-san. You've shown me your blade, allow me to show you mine." Said the smiling Aizen, ready to use Kyoka Suigetsu and hypnotize him

Just as he reached for the hilt of the sword to pull it out of it's sheath, the Sou-taicho's door opened and Soifon stepped out looking rather pleased with whatever had transpired in their meeting. Her cheery mood was short lived as she saw the two men in the hall both gripping their Zanpaktou for what could be understood as a fight

"Is there a problem Aizen-Taicho? My subordinate isn't inconveniencing you is he?" she said as her voice dropped dangerously and her customary frown returned full force "Or dare I say disrespecting your authority…"

Aizen while still smiling shook his head, hoping to save the situation "Not at all Soifon-Taicho. He was merely showing me his Zanpaktou per my request. He is not at fault for anything."

The woman closed her eyes in relief that Sloppy-Kurosaki wasn't doing something incredibly stupid, though she did have to set the record straight "I understand Aizen-Taicho, but I must ask that you don't do it again as we of the Special Forces must keep our powers secrets so that we can surprise both hollows and traitors of soul society." The woman replied saying the word 'traitor' bitterly

Aizen bit the inside of his cheek as he pondered what he could say. To his distaste he saw that the woman had effectively closed his golden opportunity. All he could do know was bow out gracefully and bide his time. One little escape could be easily rectified at more convenient time. "Of course, I understand. Now I'd best be on my way. Farewell Kurosaki-san, Soifon-Taicho until we meet again." He said as he gave a short bow before walking off swiftly _'And next time you won't be so lucky.'_

After Aizen's departure Soifon returned her attention to the other man who was still seeing the Taicho off "So what are you doing?" she asked bluntly in her cold tone

Kurosaki sighed as he turned around for being caught twice in a row, and when he faced her, he looked into her eyes to show respect and spoke "I was just in the middle of a mission, when he surprised me. Since I couldn't proceed for a little bit, I just started talking with him."

Soifon already knew this as she had felt his Reiatsu for a while, though she didn't sense Aizen until she actually saw him, which seemed odd but she figured he did it so as to avoid the recently formed 'We love Aizen-Taicho fan club', that Subaru had informed her about at an S.W.A meeting she had missed once.

The cold captain was thankful for the few times that being unapproachable saved her from those kinds of misery.

She let the thought go since it was inconsequential at for now, and decided now would be a good time to see what the fourth seat playing 'espionage' would say now "You do realize that I've felt your spiritual pressure for some time now. You've been there in that spot ever since I stepped into the office and I also saw you earlier in the lobby area talking with some men. So allow me to ask are you following me or blowing off your mission? As I highly doubt that even you, Sloppy-Kurosaki, could take this long for something as simple as a delivery mission to Squad one."

He flinched at the line of questioning as answering the question could cause her to jump to a very bad conclusion and Zangetsu was already against lying since it would do no good to a proverbial walking lie detector "I…have no answer or explanation to really give you, or rather one that I'm allowed to give you." He admitted mostly honest, since he wasn't sure if he was allowed to tell his mission

Soifon crossed her arms ceremoniously and shot him a frigid look "So you're shirking your duties." She said in disdain, even though she knew otherwise "Very well are you prepared to accept your punishment then?"

"...yes."

'_He's going to take it without a fight? Is he willing to take the blame for his mission?'_

The woman's zanpaktou was as equal impressed '_Wow. That takes some guts to do. Certainly not very smart but definitely takes guts. I think you should let him off the hook.'_

"Tell me your mission, and I will give your punishment accordingly, fourth seat Kurosaki."

"My mission was to guard you Soifon-Taicho and ensure that you did nothing related to the work place, all while staying out of your sight." He said while putting Zangetsu on his back again, resigning himself to whatever his captain had in store, which could be a lot since she was a harsh taskmaster. "Though considering that you went to the Sou-taicho just now, I suppose I failed this one."

To his surprise Soifon's hateful look turned into a bemused smirk "Quite wrong, Sloppy-Kurosaki. You see I went to go see Sou-taicho Yamamoto for a personal reason."

Ichigo's eye lit up with a bit of hope at what she was saying "Personal reasons?"

"Yes, personal reason. Reasons that I will not divulge to you at this time, now as for your alleged failure of the mission, that is null and void on my words, and since you have not failed your mission, I see no reason to punish you." She said a bit amused at seeing his spirit return at knowing that he didn't fail

Well at least she'd let him feel like that since she did give a half-truth to him about the visit to Sou-taicho Yamamoto.

"Thank-you Soifon-Taicho." He replied his gratitude evident in his tone. After expressing his thanks he turned around and started to walk away from her and back to the entrance of the hallway, to return to shadowing her.

"Where are you going Sloppy-Kurosaki?" Soifon asked in confusion since she didn't dismiss him of his duties and said to forget his punishment. '_Why's he leaving me?'_

Ichigo turned his head to look over his shoulder to see her as he continued walking away "I'm supposed to stay out of sight remember." Reiterating one of the whole points of his mission

Soifon confusion left her when the understanding finally set in, though she did raise her eyebrow in interest at the man's work behavior _'I admit I'm a little impressed. He's still thinking about the mission and is pretending what just occurred never happened. Granted it was because I said to forget it but this is some serious devotion to the mission that others might be hard pressed to match.'_

"Sloppy-Kurosaki, I would like to request that you remain within my line of sights at all times, preferable within three feet of me." She requested in a bored tone, though when Suzumebachi ran it by her again throwing her own personal implications the captain quickly decided to amend what she said "I have to be somewhere within a couple of minutes and I need to hurry and you pretending to shadow me will only slow me down."

Ichigo stopped walking not expecting her to request him be nearby, and turned back to face her "Alright. If it is ok with you, I don't mind." he said glad that his mission just got a whole lot easier in most aspects, and now he'd be able to show how reliable he could truly be.

"Good follow me." The captain said as she brushed past her taller bodyguard

The pair walked out of the division, and started to use flash step to get to their next location. Ichigo saw the direction they were headed and knew they were going to Jidanbo of the south gate as he frequently passed through since his mother lived in the south section of the Rukongai. They greeted the mountain of the man as they passed by on their route to Soifon's next location. They stopped flash stepping earlier than he originally could have anticipated as they were still in the sixth or seventh Rukongai district judging from the well kept building and extravagant clothing the nobles were wearing.

They continued along their way with Ichigo ignoring the looks sent at him for either his hair or being a 'commoner' since he resolved that he was going to be the bigger man and show weakness to them, whereas Soifon sent her own spiritually enforced ones to anyone who dared send a scorned look at her, eventually they reached a very large mansion after walking past the main road.

Ichigo was gaping at the size of the place. It was easily two or three times bigger than his mother's entire apartment building, with bright colors of gold and purple along with very fancy designs, like someone had wanted to make the building look excessively extravagant. The clearly unfazed Soifon walked up and knocked on the door. Ichigo was shocked even further when a butler answered the door who was clearly even better dressed then himself making Ichigo wonder just what place they really were at and how Soifon knew these people.

The butler upon seeing the woman stepped aside allowing Soifon to pass with ease, but quickly held his hand out for Ichigo when he tried to enter the premise "I'm sorry sir, but it is a private meeting only. If you wish to make an appointment to have an audience with the masters, you will have to come back at a later time, as they are currently out enjoying themselves."

"No, it's not that it's just that-"

"He's with me, please allow him to pass, Vincent-san." Said a rather patient Soifon, understanding the man's refusal to grant her subordinate entry since he was unannounced

The butler turned and when Soifon nodded her head, he slowly moved out of Ichigo's way and bowed in apology "As you wish Soifon-sama. The meeting is in the usual room, please have a pleasant stay."

Ichigo gave a bow to the butler, and walked over catching back up to his captain, who waited for him outside a door, at the end of the entrance way. "Alright, Sloppy-Kurosaki. What your about to see is not to be mentioned to anyone aside from the people in this room. You are also not to speak unless otherwise spoken too, am I understood."

"Yeah, but where is this and why are we here?" the boy wondered since what could be going on that involved secrecy at ritzy place like this

"We are currently, at the Omaeda residence. As for why, well…it's for S.W.A. (1)" She said "Don't worry you'll understand." She added knowing he wouldn't get it immediately, as it was more…something you needed to experience rather than have it described

The woman opened the door and proceeded inside with Ichigo following behind her. Upon entering he saw three tables lined up together in a U shape, with several chairs lining it at intervals on the far side there was a podium with a blackboard behind it. Ichigo glanced over to the right and left and only saw women a few he actually knew such as Kiyone Kotetsu, Hinamora Momo and...

"Hey Ichigo! How've you been!?" Rangiku asked as she glomped him from the side, pulling her favorite sixth seat into her bosom

"Fine." He said weakly still not sure what entirely to say, as he returned the hug to get her off of him sooner.

Back in his mindscape Dark Zangetsu was leaping for joy from one building to the next, hollering to high heaven that he hit the female jack pot. _"King! Can you believe your luck! Screw the three-some idea! Start stripping and get this orgy started or so help me I'll take over your body goddamn it!"_

The thoroughly blushing Ichigo wisely decided to ignore his hollow, in favor of standing against the wall since he wasn't sure what was going on. Ichigo's attention shifted when a woman wearing glasses and carrying a book approached him "Excuse me sir, but you're going to have to leave immediately."

Ichigo was about to respond but Soifon beat him to it "He's my subordinate, and currently he is on a mission that revolves around me for reasons I can't fathom."

The bespectacled woman turned to face the small captain "While this may be true, this IS the S.W.A not the S.M.A., Soifon-Taicho." She said firmly

"Your logic isn't lost on me fuka-taicho and vice president Nanao Ise; however, seeing as how my third seat and the personal bodyguard for president Kusajishi Subaru Kujo isn't here, as she has her duties, allow him to take my seat while I perform the bodyguard duty she normal holds." She suggested as a peaceful alternative solution

The now named Nanao looked as if she was thinking it over so Soifon decided to press ahead "He is also of the second division so it should be fine…unless of course you'd prefer fuka-taicho Omaeda to fill in."

Ichigo clearly saw the woman bristle at the mention of the fuka-taicho, more than likely possessing a similar dislike of the man. He just didn't seem to make friends.

"No. That's ok." The woman said flatly, remembering the alternative for third seat Kujo or Captain Soifon

"Wonderful." She said dryly

Ichigo then proceeded to sit down next to Soifon, who closed her eyes and went into a meditative trance until the meeting would start. More people slowly filed in and sat down, a few sending Ichigo a curious glance since usually Omeada was here when filling in. When most people were present a small bubblegum pink haired girl ran up to the podium and banged the toy gavel that she got from Nanao. "ALLLLL RIGHT, EVERYONE! Sound off! President Yachiru here!"

"Vice-president, Ise Nanao present." said the woman adjusting her glasses

"Counselor and S.W.A adviser, Retsu Unohana is in." said the smiling woman that Ichigo recognized

"Medical Advisor, Isane Kotetsu also here." the tall gray haired woman sitting next to Unohana said

"Kiyone Kotetsu! Chief of attendance, reporting in and logging that Nemu Kurotsuchi and Rukia Kuchiki are absent! While Subaru is being replaced by another." Exclaimed the sister of Isane

"Chief of Planning Rangiku Matsumoto is here!" the busty woman chirped

"Chief of Budget and Funding Momo Hinamora also present"

"Chief of Security and Information is being filled in by me with Ichigo Kurosaki, the man next to me, filling in for my seat representing the second division." informed Soifon

"Ok! Now that roll is taken care of will book-chan please take over so I can eat my opening ceremony candy?" the bubbly girl yelled before switching off with the rather serious looking woman "Greetings, ladies and gentleman. Today we are to retrieve the data regarding what was brought up last time."

All the women in the room blushed, but were thankful she was still as smart and tactful as always to not say what the data was for because of Ichigo's presence.

'_Damn. Out of all the meeting, Ichigo has to be at this one! I was hoping that they'd have forgotten about that!' _Soifon thought as she watched as a few people take out various folders or stacks of papers, before reluctantly she reached into her own jacket and cursed when she remembered that Subaru was the one with the data. She stood up from her chair to speak "My apologies Vice-President Ise, it seems I forgot my divisions data back at the barracks. I will return momentarily to recover it."

"I'll do it." Ichigo chimed in

Unbeknownst to Ichigo the wild fire of panic quickly spread through the room; as Soifon and the other ladies could only imagine the horror of what would happen if the man accidentally took a peek during his earnest request to assist and it ended up on the front page of the Shinigami golden newspaper. Seeing the looks she was getting Soifon knew she had to put a stop to this quickly "It's quite alright. I can do this myself."

To her annoyance Ichigo shook his head "I'm afraid I can't let you do that. You're taking over bodyguard duty for Subaru so you can't leave remember? Besides if I'm going to be here I should take part and since you appointed me in representing our division, I should be the one to go get it." he explained with flawless logic that none in the room could argue.

Still Soifon would go down swinging before giving up.

"Be that as it may you are also MY bodyguard, so you just can't leave me." She replied coolly though she was desperately trying to make the man back down.

"I can't refute that ma'am, but I also have to make sure you don't do any work today; otherwise, I'll fail my mission, remember?" The man carefully reminded her much to her annoyance at being cornered by her own words. Ichigo seeing the woman frustration at being forced to eat her words, he gave a kind smile as if to show his reliability. "Don't worry I won't fail. I'll get it and get back before you notice I'm gone."

Soifon bit her lip, as she knew that she couldn't get out of this one, since she couldn't order him. At least not today. _'Well, perhaps I can use this to my advantage again.'_

"Alright." She said with crushing finality "you win." Suddenly all the other women in the room paled considerable "I want you to return to the barrack and ask Subaru for the data. Tell her it's for S.W.A. and she will understand. I have never considered this but Ichigo under no circumstances are you to read that information on that document. I am placing my utmost faith in you in completing this task under this condition. Do not fail me Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo immediately understood the gravity and seriousness of the matter if his Taicho was specifically saying she was putting her trust and faith in him to do this task, and considering Soifon wasn't one to do such things meant he needed to tread lightly as this would make or break their sort of friendly and peaceful interactions with each other. "Affirmative ma'am." He said in all seriousness as he got out of his chair and calmly went out the door.

"Oh, gods what have I done...?" Soifon muttered to herself, while cradling her head in despair.

After exiting the mansion Ichigo knew speed was of the essence and hurried back to the second division. Once he got there he ran to Subaru's office and knocked on it three times, and when he got no response, he opened the door to see that it was completely empty.

He looked to the left and the right quickly and didn't see anyone around _'Well, I guess she won't mind if I look through her stuff to find the report'._ Ichigo thought as he started to open filing cabinets and going through her desk. He kept searching but came up empty handed only finding some data on people and schedules such as meetings and reports. Ichigo would have looked again if not for the door opening and Shinjiro walking in.

The man gave a low whistle at the sight of all the opened compartments and files laying about "I know for a fact that Su-chan is very organized, so you better be ready to tell me that you got attacked by a hollow in here or something; otherwise, I'll have to report you for breaking and entering an officer's office with attempts to steal classified data."

"Sorry, Shin. I promise I'll have it fixed up before today's over but right now I need to find the data that Subaru has or Subaru herself so she can give it to me for Soifon."

"Oh so you need to find Su? Well you're in the wrong room, she in the Taicho's office at the moment. Come on I'll show you."

And so they went down about two more doors and Shinjiro knocked on it and to Ichigo's amazement he heard Subaru's voice from the other side giving them permission to enter.

"Yes, what is it?" she said her attention fixated on her task of filling out paperwork while she sat behind the Taicho's desk

"What are you doing there Subaru?" asked Ichigo, since only the Taicho was allowed to sit at that desk and do paperwork in this room.

Subaru raised her head in confusion as she knew for a fact that Ichigo was supposed to be with Shaolin. "I'm doing Soifon-Taicho's paperwork and her assigned duties today. That is the reason I am here, but why are you here? You were supposed to be looking after our sister."

"It's about that actually, we got called into some meeting and she asked me to ask you to give her the data from the previous S.W.A. meeting, whatever that means. She seemed really reluctant to send me for some reason." Ichigo said off-handedly, unable to figure out what the big deal was about this data.

Subaru's mouth opened in horror while her face turned a bright shade of scarlet "Tell me" she said in a low whisper "do you...know what the data is for? Or by chance what it contains?" Shinjiro looked at his wife, wondering what was getting her so worked up.

"No, but she did ask me to not look at it." said Ichigo relaying the only restriction on the request to the violet haired woman and her husband who still didn't look like he knew what was going

"That...would be for the best." spoke a highly relieved Subaru who was in the middle of searching the bottom drawer of the desk. She managed to find and pull out the envelope that had the official seal of the S.W.A on it and handed the data to Ichigo "Here is the data. Now hurry back and continue your mission."

Ichigo pocketed the data and was turning to leave when Shinjiro called out to him "You still got the letter we gave you yesterday right Ichigo?"

"Aw, shoot. Thanks for the reminder, must have been in such a hurry that I left it in my room." he said sheepishly

"Amateur..." Subaru ridiculed

Shinjiro frowned "That's not very nice Su-chan..."

SMACK!

"I told you to not call me that!" the woman yelled, as Shinjiro rubbed the lump on his head "at least not while we're at work!"She whispered, just loud enough for Ichigo to hear

"I'll just leave you two alone." Said the fourth seat excusing himself from seeing any further antics between the lovers

(A little later)

"Hey I'm back and I got the data!" said the triumphant Ichigo as he returned to the S.W.A meeting

"You didn't look at the data correct?" said Soifon who looked ready to kill the man with Suzumebachi if he said otherwise

"No, I didn't." he said annoyed to his captain as he handed the closed folder over to Nanao "Jeez why are you so guarded about the data? You make it sound like you were giving important information out to terrorists or something."

Soifon and everyone else sighed in relief _'At least he's trust worthy.'_

"Alright well thank-you for gathering the data we needed Kurosaki-san. You have been most helpful; now let me put this away for the moment so we can focus on our closing tasks." Said Nanao, ready to end the meeting

"Ohh! So we finally got all the data to see which places have the biggest chest book-chan?" said Yachiru, causing all the women at the meeting to drop into mortified horror at what she blurted out. Even Ichigo had the decency to try and hide his blush with his hand, while his Hollow said he was going out to buy a calendar and mark February eleventh as the single greatest day of his life.

"Kurosaki..." the frigid voice of Soifon called out from the seat beside him; forcing his body to turn into the death glare she was radiating off her persons "if you so much as breathe a word of this..." her eyes narrowed even further at the hanging threat

"It's quite alright, Soifon-Taicho." said the ever serene Unohana as she got up from her seat and carefully walked over to Ichigo "We can trust him to not reveal this information to anyone." Stopping next to him she placed her hand on his other shoulder calling his attention "right...?" only to besieged by her infamous Mona Lisa smile

"Y-yes, of course, you have my word!" the trapped man cried out as he saw the woman look at him the same way his mother did when she wanted something done immediately.

"You see, Soifon-Taicho. No need to be violent at all." She said calmly, like nothing happened.

Almost everyone sweat dropped at the display and could only think of how truly scary Unohana could be with the exception of Soifon who was slowly lowering the output of her glare from 'frigid' to 'chilly'

"Yes...moving right along." Nanao interjected to try and return things to normalcy "I believe that will end our current Shinigami Women's Association meeting."

"But wait book-chan! What about Ichi-chan! Is he gonna join us too?"

"Well." The intelligent woman gave the man a once over to confirm something to herself before saying "Let us proceed democratically and put it up to a vote. All those in favor of Kurosaki-san being allowed to be another alternate for either Soifon-Taicho or Subaru Kujo please raise your hands at this time."

To Ichigo's surprise everyone present including his Taicho raised their hand in favor of the motion "Very well. Per majority status being obtained Ichigo Kurosaki, from this moment forward you will be instated as an official alternative of any representatives missing from the second division. With that this meeting is adjourned." she said banging the gavel in finality.

Everyone got up from their seats and began to exit the meeting room to return to whatever duty or task they were doing beforehand. Soifon and Ichigo exited the building, and Soifon once again wandered off in another direction.

"So where are we going now exactly?" said Ichigo hoping to strike up a conversation

"You're going where I wish to go, Kurosaki."

Ichigo sighed "Look, Soifon-Taicho I really think I need to give my input on the way things are going."

"You have a complaint?" The leading woman turned back to face her subordinate "If it's not useless bellyaching then I suppose I'll listen to what you have to say."

Ichigo sighed as he steeled himself for what may come next "I would like to be able to assist you, but if you keep me out of the loop like you don't trust me, how am I supposed to help you?"

"What in all of Soul Society gave you the notion I 'need' your assistance? And what do you think gives you the right to make judgment on if I do or do not trust you?"

"It's just that even though you don't need it, or might not even want it, I'm still here to protect you as a comrade in arms. I'm willing to ignore how you normally brush me off and belittle me because I want to get along with you Taicho and be your friend even if the feeling isn't returned. So please at least work with me. Help me, help you."

Soifon bit her tongue unsure of what exactly to say since her siblings had told her to try and get along with him as well. "You'll have to forgive me for being a bit guarded." she lied softly, not wanting him to know she wasn't used to social people "Most people try and befriend a Taicho for their political power and nothing else; and having been trained to expect a knife in the back, I'd like to think I have a healthy sense of skepticism...but maybe I've gone from healthy to paranoid."

Ichigo paused as he let it sink in before continuing "Ok, I see where you're coming from but still you barely trust me at all. Hell to be honest you actually seem to not even like me."

The woman then replied with a statement that threw even him for a loop "Is that really what you think, Kurosaki?"

"Well I really don't know what to think. I don't read minds Soifon-Taicho." The flustered man admitted, not liking this was slowly turning into an argument

'_Well, Soifon he's being honest and is willing to take a step forward…be honest back.'_ said Suzumebachi as she observed the exchange between her mistress and the carrot top

The captain sighed "Look Kurosaki, I do trust you though I...intended for it to be a silent trust between us. For today's little outing, it was agreed by not only myself but also third seats Taiga and Kujo that YOU would be serving as my bodyguard. I willingly trusted you that if something should have arisen thus far I could trust that you'd be able to assist me and watch my back. Back at the meeting I trusted you with a mission that you executed flawlessly with very...sensitive information." Soifon turned around prepared to walk on again "So while, it may seem like I don't trust you, I actually do."

Ichigo scratched his head "I'm sorry then. I didn't think of it that way."

An awkward silence filled the air between the two Shinigami. Soifon was glad that he seemingly forgot about the second part when he asked if she liked him, while it was perhaps not meant in the same way as intend it did fluster her a bit. Soifon glanced back at Ichigo and saw and equally unreadable expression. Ichigo wasn't sure what to make of the circumstances, while he was glad that she actually did trust him it was bit worrying that he made things uncomfortable between them.

An idea came to Ichigo that could perhaps change the attitude between them and put them back on friendlier times "You know, Soifon-Taicho. This entire conversation you haven't called me 'Sloppy-Kurosaki'.

Soifon stopped all movement, before putting an amused smirk on her face as she turned around "That's because I've come to think you're competent when it relates to civil matters, rest assured that when we step unto the battlefield the nickname will be their waiting until you prove otherwise."

Ichigo smiled "Yeah..."

"Now, let's go. I'm feeling a bit hungry and was on my way to eat before you decided to interrupt me."

"Would you like to grab a bite to eat at my mom's? It's not too far away and she sounded like she'd like to meet you again"

"I suppose that's acceptable." said the woman a little happy that she'd see that rather eccentric mother of his.

The pair turned away from the direction of the Seireitei and walked along the road to Ichigo's mother home

"So Soifon-Taicho can I ask how you first met Shinjiro and Subaru?" Ichigo asked the woman as they continued their walk, hoping to strike up a conversation for the long walk ahead

"Why do you wish to inquire that information?"

"Walking through here reminded me of when Subaru told me that you guys first met in Rukongai."

The woman narrowed her eyes and thought hard on his words. Sure she had occasional happened upon them out in Rukongai but it wasn't the first time that they had met. "I don't recall that happening."

Ichigo frowned at the misunderstanding "But she said that you did."

"Kurosaki can you tell me what exactly she said word for word." the woman replied knowing her third seat always told the truth…to an extent.

"She said that Shinjiro and she encountered you first in Rukongai."

"Ahh, there's your problem." the epiphany dawning on the captain "She said where Shinjiro and she 'encountered me' she didn't say that she met me or I saw her."

Ichigo growled over such a technicality which the captain chuckled over after hearing "Trust me; I was the exact same way for a while."

"Why doesn't she ever give a regular answer?"

"That's not exactly true. She usually does give the truth it's just usually not the one you would expect or like to hear." she answered "Seeing as how Subaru trusts you enough I suppose I could humor you and fill in some blanks. I first officially met the pair when they were supposedly attending Shino Shinigami academy. It would mark the first time that our paths would cross and intertwine."

(Flash back)

A much younger, recently appointed third seated officer of the second division, Soifon was running through Shino academy hallways performing errands and delivering paperwork that her Yoruichi-sama had once again forgot to deliver or otherwise do. But she didn't care as that would mean that she would be the one to enter her excellence's presence again and deliver the good news that all the tasks were done without fail. As she ran around the corner she collided into someone else.

"Ah, I'm sorry." Soifon quickly apologized, but stared in awe as the person back flipped and landed on their feet again, standing perfectly straight like they probably were a moment ago

"No need. I am fine." The person replied

The new third seat looked over the individual and saw from the person's size and the way the person's hair fell that it was definitely a woman but she looked androgynous. She also saw a blade in her hand, but her uniform was that of a Shino academy student not someone of the Special Forces or even the Gotei 13.

'_Perhaps a senior academy student, no this person has had practice with such moves.'_

"How did you do that miss?" the raven haired girl asked

"Do what Shaolin Fon?" the girl asked. She then looked at the spot on floor where she was a moment ago "Oh that, well you learn a thing or two."

Soifon narrowed her eyes, and her hand reflexively reached for her Zanpaktou "How do you know that name? How do you know my name?"

"I've seen you at a strange compound that I've been told is the Fon family estate. I would also know your name since I've visited a few times."

Alarm bells were starting to sound off in Soifon's head, as nobody just entered and exited the compound without meeting the clan head, and since she was one of the heirs to the clan, her presence was required when meeting new individuals who desired to work alongside her clan.

That meant that this woman was lying through her teeth or she was up to an equally nefarious goal.

Just as Soifon was about to demand the woman answer her questions as to how and why this woman knew these things about her clan a loud screech from a whistle forced the duo to cover their ears, breaking up the rapidly mounting hostilities from the earlier conversation.

When the young Shinigami looked over in the direction the sound came from she saw a boy with brown eyes and dark black hair with a whistle attached to a chain around his neck with an arm band that said 'hall monitor' approach.

"Hey no fighting in the hallways, you know the rules! Drawing your sword is strictly forbidden, and I will report you to the headmaster if you try and pursue matters any further." The frowning boy commanded, trying to intimidate the two to stop any further actions of them.

"Sorry Shinjiro-kun. We weren't going to have a confrontation in the hallway." The woman replied though Soifon caught the underhanded threat. Sure not in the hallway, outside though would have been another story. "By the way you're taking your duties a bit too seriously, it's only temporary you know."

"Be that as it may, a samurai must fulfill his duties to the fullest extent of his powers and ability, to do any less then that is a dishonor to those who came before him, Subaru." The now named Shinjiro lectured at the girl, who rolled her eyes in amusement.

He then turned to Soifon "And you why aren't you in uniform? You're going to get in trouble if you keep running around like that." He then pointed to her half-drawn Zanpaktou "You're a graduating senior you can just go waving your sword around to people. You need to set a good example and act responsibly for your underclassmen."

"No, you misunderstand, I am not an academy student I am a Shinigami working in the second division under Yoruichi-sama's personal command!" Soifon argued and she then turned back to the Subaru person "Now answer how you've been to my home without being seen!"

"Why what makes you believe I wasn't seen noble woman?" the girl named Subaru replied smugly, while Soifon started to get more infuriated with her cryptic words

"Because it's impossible to enter the Fon family compound without meeting the clan head or their heirs!"

"I have seen you all." She said simply "It's just a matter of whether or not you've seen me."

"Alright that's enough!" Shinjiro interrupted as he got between them to stop the possible cat-fight. He then turned to the woman he didn't know "Look Shaolin-san-" he started using the name he had overheard

"Soifon." She politely corrected the school official

"Right. Soifon-san: If you are done here I would ask that you please leave the premise and not disturb any students." The man quickly turned away to the other woman "As for you Subaru please stop antagonizing her."

The two women backed apart from each other, still sending silent glares at the other which made the man wonder if he got through. Thankfully they both huffed annoyingly at the other and turned around, leaving in their respective directions. Shinjiro shook his head over the encounter and thanked whatever deity had allowed them to dodge a silver bullet before he chased after Subaru.

(Shin and Su)

Once Shin caught up with his newly married wife, he slowed to a brisk walk with her "That was a bit rude Su-chan."

"Perhaps Shinjiro, but she is a Shinigami as well as a noble woman what does she know or care about the people in Rukongai? I've already robbed her 'home' on more than one occasion and found out a great deal of secrets about the people as well as treasure. With this asauchi I obtained from sneaking into the senior end of the year class, we'll be able to enter the Seireitei itself to uncover more knowledge as well as treasure." The woman whispered back

"Look Subaru I know that we're just trying to survive, but is going this far truly a just cause?" The frowning co-conspirer asked feeling greatly conflicted, since his wife was a good person but the constant thievery may finally be catching up with her morale judgment

Subaru lowered her head to the ground understanding his point. She sighed and spoke in a weary tone "Shin, all of those Shinigami are nothing but arrogant snide nobles. They barely notice or care when their stuff goes missing. Why would they care about others? Besides if we did become Shinigami, we would be looked down upon for be outsiders, and let's not forget to mention that if there are a few intelligent Shinigami and they notice that the string of burglaries in Rukongai ends because we became a part of the Shinigami they could connect the dots and arrest us. And I for one don't want to know what the accumulated price we'd have to pay for our crimes."

"Look I know Subaru but still!" Shinjiro argued fiercely as he felt the guilt in his heart "...there is a fine line between being malicious and necessity and were pushing it!"

Subaru let out a vexed sigh at hearing his words because deep down she knew he was right and that she was wrong. The woman lowered her head to calm herself and accept that fact. Finally after she composed herself she faced her lover, cupping his face so he looked into her eyes, and brought out the smile that he loved about her "Even after dying you still maintain your samurai beliefs. I suppose your inability to compromise your beliefs made me fall in love with you."

Shinjiro blushed at her rather affectionate side and gave her a quick thank-you in the form of a peck on the cheek.

"A brave boy indeed..." the now blushing girl whispered seductively "Anyway Shin, with the Zanpaktou obtained earlier I can enter the Seireitei tonight and if I locate something of great value we just might be able to put an end to our…dishonest work for good this time."

(Soifon)

After leaving Shino Academy Soifon was still a bit pissed that the woman was such a bitch to her, but what really had her focus was on how that woman visited her home, without anyone noticing. During the entire trip back to the second division nothing came to mind, and served only to infuriate her further. She opened the door to where the commander was and walked in before dropping into kneeling submission

"I have returned, Yoruichi-sama! The tasks related to Shino academy we're finished in record time." Said the woman to the commander she adored, HER Yoruichi-sama

The woman that was looking at the smaller woman had an amused grin on her face. Her golden eyes tracing and observing every action the girl made. Pushing a bit of her rough purple hair out her way she responded to the report. "Excellent, my little bee. I'm very happy that I can always count on you."

"Thank-you Yoruichi-sama!" the blushing girl replied enthusiastically since her idol, her goddess was giving her such praise for her shabby work. Her heart was on cloud nine, the troubles of earlier today long forgotten.

"Not, a problem though I still wish you'd call me Yoruichi" she grumbled the last part quietly "…anyway there is a captain's meeting in a little bit and Fuka-Taichos are allowed but since our second is away on a mission, I would appreciate it if you'd come along with me."

Soifon raised her head immediately at the prospect of being around her for just a bit longer "Of course your Excellency!"

Yoruichi sighed playfully at the woman's reaction to the news. "Well come on let's go."

{Later that day: In the Meeting}

Soifon was standing next to her Captain, watching and hearing all the information being presented at the meeting. So far during the meeting they had discussed of a powerful new soul that had been located in Zaraki district, which had power comparable to at least a fuka-taicho if not a Taicho in raw power alone. The recently upgraded to Captain Retsu Unohana had informed everyone that fourth division had managed to reduce overall casualties by about twenty-four percent, and would continue to reduce casualties as they developed an understanding of what were the quickest routes to other divisions. Soifon herself did wonder who Unohana's captain was since she was promoted fifty years ago but let it go since it was in the past.

Soifon felt her anger begin to boil over when the infuriating captain of the twelfth Kisuke Urahara stepped forward to present some more information "Greetings, today I'd like to show you two things. First is this!"

He dug into his pocket and pulled out a strange jar with some candy in it, but the candy had a skull on it "These are the experimental 'Super Nutrition Tablets' once they've gone into testing we'll be handing them over to the fourth division, so they can remain vibrant with energy for when they have to do double or triple shifts."

Soifon against her better judgment spoke up "You can't be serious it has a skull on it for crying out loud! Do they even work?"

"Hmm." The scientist mused at the challenge "Well let's try one." So he popped open up the jar and swallowed one of the pills. Everyone looked at him in expectation for a few seconds "Ok, now on to the next thing I needed to report" he said moving along, ignoring their looks

"Wait! Nothing happened!" Soifon pointed out, completely in disbelief that this idiot was a captain

Urahara turned back to face her "What do you mean? Isn't my face just bursting with energy?" he pointed at his face with a jovial smile

'_It's going to be bursting back from my fist here in a minute!'_ She thought "No..."

"Oh well I'll be sure to write down 'more experimenting needed' than. Now if you all would feast your eyes on this" he said happily as he pulled out a graph of the Sokyoku "The Sokyoku has recently had another jump in power and now is stronger than ever and showing no signs of letting up."

"How much stronger exactly?" A not visibly younger Yamamoto asked, curious about Soul Societies most powerful weapon

"It currently has the power of about one million Zanpaktous." The man announced to the others

Twenty six audible gasps were heard from everyone in the room. Kisuke was about to continue but Yoruichi stepped forward from her place. "I believe this meeting will have to be put on hold, as there is an unwanted guest here."

Everyone turned to look at her, confusion and suspicious on their face, so she elaborated further "When Kisuke revealed the power increase do to my sensitive hearing. I heard exactly twenty six gasps of air."

"Yoruichi-Taicho, I see twenty six people in this room." Commented Soifon, not seeing what the problem was

"While you are correct third seat Fon answer me this. If there are twenty six people visible and twenty six people gasped why would the bearer of the news gasps as he already knows the information?" she said explaining the riddle to her surrogate younger sister

Everyone's eyes opened in realization, that there was another person among them. Yamamoto banged his cane against the hard wood floor "This is an immediate order to capture, whoever was the one to overhear the information today. Spread out and find them."

A resounding cry of 'Yes sir!' was heard as everyone in the room disappeared all except Soifon and Yoruichi. "Yoruichi-sama, we must go out and find the intruder!" she reiterated to her still unmoving commander who was busy gazing upward at the alcoves.

"I know but you see little bee the person hasn't left yet." She whispered back to her friend, she turned back to the ceiling "Why don't you come on out! No use hiding any further." She called

Soifon got into a battle stance but was confused when one of the stealth force members dropped from the ceiling and landed about ten feet away from them. "Yoruichi-sama, it just one of our own. We should call the other back before someone gets hurt."

"That would be for the best." the seemingly familiar voice that Soifon couldn't quite place of the stealth force operative acknowledged

Though a bit suspicious she didn't give it a second thought since most stealth operatives came across as weird "See it just a misunderstanding."

"No, it's not. You see you're the only allowed in here from my division besides myself, and since I didn't give an order for any bodyguards to accompany me that means this person is an imposter."

The fake stealth force member quickly back flipped and dove out the window, Soifon and Yoruichi chased after the person. The person ran with all their might, which surprised that someone could be just as fast as them in terms of normal running speed. Unfortunately he or she didn't put into account their flash step speed. So with a few quick moves they cut off the intruder.

"End of the line." Said Soifon in her battle stance, alongside her mistress ready to apprehend the Ryoka

To their amazement the person charged right at them and just before the pair was about to execute some attacks on the person, the individual flash stepped right through the gap between them and continued to flee. The pair quickly gave chase again, inwardly cursing the fact they let their guard down and lost sight of what the objective of their target was. It was to escape not fight.

The pair continued giving chase slowly catching up with the person but cautious enough to be prepared for whatever tricks may come up. Suddenly the person while jumping from one building to the next turned around and hurled a flurry of knives at his or her pursuers. Soifon and Yoruichi used their expert reflexes and either avoided the attack or knocked the blades out of the air, though they knew it was meant to distract them.

"Keep following I'll encircle them." The ebony woman commanded before breaking off pursuit and flash stepping to corner the person up ahead

Soifon continued pursuit and after a few more minutes, the figure stopped as Yoruichi appeared in front of the person. Soifon smiled knowing that the person was surrounded by the two quickest people in Seireitei.

"Done running?" Yoruichi asked rhetorically

"Of course not." The figure replied though a bit winded from being chased by the two quickest women in Soul Society

'_Geez, maybe I should ask if they wanna play tag next time. It'd be fun.'_ The ebony woman thought rather amused "So what's your next trick?"

"This." And the person threw a strange iron ball at Yoruichi's feet and a thick black cloud of smoke exploded and enveloped her, Soifon seeing the attack began to move to strike but the person whipped around and threw another ball but this time it was golden colored. The moment it left the person's hand a piercing light erupted and blinded Soifon, allowing the person to once again make a break for it.

Once the blinding light died down and Soifon could see again she ran over to Yoruichi who was kneeling down in a coughing fit. The woman said she was alright and they gave chase for one last time. Yoruichi said that she managed to throw a dagger into the person's arm and cut them, so they need only follow the trail of blood. They followed it until they reached Shino Academy, where they encountered one of the hall monitors on guard duty, Soifon recognized him as the man who broke up her fight with that one girl earlier.

"Can I help you Shinigami's?" the boy asked a wooden Bokken in his hand and a flashlight in the other, showing the signs of him being on patrol

"Yes, but not anymore as we've just located our person." Yoruichi spoke up having figured out the man on the spot

Soifon looked at her mistress in confusion "Surely not this man. He doesn't appear tired at all and there is no cut on his arm, plus he doesn't seem like the quick and stealthy type."

"Stealthy?" the boy was truly disarmed by the comment since he was usually described as an honest, open individual not sneaky.

"True." The commander said ignoring the man "but I know for a fact that all members of Shino Academy's police and security force are made up entirely of seniors who must carry their Zanpaktou at all times. Seeing as how he has Bokken means he's not a senior and such shouldn't be out this late, which mean he was waiting for someone, and I'll bet one of my lives that the he's been waiting for person is the one we've been chasing all night."

The sword wielding boy frowned noticeable, as he didn't want to fight them since it wouldn't be right but he couldn't hand over the other person which was why he asked her to flee after he healed her.

"It's Subaru isn't it...?" Soifon said finally putting everything together, having remembered their friendly interaction from earlier. "You're buying her time to escape."

Shinjiro gritted his teeth, knowing that this situation had become a lot more dangerous, and gripped his Bokken threateningly. Yoruichi moved in front of Soifon to confront the man's challenge "Seeing as how you know this person and what they look like go get Subaru, while I deal with this one."

And with a nod of her head Soifon flashed stepped past them to continue pursuit after the woman, though she didn't have to go far at all as she saw said woman rushing back towards them. She placed herself in front of her obscuring her path and preventing her from seeing Shinjiro who was a few hallways down.

The now unmasked Subaru stared into the face of Soifon a look of resignation on her face "So we meet again, Noble woman."

"Are you going to come quietly?" she asked getting into a battle stance ready to bring the girl down when she resisted

"I suppose." She said dejectedly, getting a strange look from Soifon who didn't expect her to give up so easily, especially after running around soul society a good two times "I'm well aware that I could have gotten away had I abandoned Shinjiro, but I won't he is my husband, lover and friend. I won't leave him."

"Why did you do all this?" Soifon asked wanting to get some answers out of the girl before turning her in to Yoruichi and Soul Society.

"Simple it was so that we could stay alive." Subaru replied apathetically

"What do you mean? If it's a living you're looking for then just become a Shinigami! You're already in the academy!" the third seat yelled

"Is that what you think?" she said letting out a dry, bitter laugh "I'm not. Only those of noble descent ever really get into the academy, the Shinigami don't even bother with the people of Rukongai, which is why I've had to make my living as a thief at night."

Soifon lowered her head. Pondering what she just heard, and slowly she came to the realization that not many people really did come from Rukongai: as most Shinigami were sent in from a noble family such as herself, or were renown such as Urahara-baka, or the spirit in Zaraki that was a possible threat to Soul Society. She also remembered that back at the compound there had been a few breaking and entering as well as relatively petty theft; though, the Fon family never reported it since they were in charge of security.

But if word were to have gotten out that they had been robbed, it would reflect poorly on them and if the associated shame was great enough possibly cause them to be no longer considered nobles protectors of the Shihoin, since if they couldn't stop thieves how could they stop assassins trying to kill a member of one of the four great nobles families.

A noble family no matter how minor it might be was to be held to a higher standard.

That was the unsaid rule. In Soifon's mind and now it seemed fortune was taking her side by the capture of this woman, but still her curiosity pushed her on."So you were the one that had robbed us, but I don't understand how could you accomplish such a task by yourself?" the female Fon asked her bandit

"Simple, my husband typically worked guard duty for random factions around the many different Rukongai districts during the day and the occasional night shift, so with inside information on the defenses and patrol routes I would hit some of the local areas nobles and rob some of their things so we could sell it to buy food and stay alive a bit longer during our stay in a section until we needed to move somewhere else. Though some of the money made went to some of the orphans we had found all around Rukongai that Shinigami have neglected. It's a shame too considering some want to become Shinigami themselves." The tired girl lamented telling everything to the literal death before her

Soifon closed her eyes and began to consider what the girl and her husband had gone through, when she started to feel a strange idea occur to her. An idea that was begging to be said, something that went against her current lifestyle as an assassin and went back to her younger days, day occasionally filled with a simple act of mercy "What if I helped you?" she said softly, to the depressed thief

Subaru snapped her head back to the woman in both disbelief and wanting "What do you mean? How?" she said desperately hopeful that perhaps this one was different, that maybe…there was something better.

"From everything I've seen thus far you have the skills of a Shinigami. You infiltrated several high security places with ease and were able to not only take things but also not get caught. Tonight you were able to both keep up and catch both me and Yoruichi-sama off guard. You also seem to want to perform whatever duties you have to the fullest extent, so I see no reason why you shouldn't join."

"And what about Shinjiro?" her lover not leaving her mind for a second

"That man has to be a very skilled fighter himself if he was able to pass himself off as a guard for various different organizations, he must also be a very strong soul too considering he and Yoruichi-sama are fighting and she still hasn't shown up yet, meaning he possess considerable fortitude and strength that would serve us well. He also like you fulfills his duties to the fullest."

Subaru's heart had skipped at beat at hearing that her husband was fighting a Taicho for her. Inwardly she wanted to know if everything would work out if she trusted this girl who only hours ago she had been rude and almost goaded into a fight. Her husband had always told her to take a chance with others, perhaps now was the time for the proverbial leap of faith "Why would you do this for someone like me? You barely know me." She whispered

"I'll be honest. I'm not sure entirely." She said tersely. She took two cautious steps towards the woman, her hands at her side to ease the agitation she was feeling "But it would be a shame to see the potential that you two carry inside go to waste because of circumstances. When I look at you, you remind me of myself for some reason. Perhaps it's because you know what it's like to know the consequences of failure. As a 'Noble Woman' of the Fon family if I fail to meet up to the standards set, I would be disowned and left to die in the streets much like you. Thankfully none of my brothers or I have failed."

"Yes, I remember reading a report on that when I infiltrated your estate. It's a bit appalling, and I admit that I thought it was just a joke and was simply used to keep you in line...I didn't know that it was a serious threat."

Soifon nodded "That's why I'll help you. You also know what it's like when your life is on the line in a do or die situation like me and you chose to continue like me."

Subaru slowly closed her eyes taking in all the emotions at once as a stray tear fell from one of her eyes "T-Thank-you Shaolin-dono" she said her heart filled with infinite gratitude for meeting this woman who seemed to want to work with her, to assist her, to change her.

Soifon walked over the rest of the way and with a gentle hand patted her on the shoulder empathetically "I-it's ok." Feeling a bit weird about being called by her true name, the one she discarded long ago "Tell me why do you call me 'Shaolin' I no longer go by that name its Soifon now."

"Why? It's a beautiful name. It's also your true name." the confused girl replied. She paused and then looked away with an embarrassed blush "Besides I think its Shaolin not Soifon who desires to help me...and if you're not like others, than I would like to see what the real you, is like. And this is the first step towards it no?"

Soifon sighed not sure what to do with the girl "Alright, I give. Just only call me it when were alone alright." When Subaru nodded, Soifon turned around back in the direction she came from "Now let's hurry, otherwise you might become a widow much sooner than expected, Subaru-san."

Subaru nodded her head in determination and followed Shaolin's lead back to where Shinjiro and Yoruichi were. When they arrived at the site they saw as expected an untouched Yoruichi with her arms crossed over her chest as she was eyeing and standing over a heavily injured Shinjiro struggling to get back on his feet using his Bokken as a crutch to continue fighting the futile fight. His breathing was labored and ragged emphasizing his exhaustion. Neither combatant noticed their unexpected audience.

"You sure are a stubborn one. I admit you must be pretty strong to continue after being thrashed by a captain like me." The ebony commander said with a smirk _'I can't believe he's even able to move, if my bee wasn't with me I might have lost our culprit by dealing with this guy.'_

"aahh...ahhh..A samurai...never falters...even in the...face of adversity!" the barely conscious man proclaimed proudly, still willing to continue the struggle for his wife

The cat woman tilted her head in interest "You do realize that you stopped being a samurai the moment you died right?"

The man started grinning manically, though out of insanity or as placebo to work through the pain the woman couldn't quite tell, but when she saw the man ferverently shaking his head rapidly in attempt of denying her claim, she began to suspect the latter. "To be samurai is...an acceptance of...the heart. Death doesn't...remove such bonds!" he wheezed out defiantly only to fall to his knees his body beginning to fail where his spirit wouldn't.

"Shinjiro!" a worried-filled Subaru ran over unable to watch him push himself any further. To help support her fallen husband she firmly held his body up by slinging his arm over and around her neck and supporting him with her weight as he leaned against her.

"Ah, so you must be Subaru then. You know you've caused us a lot of trouble. Are you ready to face your punishment?" Yoruichi questioned and continued when she saw the stone cold face of the woman "Breaking into Soul Society's Seireitei is a capital offense punishable by death."

"Then it will be my fate, but know that I did it alone on my own power no one else was involved. Shinjiro was doing his duty as both a samurai and member of security force of Shino Academy by protecting it from unidentified intruders." Subaru said, hoping to get Shinjiro off the death penalty and take the blame for herself, even if it was a farfetched idea seeing how he was not only obstructing a Shinigami's duty but a captain no less, and he fought the captain too.

"I'd believe you if I wasn't already aware that Shin there wasn't part of the security forces of Shino academy."

Subaru started to panic, but Soifon spoke up to convince her commander "Yoruichi-sama I must implore you please reconsider turning them in!"

Yoruichi turned her head over to her little sister genuinely interested that she would speak up against a possible threat to Soul Society or even her own judgment as a whole "You have something you wish to say? Go ahead I'm all ears Soifon." Giving her a cat like grin

Not wasting a second Soifon launched into an explanation "Yes, your Excellency! I've come to believe that these people are not in fact terrorists of any kind but are merely souls who wish to survive another day. Subaru-san has informed me that, she really only does what she does because it is the only way to earn money so they can buy food, she also admits that she has been the one who has broken into several high profile individuals to steal their things and gave some of the money to other souls in Rukongai, who have the potential to become Shinigami themselves, but are never found by our forces and consequently die from hunger."

Yoruichi broke her gaze away from the girl and looked towards the floor. Thinking what exactly she should do, as it was true that most people in Rukongai were ignored unless the Shinigami found an interest in them. "You do have a point Soifon, but what exactly am I to tell our Superiors?"

"I...do not know." She replied, her hope dwindling at being stone walled "but they wish to change." She pleaded, ready to drop on her hands and knees and beg for her mistress's reconsideration just this one time

Yoruichi thought it over a bit and then busted out into a smile "Ok, I've decided that as of this moment you two" she pointed to Shinjiro and Subaru "assisted us in subduing the assailant, whose body couldn't be recovered because Suzumebachi destroyed it!" she said sporting her cat like grin

The light slowly returned into the eyes of the pair as maybe just maybe things wouldn't be so bad "Won't you get in trouble?"

"Nah, course not."

"But how exactly are we to be Shinigami, I merely stole this asauchi from one the older students." Subaru questioned

Soifon turned to look at her "Wait, you're saying you out ran us without any formal training?"

Subaru glanced away "Well, I only learned the basics of the flash step when I was shadowing the student who I got the blade from. Reiatsu feet, think ahead, move body as one something like that. Iiiit's really why I only used it that one time during the chase."

"Well I can easily say that you'd both make fine Shinigami. The boy is quite strong physically, and could probably have taken down a seventh or eighth seat with that Bokken in a duel. You are also extremely swift and must be good at stealth and information gathering to have snuck in to our meeting. I'll be sure to inform the higher up, that we should take a more active stance in checking Rukongai for more individuals who want to be Shinigami." Yoruichi informed after evaluating their performances "I must ask do you two have any family or know of anyone similar to you in terms of skill?"

"No." replied Shinjiro "We've been alone in Rukongai ever since we died."

"Yeah...to be honest you and Shaolin-dono are really the closest thing we have to that out here." Said Subaru adjusting herself even more to keep her husband up

"I see." The ebony woman got in a thinking pose "Well from this moment on we'll be family! Right, Soi!"

Soifon perked up a bit, though she was unsure as her and her family members weren't very close. Yoruichi was always like the big sister she always wanted and aspired to be just like her, and didn't know if taking in these two into her heart would be an easy endeavor. _'No. Their just like me, and if Yoruichi-sama is like family for me, I'll do it for them.'_ She thought with a smile "Yes, Yoruichi-sama."

Soifon walked over and put Shinjiro's other arm around her to help support Shinjiro "Long time no see, my brother and sister."

Then Yoruichi went to go give her report repeating what she said had happened, while Soifon and her new found family, went to the medical wing to treat her injured younger brother

(Flash back end)

"And that was how we first met each other, Kurosaki." She said placing the cup of coffee back down on the table "Over time we've grown to understand and love each other unconditionally, and they've seen me at my best and my worse, but have always stuck by me even after the deaths of my blood brothers."

"Wow, I had no idea you were so close to each other." Ichigo said in amazement, breaking the rapture he and his mother had been caught up in.

"I remember Retsu-chan telling me a little about that, but I never would have thought that was those two." Ichigo's mom responded having remembered when her student had told her of the incident long before Ichigo had been born.

"Yes, they were the ones that opened the flood gate for any and all Souls wanting to join the academy. Not just nobles" said Soifon before taking a bite of the sandwich that had been prepared for them "I would ask that you don't reveal such information to others. As I don't know if any of the nobles are still vindictive about having the thieves go unpunished or the possible execution of my family for what they did."

"Don't worry Soifon-san, we won't tell a soul."

"Yeah, you're secrets are safe with us Soifon-Taicho" said Ichigo confirming his support

Soifon lowered her head in thought for bit and then spoke a few words that revealed her trust in them "I...feel that you two may address me as simply Soifon, but only when we are alone, so as not to show favoritism."

She then got up from her seat "Come Kurosaki. It's almost three we need to proceed to health land."

"Right" said Ichigo, and then he paused "Wait! When did I say we needed to be at health land? I was supposed to take you there you weren't supposed to know!"

Soifon stopped and rechecked what she said and cursed when she realized she slipped up involuntarily. She looked at Ichigo and concluded he still really didn't know she knew. _'Unbelievable he still thinks this a simple escort mission?'_

'_Wow. You got yourself an oblivious one on your hands. Though, I think it's kind of cute that he was all into being your guardian angel this entire time.'_

'_Quiet.' _Soifon chided

'_Ooohhh, someone's defensive! Come on lighten up a bit, you just shared your real families origins with him, now you just gotta share your own, and he'll be tagged and bagged!'_

Soifon blushed but ignored in order to answer Ichigo's lingering question, she sighed knowing maybe if she was honest that he'd be ok with it. "Alright, Kurosaki. I'll come clean; this mission was to...see your abilities to protect me, while revealing your hidden qualities."

"His hidden character?" Masaki asked since she constantly said that around people who Ichigo or anyone else was distrustful with initially

"Yes. You see I've been hearing many good things about you from Shinjiro, Subaru and Hanataro as a person. I wanted to see if you could live up to their expectations both on and off duty." She answered not revealing that she was curious herself and was toying with the idea of getting along with him

"Huh...I guess really was wrong about nobles after all." Ichigo admitted, casually looking away from Soifon and back at his mother

"What do you mean?"

Ichigo turned back to her as he leaned in his chair "Well, Soifon, my father abandoned my mother and me when I was born about sixteen years ago. From what mom told me, he was a noble and when it became time for him to man up and be a father, he fled. Nobody knows where he is or what became of him, all I know is that mother really loved him if that shrine she has in her room is any evidence of that, and that his name was Isshin Kurosaki."

"I'm sorry for your loss." The somber captain spoke, indirectly knowing the feeling of one you could count on disappearing "I will see if I can ask Subaru to look into finding that man for you if you wish."

"No, it's ok. If he didn't want to be a part of my family or me, then I'll forget about him. He's not important." Ichigo declined not seeing the frown on his mother's face.

The solemn mood was broken after Masaki saw the letter in her son's pocket "What's that son?" pointing towards the envelope

Ichigo reached in and pulled it out "Oh, well this letter is for Soifon. I was told by Subaru and Shinjiro to give it to her before we went to Health Land. So here I guess."

The woman took the letter and pocketed it, not so much as giving it a second glance. "Thank-you now we best get moving." She turned and bowed to Masaki "I...would like to see you again in the future, farewell."

Masaki gave the woman a hug "I can't wait till we meet again, my beloved daughter-in-law!"

Soifon laughed under her breath as she could practically feel Ichigo's embarrassment from where she stood. After Ichigo gave a rough good-bye the pair of Shinigami moved as quickly as they could to Health Land.

Upon arrival they proceeded past the long line of individuals, even past Toshiro and Rangiku though he did stop and say hello, and enter the building. When Ichigo asked if this was allowed Soifon said that it was a special day and that she had been booked entry months earlier, which was why she wasn't being hassled for her actions.

When they reached the Lobby, they saw both Shinjiro and Subaru waiting for them. "Ah, right on time. It's good to see you made though, I thought you said you'd try and stay out of sight." Said Shinjiro, seeing the two approach

"I did try, but Soifon-Taicho requested that I appear before her." Ichigo explained, not seeing the dishearten look on Soifon's face "Kurosaki, it is fine. Around them you may just address me as my name."

Subaru's smile widened considerably "So you're on first name basis now? After one mission? What's the world coming too, Shin?"

"I-it's not like that Subaru. We just took a step forward in trusting each other!" Ichigo explained, while Soifon glared daggers at her sister

"Is that really all you've done?" she asked teasingly, trying to make it sound more than he was letting on "because my spies have said otherwise. So. You. Can't. Lie." Moving her head closer to his with each syllable

"I think its fine personally" said a shrugging Shinjiro "He was probably going to find out any way." Hinting to the conversation of how they met

"I guess." She replied moving away from Ichigo's personal bubble and back over to latch onto her lover's shoulder "So final say on the mission?"

"I'd say a success." said Soifon "Though I do wish that I'd have gotten the chance to see his combat abilities."

A loud roar came up from ahead from the hot springs area grabbing the attention of the four. The roar of a hollow. Subaru smirked "Well, well, it seems like you get your wish after all, and you haven't even blown out the candles yet."

"What do you-?"

"No time for questions Ichigo, we got people to save and hollows to kill!" said Shinjiro as he dashed off drawing his blade from it's sheath

Ichigo pulled out Zangetsu and gave chase "Hey, you better save some for me Sempai!"

The two women looked at each other briefly "men..." they dead panned before chasing after the two swordsmen

(Hot springs)

As the Shinigami arrived evading countless numbers of souls trying to get away from the hollows they saw about a dozen or so wading through the waters. Most looked like either Giant human sized frogs or Praying mantises but the most distinct one was a strange gerbil looking creature with a long antenna similar to an angler fish about the size of a small car.

The giant hamster creature immediately fled, Subaru was about to give chase but Soifon stopped her "No forget that creature; we need to focus on the ones here, spread out and eliminate them!" the captain ordered returning to her stoic demeanor

"Yes, ma'am!" they acknowledged before separating to deal with the threat

(Ichigo)

After being given his orders Ichigo charged at the closest one and cleaved it in two with Zangetsu, its upper half dissolving into nothingness. He turned to his next target and jumped back avoiding a mantis's claws, after following up the dodge with a flash step backwards he started to chant an incantation "When the dawn rises, let widower shower her tears over the crescent land. Fold and collide with all around you! Hadou 17: Chikyū furueru!" he yelled. Small trembling started to occur within the room and eventually the tremors grew so strong that a few of the pillars collapsed on top of the hollows killing them instantly.

With his hollows done he turned back to see Shinjiro expertly dealing with his set of hollows. Not one was able to get past the samurai's guard. With a few more slashes with his sword the other hollows surrounding him disappeared.

Suddenly another rift opened and more hollows came pouring in.

Shinjiro turned once the next rift opened. He nodded to Ichigo and the two of them rushed over to attack the giant caterpillar hollows known as crawlers that had appeared.

Shinjiro thrusted his unreleased blade into the head of one of them, as Ichigo delivered a kick to another mantis's chest. Seeing an opening one of the mantis swung its claws trying to behead Shinjiro, who narrowly dodged the mantis's claws by moving his head downward allowing it to pass safely overhead, while Ichigo killed it by shooting a byakurai spell through it at point blank range.

After killing another two more hollows, Ichigo took a moment to check on the girls to see how they were holding up. He was thoroughly surprised to see that Soifon was killing them with Hakudo alone, where as Subaru seemed to have these six strange golden arrows floating around her body and shooting out towards hollows that crossed her line of vision either killing them or impaling them for Soifon to finish off. As Ichigo viewed the duo he admitted they looked both beautiful and deadly. Not a moment was either open for their opponents to attack and if they were their partner was right there to assist and force the enemy back before picking up where they left off.

'Wow. They fight so well together…it's like watching a beautiful dance!'

'_Well king, you certainly know how pick 'em, and your already half way into getting into YOUR captain pants!'_ The hollow informed as he cackled madly, savoring the feeling of amusement from annoying his king while basking in the blood-shed of the battlefield that he'd been denied for a bit too long

Ichigo would have continued his lovely conversation with the asshole err...hollow if not for Shinjiro grabbing him by the shoulder and yanking away from an energy blast that was released by one of the crawlers.

"Thanks Shin!"

"Don't thank me yet, it's not over!" grinned Shinjiro

"Guess we better split up!" and Ichigo went left while, Shinjiro took the right, renewing their assault against the hoard

(Girls)

"Why are there so many showing up?" asked Subaru sending another golden arrow at a crawler impaling the creature onto the wall like a decoration

"Perhaps something is calling them to this spot." replied Soifon as she kicked another hollow against the wall before destroying it with an off handed Soukatsui, barely giving it a second glance

"Only strong reiatsu makes them swarm like this or…" she said mentally willing more arrows to be created, to continue the fight against the seemingly endless surge of hollows.

"Hollow bait" replied the captain knowing that was the only other solution to this predicament

After responding Soifon twirled around a frog head's arm and smashed her fist through the back of its head destroying. She then stomped on a crawler that was slithering near her pinning it there as she stabbed her Zanpaktou through it.

"But my question is this 'why aren't the other Taicho's and Shinigami responding to this?' We passed Hitsuguaya-Taicho on the way here!"

"Perhaps there is something blocking them from sensing the reiatsu, urghh, and it is a rather large building so people probably used the emergency exits not the front exits where the other people are!" theorized Subaru as she swept the feet of a hollow and knocked into the wall with an elbow strike as it dangled in the air

Soifon flooded all her Reiatsu into picking up whatever it was blocking their reinforcement's arrival. She pinpointed something in the water and dove in after it. Soifon swam down a bit till she reached the bottom and found a strange glowing red gem, she mentally willed Suzumebachi into Shikai state and stabbed it breaking the device before returning to the surface for air.

"(huff)...I got the device! Reinforcement should be here any second!" she yelled, resurfacing near the edge of the deep end

"Shaolin watch out!" Subaru called out to her sister, her last arrow flying towards a different hollow making her unable to call another until it hit something and dissipated

Soifon quickly waded about and saw the teeth of a frog head about to close on her. She was about to duck underneath the waves of the hot spring again to avoid the attack when a giant blade slashed the face of the creature killing it.

Soifon turned around and saw Ichigo standing above her, his Zangetsu sword's edge half covered in a barely visible white light. "You alright Soifon!?" he asked worriedly extending his arm out to pull her from the water

She took the hand "I'm fine, and soon we'll be fine!"

Hitsuguaya and Rangiku came bursting into the hot springs "Is everyone ok!" Toshiro yelled over the chaos

"We're fine now give us a hand!" Shinjiro yelled back as he forced a hollow off of him

"Right!"

The now six continued to fight and once the last hollow disappeared they took a sigh of relief that the ordeal was finally over.

"Geez, Soifon-Taicho be careful what you wish for." A tired Shinjiro teased, as he leaned against the wall

"Indeed." Subaru agreed, kneeling down to catch her breath, from the hollow killing marathon

Soifon turned a solemn look towards the pair "I'll be sure to wish to see _'her' _again next year."

Toshiro got up from leaning against the wall "Well seeing as how we're no longer needed, and that Health land is completely trashed. It seems we'll have to be doing paperwork back in the office Matsumoto." He said clearly amused that her plan went up in smoke

"Well, actually, you see captain during all the fighting, thee ah paper kinda sort of fell into the water and is all ruined." Rangiku said slyly pointing into the hot spring where the paper was drifting at the top, damp and ruined.

Toshiro's eyes twitched in annoyance at unimaginable luck the woman had in getting out of paperwork "I guess we'll just have to do it some other time captain!" she said casually before flash stepping off to the nearest sake bar

"You know..." Subaru started getting everyone's attention since she looked like something just occurred to her "I don't recall her entering the battlefield with the paper work in hand." Toshiro started to shake in barely controlled rage and annoyance, with each word the spy spoke "So she must have just grabbed it recently..."

That was all the information the white haired boy need "MATSUMOTO!" he exploded and began chasing after the woman's reiatsu trail not going to let her off that easily.

A silence over came the remaining Shinigami, after the spectacle.

"You know...I'm almost glad Omaeda is my fuka-taicho now." Admitted the wet captain, causing the rest to laugh at her attempt at humor

Ichigo let out a sigh of relief knowing that today wasn't such a bad day.

'_Hey Ichigo. Look at your captain real quick.'_ the deranged hollow whispered in his mind

Ichigo glanced over casually to Soifon, and blushed a very dark red, seeing the wet form of his captain closer. Her wet Haori was pressed against her body revealing all her curves and muscles that she had otherwise covered up. Her normally rough blue hair seemed a great deal gentler than before.

Ichigo nearly had a nose-bleed when his captain complained about her wet clothes weighing her down and her bands being no good, and she undid her band letting her hair fall down to reveal long beautiful hair that fell down to about her back, while she took off her Haori revealing her stealth force uniform which was much different from Subaru's. In that it showed off her shoulders and parts of her back as well as a bit of her sides, and with the water accenting each curve Ichigo got more than an eyeful and what wasn't shown, well Dark Zangetsu had a very vivid imagination and was more than willing to share.

'_S-she's drop dead gorgeous!'_

'_Jackpot king! Fucking jackpot! You sir have official won the fucking lottery of women! Way to go, have a Cuban cigar on me!'_ Dark Zangetsu commented giving an imaginary pat on the back to Ichigo

"So pretty..." Ichigo whispered to himself, unfortunately two of the three people there were spies or otherwise trained to pick barely hearable sounds, while the third saw Ichigo staring at his sister in awe.

Soifon took an unexpectedly seductive glance at Ichigo, and when their eyes met, she turned away blushing a cherry red; all the while, her Zanpaktou started singing in her head of him taking a good looong look at the 'female' her. Subaru pondered what exactly she should do, as she did know that Ichigo had some feelings for her and her him, but she wasn't sure if they were of the romantic or merely hormonal type. Shinjiro however glanced between the two before he sighed and got up to go sit down next to Ichigo.

As soon as Shinjiro plopped down he leaned over and whispered into Ichigo's ear "If you ogle my sister again or break her heart and cause her pain, I'll fucking kill you. I'm telling you this on my Yamato honor, Kurosaki-kohai." He then lean back and smiled knowing his peace said and work done.

Ichigo paled at the threat knowing he'd carry it out consequences be damned, while the other two again due to sensitive hearing sweat dropped at the action. "Hey, you guys said something about a wish and candles earlier. What was that all about?" blurted out Ichigo, hoping to move right along from the awkward situation

The two third seats looked at their sister who nodded back "Today, February eleventh is my birthday, Kurosaki." She admitted sheepishly

Ichigo glanced at the others curiosity running through him "So is that why I saw Shinjiro and Subaru at your desk instead of you?"

"Yes, it's our birthday present for her. Our sister works very hard and barely has anytime for herself. At one point she literally had a twenty-four hour schedule that didn't even have time to stop and eat, until I transferred into her division's Special Forces to help ease the load off her!" said Subaru, recalling that nightmarish schedule and was amazed her sister was able to do it despite having a pathetic fuka-taicho.

"That's why one of the reasons we asked YOU to watch over our sister is because normally Subaru or I am the one that spends time with Sis when she's out, while the other misses out on her birthday. However with you here to make sure she's safe while keeping tabs on her, we can finish the work quicker and both spend time with her." The dark haired boy explained

"Ohh!" Ichigo exclaimed in understanding, he then turned back to his Taicho with a frown "So…seeing as how you've been calling me Kurosaki lately. I guess I'm no longer 'Sloppy-Kurosaki'?" he asked with a bit of disappointment

Soifon lowered her head in thoughts, her wet unbound hair covering her face as she spoke "Correct, you're no longer 'Sloppy-Kurosaki' as you've proven your competence. From this moment forward you will be 'My number one guardian'"

Ichigo's eyes light up at what she said "How did, what did..." he couldn't think of the words to finish it, they seemingly vanished into thin air

"That's what your name means to you right?" she moved some hair from her face and turned away from the man "Number one guardian" she said more warmly, while inside she felt butterflies and swore she heard her hard ass self saying she was embarrassing herself. But at the moment she could careless

But just for a moment.

"Come on guys, let's go back."

So the four picked up their belongings and hurried back to the division barracks, in a much better mood than they could have possibly imagined.

* * *

Author's note

February 11 is Soifon/Shaolin Fon actual birthday at least according to Canon bleach data.

I know the S.W.A takes place at Byakuya's house, but I thought maybe they might change location from time to time, so it was Omeada's place today.

The Hotsprings fight: Ok I know it's probably short but… with four characters fighting it gets a bit chaotic. Anyways they were all fourth seat and up so…yeah more of an annoyance to them then actual struggle.

Hadou 17: Chikyū furueru (earth tremble)

Effect: causes tremor like waves to shake under a target knocking them off balance or having them drop through the rifts or floors if strong enough. (my own creation, feel free to use)

* * *

Blackout2010: So ends chapter five

Ichigo: Sure looks like it.

Soifon: So how were you able to stave off for a few days? Was it because of my training suggestion

Blackout2010: Hardly Soifon-san. I will try and release one chapter every time I finish another chapter.

Subaru: So once you finish 12, 6 will be available?

Blackout2010: Yeah, though it's so friggin chaotic and bitch to write it's not funny.

Shinjiro: You'll endure.

Blackout2010: hopefully, anyway feel free to ask questions if you got them

Masaki: See ya next time folks!


	6. A lasting feeling!

Author's Ackowledgement:

To Unknown reviewer known as The Man (who I assume is a man...but i've been wrong before)

Thank-you for your review, umm hopefully next time you'll sign in so I can hear what you have to say in a PM instead of this. Anyway thanks, and the same goes to everyone else there such mentions include Mako-Hero-san, Zathol, Umbra8191, and Arrankor. Thanks for reviewing me and letting me know at least some one(s) out there reading this, hopefully I'll be able to live up to your expectations. Without further Ado the usual prefic banter.

* * *

Aizen: Greetings mindless peons it is I, the great one, Sosuke Aizen with an Announcement.

Blackout2010 (gagged): Mmph! Mp!

Aizen: For you see due to budget cuts we will now require you all to subscribe to the fic, as well drop $5.99 into my bank account since this will also become pay-per-view. Yes we will charge you, per chapter.

Ichigo (walking in): What are you doing?

Aizen: Ahh, if it isn't the protagonist. I was merely advertising to gain funding for my vastly growing future empire

Ichigo: What empire?

Aizen: You see Ichigo, I plan on ruling the world.

Ichigo: (Better get this one record) How do you plan on doing that? [starts untying Blackout2010]

Aizen: Well I'm already half way there for you see it was ME who sank the US economy so I could buy up all the important business on Wall Street as well as start the War in Iraq.

Blackout2010: That's not true! That was that one guy…ahh Osama Bin laden!

Aizen: Foolish little man there is no Osama Bin Laden only Kyoka Suigetsu, and her beautiful illusion that trick the mindless mass of America. In fact, I am secretly on my way to becoming future president of America, as well as buying up sizable land shares in Kuwait, Siberia and Tokyo, plus I am pulling the strings behind the Chinese government. So I essentially run the world.

Ichigo: why are you telling us this?

Aizen: Simple. Because… You. Can't. Stop. Me.

Blackout2010: (Monster!)

Aizen: I'm feeling in an exceptionally good mood now, so I'll let the service charge drop…for now

Disclaimer: I don't own anything…though Aizen might…check your local listing to be safe

* * *

Chapter 6: A lasting feeling!

Several weeks had passed after the incident at health land and no explanation had been found or given to the public, while the hollow that had gotten away earlier remained at large. The strange gem found in the hot spring water was apparently a new experimental development in the R&D, which blocked spiritual powers from escaping to help when they performed…less than legal experiments, nevertheless when it was found out the Sou-taicho ordered an immediate end to the development, captain Mayuri didn't seem to care all that much about seeing as most of the data around it was flawed anyway.

Ichigo had also heard what Zangetsu told him about Aizen when he met him, and did admit it was weird so he made an effort to avoid going anywhere near the Taicho of five's office at least until his paranoia went away or could be explained. When he brought it up to Shinjiro and Subaru they both told him to be cautious of him and if possible stay away from him, at he assumed by their behavior meant all cost, both mentioning that he must have reached Taicho on some level of skill and not just on people relation, the tone the two took when they told him was full of suspicion and sub-seated contempt, that Ichigo decided to not press since he rarely ever heard them talk like that about another.

His interactions with Soifon had become much friendlier, while they still maintained their Commander-Subordinate relationship while at the workplace, whenever Soifon visited the Kurosaki residence with or without her surrogate siblings they would speak a tad more casual almost like friends, though her reservation remained not that Ichigo held it against her since she was still wary of being used for her political status although it was quickly passing, as she had taken quite a liking to his mother Masaki to his secret pleasure but open annoyance.

Ichigo smiled while walking through the halls of the second division, feeling that things had overall been going great despite his initial reluctance with the people of second, it slowly started to feel more like home with each day, not that he didn't love the tenth along with Toshiro and Rangiku, since they always made things interesting.

"Ichigo-san!" a voice called out to the strolling forth seat, and when he turned around he saw the rapidly approaching Hanataro looking peppier than normal

"Hey Taro, what's up?" He said ignoring the 'san', since for the life of him he couldn't no matter what he tried get the kid to stop it and just say plain Ichigo or Ichigo-kun

"W-we've got to see Soifon-Taicho, we've got a mission!" said the timid boy flailing his arms about to seemingly further emphasis the need to hurry up and move

"But you're not part of the second…" He said casually, semi-ignoring the boy's excited/nervous tone

"She said she'll explain once we get there."

So the pair went over towards the Taicho who was knee deep in paper work, Shinjiro was walking from one side of the room to another carrying a stack in each of his hands, while Subaru was sitting on the floor near the wall organizing the paperwork into piles, such as domestic affairs, reports, field information and security. The well organized anti-paper work team stopped temporarily when the pair entered giving them their undivided attention.

"Good to see you made such a speedy return, Yamada" Soifon praised, which the seventh seat gave a sheepish thanks Soifon-Taicho "First things first, Kurosaki here." She threw something at Ichigo who caught it in his hands, turning it over he saw a small triangular shaped pendent that had the kanji for Substitute on it.

"What's this for?" he questioned as he continued gazing at the strange object in his hand

"I'm getting to it. Now Kurosaki you and Yamada ~with the approval of Unohana-Taicho~ have been selected to go into the human world, for some experience. From what I've heard from speaking with Hitsuguaya-Taicho, you we're originally set to go on one earlier unfortunately with your little problem springing up he felt it unsafe for you to go." The captain informed to the fourth seat who nodded in return having remembered his friend bring it up a few weeks prior to everything "Now that we've managed to control you're power to a safer degree you should be ok to enter and not cause too much trouble, though you will have a limiter put on you to be safe."

"Ok, but I don't see how Taro or the device fits into all of this."

Subaru looked up from her document sorting "That device is Soul Societies substitute soul reaper badge. You see Ichigo most new Shinigami tend to go to the human world usually after a year or so in service, unfortunately since they are inexperienced and have trouble getting in and out of their Gigai's safely, that device in your hand assists in forcing the souls out, to fight hollows. That particular one is a self use only, allowing the bearer to enter and exit at a moment's notice." She explained sorting another document leaving Shinjiro to continue the briefing

"The device is really meant for whoever is in the Gigai at the time of use, since we don't want to risk sending both of you in Gigai's since your both inexperienced one of you will remain in Shinigami form constantly while the other remains in the Gigai until being called out. Which brings us to why Hanataro-kun is going, he'll be there to address any serious wounds you may incur, while assisting you with adjusting to human interaction for whenever you may return there. You, Ichigo, will be assisting in Hanataro's training and more than likely do most of the killing." The samurai said giving further insight as to the how and why of things

"B-but isn't this a bit much?" the shaking form of Hanataro stuttered "What if a bunch of strong hollows come out of nowhere and attack us!" knowing that no matter how strong Ichigo was he could only fight so many before being overwhelmed

Soifon shook her head in disagreement "No, the place you two are going is a designated 'trainee area' called Karakura town. While it is strange as the people of the city seem to have higher than average spiritual power and awareness, powerful hollows rarely visit, in fact only regular hollows ever show up and they are few and far between."

"All right well that doesn't sound too bad" the confident Ichigo said, he then glanced back at the small device in his hand, and his curiosity got the better of him "Hey, Taicho why is this called a substitute badge? We're real Shinigami aren't we?"

"For all intents and purposes yes, the only reason we, meaning Shinjiro, Subaru and myself, are calling it the substitute soul reaper badge is because I can't legally promote you to fuka-taicho, on the grounds that one of the bi-laws of fuka-taicho-ship set eons before myself in general states, the selected individual must have experience in the human world at one point or have served at least five years within the Gotei 13, and working up through all the other seated positions."

"I thought the quickest way to become fuka-taicho in the second was to defeat the current fuka-taicho in combat in a sanctioned match with the current Taicho as the referee" grumbled Ichigo as he still wanted to put Omeada in his place

"Yes well, the Sou-Taicho's rulings take precedence over our own ruling" pointed out Shinjiro "So the requirements are being apart of the division, knowing your Zanpaktou's name while being adapt at Shikai, and have human world experience or dedicated effort in Seireitei."

"But still how exactly does this device relate to being fuka-taicho?"

"You've shown your skill during your stay here to not only the individuals in this room but also to a vast number of others in the division. Most feel that you should be fuka-taicho, and I do agree with them, however since I don't want Omeada to be ordering you around or otherwise goading you into a fight and have his family use their power to inhibit or prevent your proverbial climbing of the ladder. I appointed you as 'Substitute' so you fall under internship which means you report only to the Taicho, me, and those whom I allow. That way he can't touch you without going through me." The smug woman said happy to know she was going to finally get a confident and competent replacement for the fat oaf who had disgraced her presence long enough

Ichigo felt his face heat up a bit, seeing that she literally went out on a limb to prevent his career from being cut short cause of Omeada's stupidity "So when do we leave?" trying to keep his head in the game

"Tomorrow in the morning, you will meet at the squad two training field section A, if there are no more questions you are dismissed!"

The two Shinigami bowed before leaving the room and separating each going in different directions one to the fourth to pick up any medical supplies need as well as the super nutrition tablets for when he got tired, the other to get Zangetsu and head over to the cafeteria for a quick bite to eat.

When Subaru no longer felt the reiatsu of the two boys, she put down her paperwork and turned a noticeable sly grin to her sister, who sweated slightly afraid to find out what she was going to say "So Shaolin when exactly did you decide to make him your new fuka-taicho?"

"What are you trying to imply exactly?" the twin banded captain said defensively "I've been eager to lose Omeada since he joined, you know that."

Shinjiro spoke next adding on the pressure "But for him to be fuka-taicho, he'll need to stay in the second division otherwise you'll just have to reappoint Omeada again since no one else can fill the position."

Soifon looked between the two, feeling frustrated and annoyed they were ganging up on her "So! Losing Omeada for a day is worth it!" she exclaimed trying to get them off her back, with seemingly little luck

"If there's one thing I've come to know about you sister dearest." replied Subaru, as she whipped out her hidden fan and started to fan herself lightly "Is that you don't like wasted effort, all things must produce some result even if it's a failure. As failure provides learning experience for the failuree, you have done some kind of plan to ensure all the efforts we've done for you in terms of extending your inner circle hasn't gone to waste."

"So I don't like things going to waste what's this have to do with anything?" said an irate Soifon, who still tried to play the fool

Subaru sighed at her sister's denial and lapse in memory "Lin-chan, I run a spy network remember?" She smiled when her sister's expression changed from annoyed to impassive to flush "I know all about your little meeting with what was it 'Shiro-chan' that Hinamora calls him? About how you would like to request that Ichigo Kurosaki be permanently transferred from the tenth division over to the second"

"Really now Su-chan?" said Shinjiro playing along with his wife, seeing Soifon sputtering explanations and denials of her accusations "Do tell! How was she able to convince the young genius?"

"Of course dear, in fact let me tell you using her own words." She said oh so tenderly, before changing her voice to sound close to Shaolin's "Ahem, Hitsuguaya-Taicho, I feel that it may be beneficial to my squad to have one formerly sixth seat now fourth seat Kurosaki Ichigo transferred indefinitely to my regiment. He is a remarkable soldier and Shinigami, and has earned a place in my squad as well as gained it's respect. While I understand that it would be difficult to lose one of such caliber to another, I feel my squad is in a constant state of distress with it's lack of surviving Shinigami, and so I feel with Kurosaki around the standard of the second would be raised and promote stronger more efficient people to propagate in the future."

Soifon was burning red with embarrassment through the retelling, she wanted nothing more than to find a rock and crawl under it forever. She turned away from the devious duo and back to the stacks of paperwork beside the desk wondering if she knocked them all over would it be able to hide the dead bodies of her sister and brother. "Ok look, I admit-"

"No you didn't I had to say it." corrected Subaru who looked as if she was recalling the incident, as if it had happened a millennium ago and was just brought up from the past

Soifon really wanted to strangle the woman "as I was saying, that ahh meeting did happen" her red face burned even brighter than before "But I really just wanted him as my fuka-taicho, that's it honest no ulterior motives."

"You know when people say all that other stuff at the end Shaolin; other people tend to think otherwise." commented Shinjiro

Soifon closed her eyes and took a few breaths in to calm herself. She knew that she didn't need to be all riled up, because of their words or her action. She just needed to stay calm and controlled. Easy. "Look, I just didn't want to lose a friend ok?" the woman opened her eyes "I was afraid that if he went back to the tenth he'd just leave and never look back, just like _'Her'_ ."

"Sis, the tenth division is only one massive building over from me. It's not the other side of the afterlife." The samurai said running his hand through his hair "besides Ichigo doesn't strike me, as being quite like _'Her'_."

"I do trust him but how are you so confident about that?"

"Simply, he is 'your number one guardian'" Subaru teased and then switched to loving sister mode, as she placed a hand on Shaolin's cheek "all kidding aside, he has his priorities and unless I'm wrong your one of them."

"…"

"Come on cheer up. He wouldn't want to see you so distressed"

Soifon gave a weak smile "I suppose, even though you two are the cause of it."

"That's what family is for."

"Well I'm glad." replied Soifon a wide smile on her face, as she got up from her desk and she calmly walked over and knocked down two rather large piles of paperwork over, causing it spill everywhere "Now you two should really pick all this up as I have a meeting with Unohana-Taicho in five minutes, so I must be off too, so long!" and disappeared in a flash step leaving the two third seats bawling at the fact they would have to reorganize the paperwork.

All 19,726 sheets of it

(Soifon)

Soifon arrived at the office of Captain Retsu Unohana at the scheduled meeting time, and entered with permission from the room's occupant. While Soifon was not particularly close to the woman aside from being a S.W.A officer and the only other female Taicho currently in the courts, she could always rely on her to give good solid advice on matters that sometimes required someone outside her inner circle to know, and with the whole doctor-patient confidentiality mandate she could rest easy knowing such things wouldn't ever get out, unless Soifon wished to share such information.

"Greetings Soifon-taicho, would you like to have a seat?" the kind captain asked extending her hand to the chair beside her, to which Soifon accepted. After being seated Unohana got up to close and lock the door, for the private meeting the short woman wished to have with her.

"So what may I ask brings you to call this private meeting with me?"

"You promise you won't tell a soul right?" asked the younger captain, even though she did know what Unohana's response would be given her nature.

"Of course. Now if you would."

Soifon sighed "Do you remember when Yoruichi Shihoin betrayed Soul Society?"

Unohana nodded her head as she had seen Soifon constantly by the goddess of flash's side "Yes, you were the fuka-taicho at the time of the betrayal."

"Correct, and after that incident, I'd had completely given up on interacting with others but because of the support of my family and friend, I regained a small measure of trust."

"So is your measure of trust being threatened by something?" the doctor asked concerned, having saw firsthand the sorry state she had been in for a whole month straight, after the betrayal. Pure anger during the day, crying herself to sleep at night according to Shinjiro and Subaru.

"I'm not sure." She straightened herself up in her chair "When Ichigo Kurosaki was first transferred into my division. I didn't give a damn about him."

"And now?"

"well…ahh..umm…" Soifon squirmed in her chair trying to find a good way to put it without saying something incriminating or worse "he…I believe I trust him, but the problem is that it feels empty"

"Empty?" quoted Unohana who was starting to think of a few different things that could make the stoic captain feel so strangely about someone else yet feel it threaten her trust with the person

"Again, I'm not sure myself. I do trust him but I still feel empty. Shin, Su even Suzumebachi suggest that maybe, I might have a crush." Admitted Soifon

"Hmmm, well I personally have met Ichigo and his mother on multiple occasions, and the boy while a bit rough around the edges, has a very kind heart." Unohana diagnosed "Those whom you trust, have noticed a change in behavior and have pointed out what seems to be the most logical conclusion."

"But does that mean I'm really…?" her voice trailing away, not wanting to say it out loud

"No, I wouldn't say that" Unohana paused "At least not yet or I don't think. I'd say you are extremely curious about Ichigo, he possesses very noble qualities similar to Shihoin-san but has not betrayed the trust you hold in him unlike the latter."

"So what should I do?"

"I suggest a date" she said and silenced any protest that came to her with a fierce smile and small release of reiatsu "as friends. From what I can see there is nothing wrong with you physically or mentally, the problem is that you've actually taken an interest in someone and you're in denial about it."

Soifon turned her gaze to the floor "But, I can't l-l-l" she closed her eyes trying to force the word out "Like! Someone, it makes you weak, and gives others a weakness to exploit." She said a bit worried she might say…love

Unohana smiled gently "Is that what you believe?" she placed a gentle hand on Soifon which made the girl raise her eyes to see the healer "Listen, one's own strength can only take you so far but when that strength is added together with others, once impassible gates open and close just as easily as any door. " she retracted her arms and began to write something down on a sheet of paper, handing it over to Soifon, who smirked at what was written 'Doctor's orders: Soifon is prescribed one date with Ichigo Kurosaki to help her rehabilitation with others'

"Oh before I forget!" Unohana got up from her chair and went over to the room that connected into the office. Unohana walked in and went over to the closet that was next to her bed, and pulled out a beautiful red kimono, that had a grayish-white butterflies design on several areas. It also had a beautiful dark blue obi with three small pink carnations flower designs on it. "Ahh here it is." She carefully grabbed the dress and put it in a small white box and left the room.

"Here, you might want to use this to show a bit more of your hidden side." She said giving the other soon to be woman, the package

"Thanks." said Soifon holding the white box with the utmost in caution and delicacy

"Not a problem."

Soifon then flash stepped back to her division, specifically to Ichigo's room so she could do the 'doctor's orders'

(Same time Ichigo)

After being dismissed Ichigo went back to his room, to prepare for his departure to the human world. It had been a long time since he was this pumped for adventure and excitement, and wasn't going to miss this chance to see the human world for the first time in his life.

'_**Hey King! I got something I need to say.'**_ Hichigo barked out to his Shinigami half

'_Alright shoot'_ Ichigo replied as he started to think about what to pack

'_**Your bosses all said you leave tomorrow right?'**_

'_Yeah, what's your point?'_

'_**I'm getting there!'**_ The hollow snapped _**'They didn't say how long you'll be gone for right?'**_

'_They'll probably say tomorrow morning'_ he mentally replied as he grabbed some underwear for the trip

'_**That's NOT my point, my point is this you won't be seeing your woman right? So why don't you leave her a lasting impression, you get it?'**_

Ichigo stopped what he was doing and actually thought hard on what his dark side was saying. He had a point he wouldn't see most of his friends especially Soifon for quite a while, and he had to say that did make him a bit unhappy, and his finally sunk in realization of his crush for his captain was most certainly not welcome. _'So what do you have an in mind?'_

The hollow took up a mock thinking pose _**'I've been thinking you've been getting a lot shit handed to you and it's about damn time that you took the initiate and Oh I don't know, maybe ASK HER SWEET ASS OUT FOR A DATE!"**_

'_As much as I don't like that you think with your dick, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea. I do remember there's a festival to commemorate the building of Shino Academy today.'_ thought Ichigo having remembered it was the forty thousandth year celebration. His dark side just grinned wickedly; as he was gonna guarantee that he got some action before this night was over

'_**You know, I don't know if I ever told you this, but I like you, you make me smile!'**_

Ichigo just groaned at Zangetsu's stupidity _'Look, she could still decline' _the boy tried to bring reality back to order

'_**Bullshit! I bet you half this goddamn city that after you sleep with her, she'll be coming back begging for more!'**_ The monster laughed wickedly, before changing his voice to sound more _feminine 'Oh, Ichigo, right there, oh yeah. Ohhh~, so good ahh goshujin-sama~! (1)' _

Ichigo blushed heavily at the noise, the damned monster was making, though he suddenly couldn't undo the mental picture of a cute looking Soifon saying some of those things. _'No, I am not a pervert.'_ He chided, attempting to stop his thoughts from going any further especially with her

The hollow rolled his eyes _**'You might not be but I am!'**_ He paused before his smirk returned in full bloom _**'Actually since I am, by extension you are too, welcome to manhood Ichigo!'**_ The doppelganger laughed

'_SHUT UP! I'll ask her! Not that she'd say yes because she's a very busy woman, even though it would be kind of nice.'_

A knock on his door and Ichigo's conversation was put on hold. He walked over and opened the door and standing there was the object of both his affection and torment.

"Greetings Kurosaki" she said determined to not look at him in the face, lest she say something she couldn't take back

Ichigo gulped, because while he was afraid to be rejected since he had done so to a few girls in the past, he needed to tell her what he wanted "umm, s-s-Soifon..."

Soifon noticed his arms were shaking a bit and was wondering if she was too since this was also a bit uncomfortable as well. They both unknowingly close their eyes at the same time trying to work up their nerves before they both blurted out at the same time

"I would like to ask you something!"

"Would you indulge a request of mine?"

The two looked away from each other as they had practically yelled at each other at the top of their lungs. Soifon after years of learning to control and restrain emotions recovered first "P-please speak your mind, I can wait Kurosaki." She informed uncharacteristically allowing someone else to make the first go before her own self

"Soifon." Ichigo started "I…was wondering, maybe, I don't know, ahh."

"Yes…" she nervously answered, her heart rate beating the better part of 120 beats per second

Ichigo scratched the back of his head. Who knew this could be that hard "if you're not doing anything, ahh tonight. Would you…"

"Y-yes" she said completely anxious as to what he'd say next

"Please go on a date with me!" he yelled. When Soifon gave him the deer in the head lights look he quickly added "a-as friends of course, I mean if you got plans or something it's never mind." He looked away his face burning in shame

"No! That's ok, I don't mind at all." She blurted out, not wanting to say that she was going to do the same thing

Ichigo smiled, his apprehension relieved "Great, I'll pick you up at your office then at five."

"That is acceptable, until then Kurosaki." She flash stepped away as quickly a Shinigamily possible

"Wait! You forgot to tell me what you were going to say!" he called unfortunately his words fell on silence.

"Well, at least I have a date and a place but what the hell do I do between then?" Ichigo whispered out

'_**That's my man. Now close that door, and let good old Zangetsu help you out on your little 'excursion'**_ The Zanpaktou soul said slyly

(Soifon)

Soifon was walking at a very brisk pace, borderline running, after her quick escape. The only thing going any faster than her was her heart rate. _'I cannot believe what I just did. Did I really do that? Was that for the best? What was I thinking_?' she thought racking her brain to its fullest potential, practically ready to start tearing her hair out from what she got herself into, even though she was going to ask anyway.

'_Hey, easy Soifon! The more you worry and over think things the more the wind picks up in here! I'm only a small bee, I'm not the queen yet!'_

Soifon quickly tore down another hallway in route to her office _'He asked me out! ME! I'm very pleased for reasons I'm not entirely sure are romantic but, now I'm nervous beyond reason. Ooooh what do I do! I don't have any dating experience!'_

'_Easy! Calm down before you blow a circuit woman!'_ The Zanpaktou reprimanded, which was a bit of irony since it was usually the other way around _'Deep breaths CALM DOWN! Now look let's go see Shin and Su tell them before we do anything else.'_

Soifon stopped and took a few huge gulps of air to calm her nervous before proceeding calmly to the office, when she entered she was relieved to know they were still in here fixing the paperwork from earlier even if she had to ignore the death glare they were giving her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath "Guys, I need you to stop what you're doing and listen. I have something I really need to inform you guys on."

The two lovers exchanged a curious glance at each other, before letting the paper they were holding either drop back down on the floor or placed to the side "You seem kind of giddy. Is something wrong?" asked Shinjiro, since she was acting stranger than normal, since she usually told them things as they worked if they were present

It was now or never "I've been asked out on a date." She said bluntly, hoping they wouldn't overreact

Silence consumed the room entirely to Soifon's surprise she could in fact hear the steady breathing of the other two occupants. Soifon was about to say it again to make sure they heard her, when Shinjiro tore over to the calendar searching to see if it was April first, while Subaru went deep into thought wondering what made her say yes since she always said no going over mental simulations in her head and was slowly coming to the possibility she was being black-mailed.

Deciding she really didn't have time to waste and needed them in gear she brought them back to the task at hand "Enough!" Shaolin commanded, regaining the attention from the two "Yes, I was asked out on a date by Ichigo Kurosaki, as friends. No, it is not April fool's Shinjiro I'm being serious. And yes I really need your help so please!"

The seriousness of the situation went through the roof in both the surrogate sibling's of Shaolin book. Her saying the words please and need help, meant she was in dire straits. "What do you want us to help you with, Shaolin?" the younger brother asked in complete seriousness, his usual cheery demeanor forgotten behind

"Arghh, everything." She groaned in frustration "You know the way I was raised, I'd be completely inept to do a simple date." Her dread growing more by the second making her wish she hadn't taken the offer or listened to Unohana's advice _'This day is going to hell in a hand basket.' _She though sarcastically

"You said it was Ichigo correct?" asked Subaru who received a confirming nod from Soifon "Then there is not much of problem or rather date wise. The problem is your concern for your lack of experience correct?" again another nod "Well just do a changing of persona."

"'Change in persona?' You mean change my personality."

"Correct."

"So what should I do exactly? Because I refuse to be something I'm not for anyone." The captain said fiercely opposed to the thought of being some kind of door mat person to cater to someone else's wants in another person, especially out of someone of her stature.

"No, you stay you." Shinjiro spoke up to amend what Subaru meant "What we're saying is that instead of going as 'Soifon the Ice queen of Seireitei' go as 'Shaolin the kind noble woman of Fon'."

"You mean show my weak side?" she asked incredulously, not believing they were telling her to be a weak little girl "I'd be a laughing stock and it goes completely against what I've built myself as now, the perfect assassin"

"Even assassins have days off." Shinjiro countered knowingly

Shaolin wanted to say something in response but she swallowed her pride, since she did ask for their help. Soifon's frustration immediately turned to puzzlement as something dawned on her. "Pride…" she whispered out. She started to think on the word. Was it her pride that was actually holding her back, her pride to seem intimidating, strong…unapproachable?

She lowered her gaze and sulked her head in admittance. It was her pride and ego, which was getting in the way of her strange but new found happiness. "You do have a point. But to show that side of me to someone else, is a bit daunting."

The samurai shook his head in disagreement "No, we're not saying for you to be completely Shaolin. More like…be a bit more Shaolin than Soifon. Show Ichigo a bit more your kinder side, it's still in you sis you just got to let it out."

"I guess." She said unconvinced

Subaru sighed "Look, sis if he can't accept you for who you are in your entirety then there's no point in holding up this charade. But don't not give him the chance to see you for who you truly are." She walked over and placed a reassuring hand on her sister shoulder "When it comes to true companionship, you must show your true self eventually not all at once. Be yourself and let your heart be your guide, you won't go wrong."

"Thanks." Said Soifon "Heh, here I'm supposed to be the older sister yet you are helping me."

"It's only because we want to see you happy." said Shinjiro hoping to encourage her more. His attention was then turned towards the small white box on the inside of her Haori "Hey what's that?" he pointed to it shifting the topic of conversation

Soifon reached into her jacket and pulled out the box "Unohana-Taicho gave this to me after I asked her what I should do. I'm not sure what's in it yet." She set it down on the table and carefully removed the lid and saw a very beautiful kimono greeting her. A kind smile appeared on Shaolin's face as she turned back to face the pair "We'd best hurry. I have a date to prepare for."

The two third seats both grabbed her hand and took her to her room, so they could get underway of turning her into something special.

(Later that day- Ichigo)

Ichigo was pacing back and forth, in his room going over everything he, Dark Zangetsu and Toshiro, Rangiku, both of whom he went to see, could come up with when it came to the date. Rangiku was very curious about who the lucky girl was as it would definitely bring not only new gossip but also be worth investigating and bring up at the next S.W.A meeting, Toshiro somehow managed to get her to focus her energy on what he should do rather than who the girl was, which relieved the orange haired Shinigami to no end.

Ichigo was currently dressed in his favorite kimono. It was a vivid light green, and had swirls of autumn leaves dancing and falling down on it and on the middle of his back was the kanji for life on it, which rested just above the blade of Zangetsu when it was strapped to his back.

Ichigo looked at the clock "It's almost time." He whispered to himself, getting even more nervous that so much time seemed to fly by when he really wanted things to go slowly so he could gather his thoughts.

'_**Don't even THINK about getting cold feet! Or so help me…'**_ Hichigo threatened since they had come all this way

"Yeah, yeah…" he waved off his hollow for the seventh time this hour.

'_Ichigo, there is no need to hesitate. Just proceed as you've always done'_ The other older Zangetsu advised, as his partner's constant worrying over this was making the clouds gather, which meant rain if left unchecked.

Ichigo walked into the bathroom, and splashed some water on his face. "Alright, let's do this." He picked up the towel and dried his face before walking out of the room, picking up the small flower that he bought much earlier that afternoon.

As Ichigo walked through the hallways of Squad two he was amazed at how empty it was, normally people were always coming and going but now it seemed so lifeless and full of tense energy, as he half-expected someone to jump out and say surprise.

"Ichigo" a voice called

Ichigo nearly jumped out of his skin from the unexpected voice calling out to him. He calmed himself by closing his eyes and breathing in, having seemingly jinxed himself, as he reopened his eyes he saw Shinjiro, who was wearing a plaid jerkin of gray and a faded yellow which had the symbol of courage embroidered into the back with a blue hakama and wore a red shirt underneath with a pair of sandals and socks on his feet, standing in the entranceway of his date's office which seemed just as terrifying as any hollow at the moment.

"What's up Shin?" he asked trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice

"I'm keeping you out for a second" he said and pointed at the door lazily "The girl's aren't quite done yet."

"Oh really? Well thanks for stopping me."

"Not a problem" the boy waved off, he took a good look at him "You nervous?" he asked rhetorically

"I'm asking your sister out on a date, who is also my commander. So yeah, I am." Ichigo said with good humored sarcasm

Shinjiro laughed "Don't worry, my first date with Subaru, I was completely and utter nervous or so she tells me, but hey I didn't die so you should be fine."

Ichigo gave a nervous chuckle, since he could tell Shinjiro was trying to help him "Anyway, Ichigo as a favor as friend could you do something for me?" The boy requested speaking much more seriously

"Anything, Sempai." responded Ichigo, as Shinjiro rarely ever made requests of Ichigo or others

"Could you please make sure that she enjoys herself? I ask because…" he went over and whispered into his ear "You're her first date…ever."

Ichigo turned his head away to stare back at the door "I understand, and truth be told she's mine." He admitted sheepishly "But I'll treat her right."

"Thanks, I'm glad I can always count on you." The appreciative samurai said clasping his hand on his friend's shoulder "I think this has been long enough so good luck."

Sure enough, Subaru walked out in a very odd get up by Ichigo's standards that captivated his imagination and perhaps gave a small sneak-peek to what his friend date looked like herself.

She had a strange jacket like coat that had the chest area in the shape of a star, the shoulders and outer edges of the star were a lighter violet it had a few buttons on it similar to a stage or marching band director and a black zip up shirt underneath. She was also wearing long white gloves that extended past her elbow and wore black pants with a pair of white boots, her face mask she usually had was gone revealing her face to the fullest, making her seem more womanly in comparison to what she normally wore.

"Excellent, so Shinjiro was able to stop you. That's good to know." The recently emerged woman said approvingly "Well, I think we should get going Shinjiro. We have much to do and only a limited amount of time to do it in."

"Right." He concurred and moved back a few step to hold her hand as they then walked around Ichigo to go along their own merry way "Oh, Ichigo I almost forgot to give you this."

In her left hand a pair of tickets was sticking out "If you get the chance during your date perhaps you could visit us at the central pavilion grounds later on as we are holding a play and I would appreciate it if you could come. However if you can't it is understandable, as I'm sure you'll be busy with Soifon, so I'll leave it at your personal discretion."

"We'll definitely be there. I'm sure Soifon and I would love to see the show." He said gratefully taking the offered tickets from the oddly dressed third seat

Subaru bowed "Thank-you. Now please go, sister awaits you with bated breath." They pair turned and walked away leaving the building for their play and possible date.

Once they were gone, Ichigo took a deep breath and worked out the kinks in his neck, legs, shoulders and back _'Alright, Ichigo you can do this.'_ "(Whew) lets go."

He walked up to the door and knocked "Soifon, it's me Ichigo may I come in?" he calmly asked, his nerves no longer getting the best of him

"Please enter, Kurosaki." A rather serene almost melodious voice called from beyond the great Taicho's door, that Ichigo recognized definitely belonged to Soifon's but wasn't entirely the same too, and it perplexed him, almost urging him on to see what truly lay ahead.

With a steady hand he grabbed the handle and turned the door knob before taking a step back using his body to assist in the task. In one swift motion he entered the room and closed the door, his back to the rest of the room while he faced the door. He willed himself around and was witness to a beautiful and very rare sight.

A smiling though very small and a bit of the shy variety, but still smiling Soifon greeted him. She was wearing a beautiful well kept form fitting red kimono that had white butterflies landing upon vine branches and leafs; her dark blue obi had four small pink carnation flowers at the center, in a line a stark contrast to the sash but fitted nicely together. Gone were her usual twin bands of hair with the gold rings instead one single ponytail that went down behind her before coming back up and resting over her shoulder another small flower at the tip to complete it all.

Ichigo blinked his eyes in disbelief that this was the very same woman he saw on a day to day basis, barking orders at Omeada and the others, training in the combat field with him and…the one he had recently realized crush on.

His hollow let out a low whistle in Ichigo's mind _**'Hey Ichigo, she cleans up nicely. Maybe you could ask her to doll herself up some more in the future!'**_ The crazed maniac cat called practically drooling at the sight of the extremely beautiful girl.

Oh yes, tonight he was gonna bring home the gold. Maybe even Platinum.

Soifon's cheeks flushed a vibrant red under the gaze of her 'friend date' "What are you staring at exactly?" she said trying to be a more Soifon, since she apparently did too much Shaolin

"You." He said dazedly

Soifon's face flushed further at his words but couldn't stop her smile from widening even more no matter what she tried. "Let's just go ok."

"R-right." He extended his hand out to her while he opened the door with his other. Soifon looked at it unsure of what to do, since Suzumebachi wasn't on her she was literally thrown into the lion's den by herself "What are you doing exactly?"

"On dates the guys always hold the hands of the girl. It lets other people know their together, and prevents them from being separated." He answered using the line he got from Toshiro

She looked at him skeptically "I...see" but grabbed it regardless as she was in no way the expert when it came to such things.

The pair walked through the door and Ichigo closed it behind him. When Soifon stretched out her hand again, Ichigo paused in search of something "What are you looking for?"

Ichigo pulled out the small rose from earlier "I wanted to give you this, you know before we actually got there." He got closer to her and moved to put it in her hair

Soifon was unmoving under the act, her face flushed at the kind treatment and how close Ichigo was to her. She could hear the steady breathes he took and smell the rather sweet smell of his body, and found it was a rather intoxicating scent.

'_Maybe this is the reason all those other girls threw themselves at him. He's…nice to be around.' _The beet red girl thought

"There all done." Whispered Ichigo, slowly backing away from his captain

Soifon was about to complain but caught herself before her mouth betrayed her. "You're pretty good at this. I would think you frequent women often." She lightly teased, assuming it was normal friendly behavior on a night out

'_**Well, he might not but I prefer to keep an open side of the bed sweet heart!'**_

"Maybe you underestimate me, Soifon." He said slyly once again ignoring the peanut gallery "Let's go." He took hold of her hand and the two began to walk towards Shino academy.

(Festival Grounds: Shino Academy)

When Ichigo and Soifon arrived at the academy grounds they were marveling at the multiple spectacles going on around them. The streets were alive with many different souls from all over either vending their goods, other visitors in kimono's enjoying the events or shows going on, or people in strange costumes or masks moving through the crowd or above on the school's roof tops.

"Wow, Shino academy is really going all out this year." commented an impressed Ichigo, as some kind of ninja jumped from one building to the next, which he assumed was some kind of live action show

'_Maybe I should come to this more often, when I need to recruit people for squad two' _the captain in red thought, seeing a karate match going on a few yards away to the right

Ichigo saw that her eyes had wandered over to the bout going on "Hey, would you like to try? It's open to anyone."

"Oh really?" she said interested but decided against it "Though I suppose I shouldn't. After all not a single soul there could stand up to me."

Ichigo winced slightly before he commented casually already expecting her reaction "I think you should, because they don't think women can be strong." Ichigo's smile widened a bit when he saw her narrow her eyes dangerously at the ring

"Really now? Perhaps a lesson is an order." She said with an evil smirk, almost determined to turn someone into a pretzel. Almost.

"After you Soifon-sama" He bowed out of the way extending his hand generously at the ring, to which she nodded her head in acceptance

Once Soifon started walking away, he closed his eyes _'Hey, stop influencing me like that! This is MY date damn it!'_

'_**Woooh! Someone's edgy, sorry king just wanted to help get the ball rolling. I'll bow out; just make us proud in here!'**_

Ichigo started to catch up back up to his friend, while Soifon was busy dealing with the official to be allowed a match.

"CAN NO ONE STOP HIM! Akaze Inkino is currently 49 and 0." The referee/announcer yelled out to the crowd, getting them more pumped up for the next possible match "That's right folks 49 wins straight and he seems to be rarin to go. Will no one answer the challenge to fight him!"

One of the officials got into the ring and whispered something to the announcer. The announcer looked at the official in disbelief but the official merely nodded his head before walking back off the stage. The announcer looked back at the crowd and shrugged since it wasn't his job to stop people from entering

"Well Ladies and Gentle souls we just got another challenger!" The announcer yelled out as the crowd roared "But I must say I'm a bit disappointed in the guys out there since you sent in such a dainty little flower to fight for you."

Said dainty little flower narrowed her eyes to mere slits, while her clenched fist shook in rage, as the rest of the guys looked around in confusion, though the announcer didn't see it. "Presenting our 50th opponent of the night, the 'mysterious female flower'! Throwing his hand out in Soifon's direction as she entered the ring, getting some 'oohs', 'ahhs' and 'good luck' from most of the crowd and some lecherous looks from some of the men and a few of the women too, both of whom they wished she could do to or with them.

As Ichigo approached the ring closer to cheer her on, he couldn't help but smirk as the announcer was burying himself and the other guy even deeper in the hole. "Go get 'em!" he cheered, knowing not to say Soifon in case they'd stop the match and prevent her from 'bringing the hammer down' on the poor sap.

Soifon turned her head when Ichigo started to cheer and quietly walked over to the edge of the ring her shoes making inaudible tapping noise due to the crowds murmuring with the odd behavior, and occasional boos since they thought she was throwing the match already. When she was in front of where he stood, Soifon kneeled down to his eye-level, with a gentle look on her face and reached into her hair and pulled out the rose he gave her earlier "Hold on to it for me. I'd rather not run the risk that it gets destroyed during the match."

Ichigo nodded his head dumbly entranced by her, clutching the rose in his palm gently so as not to damage it, while ignoring the 'Oohhs', 'ahhs', and 'how romantic' from the crowd members who happened to overhear the exchange.

Almost as if a switch had been flipped, Ichigo saw the Soifon he knew become the Soifon soul society knew. She calmly and purposefully walked back to where she had been moments ago. Her eyes hardened once again, and her smile gone replaced with a dark frown.

She started to analyze her opponent and decipher his possible moves and her most effective counter-measures _'Target: Is a male seems to be about 5'7, with more mass on his shoulders. No doubt an offense kind of man, like Ichigo, but it seems he's neglected his foot works so he'll be slow on his movements'_

Soifon tsked, knowing all the strength in the world meant nothing if he couldn't hit his target. _'I am one-hundred percent confident Ichigo could defeat him without his Shinigami powers or training. Then again not all souls work to cover their weaknesses. He'll just have to learn the hard way.'_

Akaze stepped forward with a swagger in his step "Well well, beautiful. How about after the match, you give me that flower you gave that chump earlier instead?"

"Keep dreaming" she replied settling into a stance, her rage now increasing by the moment

The man laughed "Whatever toots. Let me show you what a real man is and how he fights." as he got into a boxing stance

The announcer looked at both of them "Are you ready?"

"Course, but I won't rough her up too much."

"Let it begin, so I can break him."

The announcer backed away a bit at the viciousness the girl was showing, while Inkino was a bit turned on at the display. The announcer turned and faced the crowd "Alright the opponents are ready! Everyone start cheering let them hear your words so as to raise their fighting spirit!"

The roar of the crowd was deafening, but Soifon's sensitive ears could still hear the lone voice of Ichigo encouraging her further. _'I don't need their cheering. So long as Ichigo supports me I'll be fine. Wait what did I say? Arggh, so stupid! J-just concentrate on this loser before I think about him again. I mean! Damnit!'_

"AAAAANNNNNNDDDDD! Begin!" yelled the announcer quickly jumping away from the two, the start of the match bringing Soifon back to full focus once again.

Akaze took a fierce step forward as he launched his right fist at Soifon who stood there not even blinking _'Heh. One punch I guess. But she tried.'_

To his shock once he got close, Soifon quickly ducked under the attack and grabbed his arm and jumped off the ground her leg planted firmly on his abdomen and flipped him and her over three times before they came back down to the mat.

A resounding thud was heard, as Inkino hit the ground hard, with Soifon now standing on him like it was the most natural thing in the world. She delivered a quick kick to the side of the head while he was down to add insult to injury.

The entire crowd minus Ichigo had their jaws dropping at the sight. They all had the same thought. _'Just who IS this girl!'_

Soifon stepped off of him folding her arms over her chest and turned to the still reeling announcer "Hey, aren't you supposed to start counting or something?"

The announcer finally got himself out of his stupor after being reminded by her, that he was the ref so he started to do the count for knockout.

'_Geez, I wanted to show him the error of his ways.'_ She sighed before glancing back _'I didn't even try to knock him out. Oh well hopefully he learns'_

"6, 7, 8" the announcer stopped when Akaze started to slowly get back unto his feet from having the wind knocked out of him in one blow

The announcer moved the microphone away so the audience couldn't hear "Are you alright? Can you continue?"

"Yeah. Let's go." He said eager for some pay back

Soifon turned around though she wasn't very surprised that the 49 time winner was back on his feet. After all she didn't put any power or strength behind the counter, it was all gravity and him.

'_Hmm. Perhaps I should have moved my foot so I could have dislocated his shoulder, with a quick tug of my arm.'_

The boxer took a few steps closer and got in his stance "You got lucky, there won't be a next time woman."

Soifon was holding back the urge to laugh at the pitiful man before her, who clearly didn't know a thing about not only being beat but outclassed "You're correct there won't be as I need to return to my date."

"If the fighters are ready begin!"

Inkino tightened his guard up a bit and didn't rush in like last time, less he allow her to perform that flip again. Soifon took a step forward to see what he would do, and when nothing came she quickly swept the boxers feet from under him.

He hit the ground and started to roll away when she rushed forward to exploit her opening. _'Gotcha!'_ he thought as he threw an underhanded left to her midsection.

She again astonished the crowd with her martial arts skill and flexibility, as the punch was thrown, she used the out stretched arm to flip herself over her target and behind his back, while in the air she again grabbed him courteous by the shoulders and flipped him backward using her Chinese quipos to dig into his back for support.

Once the man hit the ground again this time on his stomach she deliver a concentrated yet fierce spiritual enforced punch to the back of his head, forcing it to collide with the ground at break neck speed, completely knocking out the man and possibly killing him.

Soifon once again got off the man but this time kneeled down and placed her hand against his neck checking for a vital sigh, and smiled when she found it knowing the man was still alive if not beaten and humiliated and her as of yet unnamed move was slowly being perfected as this guy was just another stepping stone in the process. "Well, I shall take my leave then. Hopefully now you know the strength a woman possesses." She proceeded to walk off stage as the announcer announced that the winner was the 'dainty little flower'.

She easily met up with Ichigo again since the crowd gave her a wide berth of space and the man stuck out with his vibrant orange hair.

"That was amazing Soifon." He said placing the flower back in her hair so they could continue their date _'So beautiful…I mean amazing yeah.'_

"Yes, well, as I said earlier I felt the need to teach him and anyone else who hold such a notion otherwise." She stated firmly, resisting the urge to say it was fun or thank him for point out such an injustice to her.

Ichigo laughed "That you did!" he then grabbed her hand again "Come on let's see what else they got going on."

Ichigo and Soifon continued down the street passing a few stands when Ichigo spotted a huge crowd next to an even bigger stage with spotlights and a big screen that read 'Karaoke singer Science club'. Ichigo smiled since that seemed to be something people would do on a normal going out/date "Hey, Soifon. How about we try that next." Pointing to the stage where someone else was singing a song.

"You can sing?" Soifon asked her date, since she never figured him of all people to be a singer.

Ichigo glanced away abashed "Well…not really, but it's usually fun."

"I think I'll pass." She said determined to not be up on center stage singing, in front of a whole crowd of people

Ichigo picked up on something he otherwise might not have noticed in his Taicho's normal behavior. She had her eyes definitely placed on the stage, even though they occasionally flickered elsewhere but it was definitely on the stage, and the way she said 'I'll pass' sounded so weak. Almost like she was nervous.

A sly smile broke out on Ichigo's face at the thought that she was actually afraid to do something. Not like it was ineptitude but more like hesitation. So he did what he did best bring stuff out of people "If I didn't know any better Soifon, I'd say you were scared."

Soifon caught unawares looked at him in incredulously, that he was insinuating that she, a Taicho of the Shinigami courts who had lived through countless battles against hollows and even a menos grande, was frightened at being on stage in front of other. "Is that what you think Kurosaki? I'll have you know I can sing quite well, much better than you certainly." Getting a bit defensive since she could sing…if she felt like it

"Then how about a contest between us." He offered knowing she was already hooked "We'll each sing one song and we'll see who did better."

"Fine then you go first." She said a little eager to start this contest _'Maybe it might be fun after all.'_

So the challengers went back stage to try their voices, and were assigned a number and apparently were also entered into a special contest that happened after Soifon sang, so the pair sat back both confident in their choice of song and eagerly awaiting to come out on top.

"Number 15." One of the stage works called out "Number 15. It's your turn."

"Well well, looks like I'm up." Said Ichigo eager to show off to Soifon

"Hmph! I'll be sure to be on standby with some paper towels when they throw the vegetables." She said snidely, her confident smirk growing wider

Ichigo rolled his eyes "Ha! Whatever." as Ichigo started to walk away Soifon called back to him, getting his attention. Her previous cruel smirk gone and a much gentler look showing itself "Hey Kurosaki!...thanks for signing me up and good luck."

"Course!" he said triumphantly as he walked out on stage.

As he approached the MC, his hand jutted out to the side as his hand caught an object that was thrown towards him from the crowd. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a…rubber chicken? He glanced back at the MC who was laughing his head off. He then turned to the crowd to address them "It seem the rubber Chicken has been thrown in that mean, this man here contestant number fifteen will have to sing one of our joke songs! And the title selection is!" he said pointing at the monitor which read 'The Beer Song by March of the Toreadors' "The Beer Song! Contestant fifteen your lyrics will appear on the giant screen behind you good luck" he handed the mic to Ichigo who while he didn't want to sing this song not that he heard of it, took it all the same.

Once the music started up he started to sing the words that appeared on the screen

"OH what's the malting and liquor? What gets you drunk quicker? And what comes in bottles or in cans?" Ichigo seemingly asked to the crowd, reading the lyrics off the screen

"BEER!" the crowd yelled enthusiastically

"Can't get enough of it!(BEER!) oh, how I really love it!(BEER!) Makes me think I'm a man!" he sang moving from one side of the stage to the other to at least put on a good show despite his reluctance and force of song

Beer!

"I could kiss and hug it (Beer!) But I'd rather chug it (Beer!) Got my belly up to here! I cannot refuse a (Beer!) I could really use a"

"Beer, Beer, BEER!" the crowd chanted saying the word three more times

The pace of the song slowly changed to that of a small ballad and Ichigo saw that the MC had another microphone in his hand and he pointed at the screen which said 'duet'

Ichigo:"I can't remember how much I have had. I drank a twelve pack with my dad."

MC:"That's my son the drunken manly stud. I'm proud to be his bud."

Ichigo:"Here have some pretzels"

MC:"No! I'll call it quits. Those things give me the shlits."

Ichigo:"HAHAHA!"

Everyone:"Drink with your family drink it with a friend. Drink till your fat, stomach distends"

Ichigo:"BEEEEER is liquid bread it's good for you."

MC:"We like to drink till we spew ewww!"

Ichigo:"How cares if we get fat?"

MC:"I'll drink to that!"

Together: "As we sing once more!"

"What the malting liquor? What gets you drunk quicker? What comes in bottles or in cans?" Ichigo asked to the crowd now that he was back in solo mode, since the songs pace picked up again

BEER!

"Can't get enough of it (BEER!) oh how I really love it(BEER!)Makes me think I'm a man"

Beer!

"I could kiss and hug it"

Beer!

"But I'd rather chug it"

(Beer!)

"I could really use a (Beer!)I really need a (Beer!)The most wonderful drink in the world hurray!"Said Ichigo as he finished the last line of the accursed song, while he did admit it was bit catchy since the crowd was cheering him, he never felt more embarrassed to have to sang such a song. He mentally noted that whoever made the song must have been drunk off their ass. No Pun intended.

He was about to walk off stage to quickly exit the area, when the MC reminded him that he and the person after him were selected for a special contest afterward, so he get taken over to the edge of the stage and sat down on the floor waiting for Soifon, who no doubt heard his…performance.

Sure enough as soon as Soifon came from back stage, she had a very satisfied look on her face which Ichigo could easily tell was because she had probably been laughing her ass off back stage. As she approached the MC herself a Giant R appeared on the screen getting their attention. The MC once again turned back to the audience "Well ladies and gentleman it seems that the computer had decided to randomly select a track for the young miss here to sing." He announced before handing her the Microphone and instructed her everything. "Now let's see the song chosen."

The screen went black as white words appeared on it that spelled out 'Eyes on me (almighty remix) by Faye Wong'

Soifon took a quick breath of air and looked at the screen when music began to play. When the first words appeared she started to sing "Whenever sang my songs, on the stage on my own. Whenever say my words, wishing that they could be heard"

She moved forward towards the crowd with the mic close to her mouth "I saw you smiling at me, was it real or just my fantasy? You'd always be there in the corner of this tiny little bar…"

"My last night here for you, same old songs just once more, my last night here with you? Maybe yes, maybe no."

She looked over towards Ichigo section when she said the next line of lyrics "I kind of liked it your way, how you shyly placed you eyes on me…But did you ever know that I had mine on you?"

She quickly turned away after saying it, incase Ichigo thought she was saying this specifically to him "Darling, so there you are. With that look on your face, as if you've never hurt. As if you've never down. Shall I be the one for you? Who pinches you softly but sure. If frown is shown then, I will know that you are no dreamer"

She paused during the musical interlude to catch her breath, and restrain her emotions for the next part of the song. She turned back to the screen and began to sing again "So let me come to you. Close as I want to be, close enough for me to hear your heart beating fast, and stay there as I whisper 'How I loved your peaceful eyes on me but did you ever know that I had mine on you?'"

"Darling so share with me, your love if you have enough, your tears if your holding back or pain if that's what it is. How can I let you know? I'm more than the dress and the voice? Just reach me out then and you will know that you're not dreaming." She sang with her eyes closed letting the song absorb her

"Darling so there you are, with that look on your face"

"As if your never hurt, as if your never down."

"Shall I be the one for you, who pinches you softly, but sure. If frown is shown then, you I will know that you are no dreamer…" she finished softly, as the song finally came to an end. When the crowd cheered her performance, she feeling very awkward and embarrassed from being forced to sing a romantic song bowed quickly, in hopes of getting off the stage all the sooner.

Unfortunately the MC stopped her as well, and pulled her over next to Ichigo, before he addressed the crowd once again "Ok, everyone we must admit they gave a great performance the both of them but now it's time for them to compete against one another inn!" he turned around and pointed to the screen "A boasting contest! Now contestants please take center stage and boast away."

Two spotlights lit up Ichigo and Soifon, who were very wary and cursing that they actually did this, so the both proceeded to center stage, and began to think of something to show off with. The crowd watched expectantly at the two, who seemed to be struggling to come up with something.

Suddenly an idea hit Soifon who brought the Microphone up to her face as she looked at Ichigo "Anything you can do I can do better!" she said confidently

"Ha!" Ichigo chuckled harshly

"Anything you can do I can do better. I can do anything better than you." Soifon claimed

"No, you can't." Ichigo disputed

"Yes, I can." Soifon reassured smugly

"No, you can't." Ichigo said again, as he rolled his eyes

"Yes, I can." She said a bit more annoyed

"No, you can't." he said again feeling his temper starting to rise

"Yes, I can, Yes, I can!" she said leaning in closer each time

Ichigo snorted as he leaned away from her "Anything you can be I can be greater. Sooner or later, I'm greater than you."

"No, you're not." Soifon said not believing the audacity he had in order to say something like that

"Yes, I am." He said with a million dollar smile now

"No, you're not." She shot back, refusing to believe he could be a better Taicho than her

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're NOT!." She said forcefully

"Yes, I am. Yes, I am!" he said aloud while the crowd was getting more and more excited at the way these two were going. Ichigo turned to face the crowd, with a triumphant look "I can shoot a partridge with a single cartridge." As he shot a kido spell into the night sky, trying to prove his claim

Not wanting to be out done Soifon made her claim "I can get a sparrow with a bow and arrow." As she pulled out some senbon needles and threw it at a bird perched on a nearby roof top

"I can live on bread and cheese." Said Ichigo, since he was just out done

"And only on that?" Soifon questioned curiously, ready to slam him

"You bet." Said Ichigo, waiting to hear her counter that boast

"So can a rat!" she deadpanned, getting a laugh from the crowd. Using the momentum she just gained she decided to continue with this strange charade now enjoying herself "Any note you can reach I can go higher. I can sing anything higher than you."

"No, you can't." he shot back a bit higher

"Yes, I can." She said with a smirk

"No, you can't." He returned taking a step closer to her also enjoying himself

"Yes, I can." She said higher in pitch

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can."

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can."

"No, you can't." he said again nearly breaking his voice

"Yes, I CAN!" Soifon replied again easily, and saw that Ichigo couldn't counter so she chalked it as a win for her

Ichigo after rubbing his throat decided to approach things a different way "Anything you can say I can say softer. I can say anything softer than you."

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can." Eager to one up Soifon

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can." he barely said, that even with the microphone nobody heard him

"NO, YOU CAN'T!" she yelled seeing as how she lost that one while Ichigo smiled and went on ahead

"I can drink my liquor faster than a flicker."

"You can drink it quicker and get even sicker!" she amended as she knew for a fact he was only sixteen and couldn't legally drink

Ichigo gritted his teeth at being caught "I can do most anything!"

"Can you bake a pie?" she asked curiously

"No." he admitted with a sideways glance

"Neither can I." she also admitted, and sighed when she couldn't think of anything else to say.

The MC picked up on it and raised his hand to get the crowd's attention "Well it seems they've run out of things to say, but let's give them a warm round of applause for our two contestants!"

The crowd gave a loud roar of approval, while Ichigo and Soifon waved back mechanically as they had kind of forgotten they were on stage in the middle of their strange argument. As they were escorted off stage, the two came to the agreement that they'd pretend this part of the date didn't happen and to forget the competition between them, though Ichigo did compliment her on her singing voice and she him though she did throw around a comment of strange tastes in music.

After completely leaving the music area the two went and hit up a few of the sights, such as the rather ironic haunted Shino Academy, in which when they reached the torture chamber, Soifon started to rant about all the things wrong with it and started to give advice on what should be done which got a roar of laughter from Ichigo and some disturbed looks from the other souls. At a gold fish stand, Ichigo was very surprised when she was actually highly skilled at catching the fish though she commented she had practice, a lot of practice. In the ring toss game area Ichigo did impress Soifon with his skill in speed and accuracy of small targets, though she gave the prize he gave her to a less fortunate soul saying the flower was more than enough and a face paint stand that Soifon had entered alone but refused to tell what she had painted or where it was painted since it wasn't visible to Ichigo at all.

Ichigo had to admit he was having a lot of fun with Soifon, and vice-versa. Right now they had stopped at a food vendor to grab some shiskabob.

"Here ya go." said Ichigo, handing her a shrimp and vegetable kabob after hearing from her that she didn't like certain types of meat, but wasn't a full on vegetarian

"Thank-you." She replied giving thanks to her date before digging in to her food, so they could proceed to enjoy something else on their outing together

"What are you doing here!" A loud voice called out to them from behind. The pair looked back and quickly turned away when they saw the fat fuka-taicho of the second division looking at them, specifically at Ichigo. They both inwardly panicked, since they didn't know he would actually be here since it was 'too low class for someone like him' as he always said about events that happened outside of fancy manors.

"Hey, Soifon. I'll try and handle this as for you just don't look at him and walk away" Ichigo whispered to her and she mouthed an 'ok'

Ichigo turned around his face armed with a scowl since the man was ruining a rather nice evening for him "What do you want Omeada?" all pleasantries gone from his voice

"That's Omeada-sama to you peasant!" the arrogant man sneered

Ichigo rolled his eyes "Whatever, if you've got nothing to do with me get lost." ending the conversation as he sensed Soifon's presence slowly begin to die away.

However just as familiar Ichigo was with Soifon's spiritual pressure so too was Omeada. The man turned his head away from Ichigo and faced the back of the slowly retreating girl "Hey you halt." He commanded since this woman felt surprising-like Soifon-Taicho

Soifon stopped, and Ichigo felt a small barely noticeable spike in her spiritual pressure for just a moment before she quietly turned around to her fuka-taicho "Can I help you sir?" she asked feigning ignorance

Omeada's eyes opened in both disbelief and excitement _'It's it's her! Soifon my love it's her! And she's all dressed up for me!' _The hulking man took a step forward towards the girl "Soifon-taicho, it's a pleasure to see you again. Would you care to accompany me this evening?" he asked his muse almost lecherously, knowing this could be a once in life time opportunity

"I'm afraid you have me mistaken for another. My name is Lyn, short for Lyndis." She replied with a small respectful bow, staying in character as the polite but mistaken individual

Omeada looked at her curiously. He considered what she said, she looked almost exactly like his love, but her personality was just a bit more different, more polite. He could grow to like this girl, she was like Soifon only better. His thoughts then drifted to what if he had this girl AND Soifon. He smiled lecherously at having the two women in maid outfits at his beck and call always addressing him as 'Omeada-sama' or 'Goshujin-sama'

Ichigo saw that Omeada was going into fantasy land which wouldn't bode well so he moved in front of him keeping Omeada at bay from Soifon "Hey, back off! She with me, asshole!" defending his date and giving her a chance to get away again

Omeada snapped back into reality having his lovely little world disturbed once again by the stupid strawberry in front of him. "Ha! You wouldn't know the first thing about treating a woman, STRAWBERRY!" he bellowed out his mortal enemies nickname hoping to embarrass the girl for going out with such a _feminine_ man and come over to him, but it only served in infuriating the sixteen year old Shinigami and annoy Soifon fiercely for insulting her friend for no reason "I however have enough wealth to keep her happy indefinitely!"

"Wealth doesn't equal happiness. Believe me I know. Anyway I suggest you leave now before I show Lyn here an unpleasant side of me." He threatened, though he knew 'Lyn' really wouldn't mind and might actively help him

"Ha! You don't even have your Zanpaktou with you! Are you gonna beat me with your fists!" The man roared, as his hand tightened around the hilt of his own

"I'm sure he could if he wished" said 'Lyn', who already knew his skill at it first hand and improved just a bit since he, still preferred his Zanpaktou to do the job, to which she agreed it was more for subduing rather than killing.

Usually.

The fat man laughed again at the woman's defense of the man, he was about to respond when he suddenly halted in his movements, his eyes opening wider when he felt the spiritual pressure of his captain right behind him. _'How?'_

He turned around and saw a very short figure in a captain's Haori standing on top of one of the roof tops with their head looking down directly at the scene they were making. Two bands of hair went down the figures back and ended in two gold rings that dangled in the wind, and had a Zanpaktou firmly planted across it's back. Omeada couldn't see the persons face as the figure had a white bull mask on but with given the person's stature, spiritual pressure and way they were carrying themselves only one person came to mind.

"S-Soifon-Taicho g-good evening Ma'am!" Omeada saluted in respect as the figure jumped down to the ground landing just five feet away, while Ichigo was giving an odd look at this development wondering what was going on

"Shut the hell up fuka-taicho Omeada!" the masked squad two captain yelled effectively intimidating the people around her "I just saw that you were trying to pick an unprovoked fight with Sloppy-Kurosaki over a GIRL. How disgraceful can you be!"

"B-but T-taicho-" he spoke trying to save the situation

"Are you interrupting me!" she suddenly flashed stepped over, grabbing him roughly by his shirt to pull him in closer to her, just begging for a reason to unleash hell on him

"No Ma'am!"

"I didn't think so! Now get the hell out of my sight, and if I so much as THINK you're troubling anyone else be it Shinigami or not I'll personally show you my displeasure. Am I clear!"

"y-yes" he said weakly, seeing how angry his Taicho could apparently be even on festive days such as this

"I couldn't hear you! Speak louder, Am I clear!" she yelled again, his weakness in his answer making her stomach churn in disgust

"YES!" he yelled as the person let their iron hard grip on his hakama go

"Good now get lost." Omeada didn't waste a second as he ran as fast as he could away from the bull masked captain of two, Ichigo swore he heard a 'fat ass' muttered from the individual. The masked captain turned to Ichigo and Lyn "And you two don't cause any more trouble, understood?"

"Got it." said Ichigo puzzled, unsure if he should say Taicho at the end, while his companion merely bowed in apparent appreciation. The captain then flash stepped away not wasting another second with them.

Once the coast was clear, Ichigo turned back to Soifon with a look of expectance "What was that all about? And how did you do that?" he questioned since he clearly knew there couldn't be two Soifon's running around Soul Society

Right?

"Why don't you tell me what you personally think happened Kurosaki, and then I'll fill in the blanks for you." She said mysteriously wanting to hear his answer to this surreal riddle he had unknowingly just played a part in

Ichigo pondered for a minute all the detail he could remember starting from when they met earlier "Well I know that you were with me, the whole time and even if I wasn't next to you when you fought, you didn't use flash step so you didn't switch with anyone." He recited "You also weren't expecting the singing thing so you couldn't have left then."

"Go on."

"I don't think you did anything weird or strange except when Omeada spotted you. I sensed your spiritual pressure rise for just a moment, but I know you didn't leave the spot you were at."

"Ok, so what happened?" she said with a smile, while she crossed her arms over her kimono intrigued on how he was working it out rather so well at this point

"I'm getting there." He said hastily, not wanting to be rushed "That captain looked like you, but the voice was familiar to me…I think that was an imposter, since she, he, or it said 'Sloppy-Kurosaki' and ever since February eleventh you don't call me that anymore."

Soifon laughed "Very good. To answer your question that person you saw in the second division clothing was none other than my sister, Subaru with a few hair extensions."

"That was Subaru!" he asked incredulously, point to the spot 'she' had been just a moment ago

"Yes. She's very good at acting though I think she got a bit too into it. Anyway when I released my spiritual pressure for that brief instant that you had sensed, it was actually my special distress call for Shinjiro and Subaru. Subaru quietly arrived and observed what the problem was before disappearing and putting on the second division garb. And well…you saw the result."

"I'm very impressed by your sister. Her acting was so good I thought it was you, but how did she mimic your spiritual pressure like that?"

"That was actually me releasing my power, while she was here. So it was more convincing for Omeada."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow curiously _'off or on the battlefield they are always there to support the other.'_

"Well let's go pay her and Shin a visit than. I got a pair of tickets to the show so let's go watch."

The couple proceeded to the central pavilion and were a bit shocked to see that the play was already going, when Ichigo asked how did she leave from there back to the squad two barracks, help them and make it back before she was called in again, Soifon laughed and said she wasn't the third fastest woman in all of soul society history, with herself being the second for nothing. When Ichigo asked who the first was Soifon seemingly ignored it and said the play was starting up again, which made Ichigo wonder why she avoided his question.

As the play continued, Ichigo had learned the name of the play which was 'Mononoke-hime', he also learned and was a bit surprised that Shinjiro was playing the leading man named Ashitaka, while Subaru was playing the role San the human daughter of the wolf goddess Morro.

In the current Scene San (Subaru) was fighting against the leader of Iron Town in a fight to the death. Subaru's outfit he saw her in from earlier that evening was ripped up a bit and her hair was thrown wildly about, she was clutching a serrated butterfly knife in her hand, while the other woman (the leader) had a strange shaft like weapon mounted on her shoulders.

As San charged forward eager to rip out the enemy's throat, the leader's weapon made an exploding sound as smoke was fired from it, while San was thrown back and hit the ground lifelessly.

The other villagers on stage gathered around her getting a bit closer to San but the leader threw her arm out to halt them "Wait, even a wolf whose head has been cut off can still bite. Get me another fire lance."

One of the villagers ran off stage to get another one, while the crowd and leader were distracted San jumped back up and charged again knife in hand ready to cleave the leaders head off. The leader rolled under the out stretched arm and commanded a sword be thrown to her.

San narrowed her eyes at her target, blood thirsty "You've been destroying the forest that is my home, my mother's home as well as all the other creatures of the forest! Blood unto blood! Now we'll take your home, so you'll know our pain, human!"

The leader brandished her sword "You seek to end us, when you are in fact one of us 'Mononoke-hime'. How ironic." She said snidely "But you'll have to forgive me for wanting to keep my head atop my shoulders"

The two women clashed a few times, making the crowd gasp at their movements. Ichigo and a few others from the crowd saw out of the corner of their eye a person on the roof top behind the leader with a 'fire lance' aiming at San. Ichigo and the crowd warned her to look out having gotten caught up in the show, but it fell on deaf ears as the fire lance was launched and struck San from behind after she had made another pass at the leader.

The leader walked up to finish San when Ashitaka (Shinjiro) dropped down from one of the nearby roof tops and caught the blade with his bare hand "No! I won't let you kill her!"

"And what would you have me do! She aims to kill me and save her home while I aim to take her land so our town may prosper. Someone will have to pay in the end."

"Violence doesn't solve anything! Answering hate with hate, only leads to more hate and more killing!" Ashitaka roared, seemingly struggling to hold the blade back

Slowly San stirred "What are you doing here?" she groaned as she got to her feet knife still in hand

When she saw that her opponent was defenseless since Ashitaka was holding her sword she tried to stab the leader but Ashitaka got in the way and took the attack into the back of his shoulder causing some in the crowd particularly Ichigo and Soifon by surprise. An audible gasp was heard when Ashitaka pushed the leader back and spun around punching San in the gut and knocking her out, which made Ichigo and Soifon frown as they knew that must have been hard for Shinjiro.

Ashitaka slung the unconscious San over his shoulders and began to walk away before he disappeared off stage he said one last line "This is far from over." And walked off back to the forest

"No, no it isn't." the leader replied as the curtain came down across the stage.

"Thank-you all for coming out today!" the narrator of the story said to the crowd "Please come back tomorrow for the death-defying conclusion!"

The crowd let out a round of applause over the performance, and most vowed to come back tomorrow to see the ending of the show. Ichigo was enthralled by the show but was a bit sad at the fact he wouldn't be able to see the ending. He turned back to Soifon. "Pretty good show even if we were late."

"Quite." replied Soifon also having enjoyed the show "Let's go back stage and see Shin and Su before we leave." She requested since the show was supposed to start late that evening

After getting clearance to go back stage, they saw a sweating Subaru sitting back thoroughly exhausted from all her running around she had to do that night, Shinjiro still dressed in his all white stage costume was in just as bad condition since he not only helped set up the stage, but also had to take tickets AND perform on said stage.

The tired lovers said they were fine and thanked them for showing up, Subaru even pointed out she heard both of their voices trying to warn her about the 'fire lance' though an embarrassed captain ferverently denied such claims of concern. They said they'd stay here for a bit to rest up before returning to the barracks, letting them know not to wait up for them. To which the pair gave their farewell before walking away.

(Later)

Ichigo and Soifon found themselves back outside the Taicho's office sooner than either would have liked. Ichigo walked up and opened the door for her, which she nodded her head in approval. When she got into the door way she stopped and turned around to her date.

"I would like to thank-you for a very…pleasant night out." She said "I thoroughly enjoyed myself despite the appearance of Omeada."

"I'm glad you liked it, Soifon."

"Perhaps, I might call upon you to perform such things again at a later date." said Soifon turning her head away, to hide her blush since it would probably be visible in the dark second division corridors

To her surprise Ichigo took her hand and kissed it gently and spoke "I would enjoy that very much myself." He then let her hand go before giving her a hug, causing both people to blush at the closeness of the other.

'_That's a bit forward!'_

'_Damn it Zangetsu, stop messing with my body!'_

Once they separated Ichigo backed away slowly so as to try and make it seem like a normal dating thing. "Ahh, b-bye Soifon." He said hoping to leave before the repercussions of his action registered to her, as he turned to leave Soifon stopped him.

"Good bye and Good night Ichigo." She started to close the door again

"Good night Soifon…" he said dreamily back to her disappearing image.

Once the door closed he turned around and started to make his way back to his room, new thoughts floating around in his head both about his mission tomorrow and his Taicho.

(Soifon)

As soon as she closed the door, she almost wanted to run back out to him and hug him back. She slumped down on the nearby chair, her thoughts racing in her head about today's events. She pulled up one of the sleeves of her kimono revealing a small strawberry tattoo that she had gotten at the face paint stand. She looked at it in contemplation wondering why she had gotten it but never showed it. She hated wasted effort to the core and leaned against her other arm, with a faraway look "Ichigo…" she whispered not really knowing if she was saying the name of the fruit or the man

* * *

Author's note: I have uploaded the pictures that gave me the influence for Subaru, Shinjiro and Soifon/Shaolin appearance on my profile incase it's difficult to picture. It will be under 'Illustrative picture for Bleach: The alternate tale' if you wish to view, and use for any fics you create

I also hope you enjoyed the karaoke part as that wasn't there originally as I had added it when I performed my semi-daily re-editing of the chapters I had done.

I don't own the songs: The beer song, Eyes on me, or anything you can do I can do better.

I don't own Miyako Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. (Though I own a copy of the movie)

Goshujin-sama = master (in the kinky way)

Ex. Would you like a blow job Goshujin-sama?

* * *

Blackout2010: So ends this chapter, and I'm done with that bitch of another chapter.

Ichigo: Well you do have to go back and edit and what not so...

Blackout2010: Yes...I know this. (sigh) I wish it wasn't so #%$&%* difficult!

Ichigo: Easy with the language it's not M yet...

Soifon: Expect to wait a while before you see us again in the next chapter. Till then farewell.


	7. Human World

Author's announcement:

Ok while I'm not done with chapter thirteen, and so I am sending this one ahead then normal it was mostly for this particular announcement. This fic will be moved to the Ichigo Soifon section of Bleach . I had talked it over with a few people who will remain anonymous (though you know who you are) and I did come to agree with them. So the story will be in this (cross-over) section until 2/21/11 as that should be plenty of time for people to hopefully see this message, and know where it will be located indefinitely.

That is all, for anyone reading this after 2/21/11 ignore this message and just continue reading the fic.

Thank-you

Blackout2010 out!

* * *

Chapter 7: Human world

Ichigo sighed as he sat down on the roof of one of the various buildings in Karakura town. It had been two weeks since he and Hanataro had gotten assigned duty here, with just a few more days left in their stint before they would return back to Soul Society. Ichigo was happy that as his superiors pointed out no big hollows ever showed up, but he was a bit shocked turned annoyed that a few people could see him or at least see his outline, hell even a cat could see him apparently.

Ichigo got up and stretched his muscles, today unlike yesterday Hanataro had to work at a nearby convenience store to help him adapt to human society while Ichigo observed from the next building over, which meant that Hanataro would be unable to be trained by him today.

"Man, no hollows for two days straight." He complained to no one, he would have drifted back to thoughts on Soifon but it would only depress his mood that he couldn't see her "This sucks, there's nothing to do around here that won't have people looking at me like some kind of weirdo with a giant sword."

'_It's can't be helped Ichigo.'_ Said old man Zangetsu, knowing that not all things in life were fast paced edge of your seat action there were times where it was slow

'_**Yeah, I know, but still this shit sucks! We are a lean mean ass-kicking machine we should be on the front lines or something! '**_ Hichigo complained, completely bored that this was a 'kid zone' only and wouldn't get to see some grade A carnage

'_Maybe tonight, you and I can have a one on one hand to hand match against each other. It's been a while.'_ Ichigo offered to the only real threat to him that he knew of at the moment

'_**Eh, why not.'**_

Ichigo suddenly killed the conversation when he sensed three spiritual pressures. He closed his eyes to visualize the energy signature types and came to the conclusion two were definitely hollow, but the third seemed like a whole but different.

Ichigo shrugged it off since his boredom was about to be broken since duty called and he was more than willing to answer "Hey Hanataro! It's me Ichigo I just picked up some foreign signatures and I'm moving out to investigate so be careful!" he said into the ear piece to inform his partner, who was watching over the store, the situation at hand

"Roger! Good Luck, Ichigo-san!" Hanataro replied from his end before fading out

Ichigo closed his eyes to spiritually scout out who was closer and moved to the nearby lone hollow signature to the east down near the riverside area. He flashed stepped from building to building before hitting the streets and started to jog in the direction. Now normally Ichigo would have continued to flash step but wanted to save his energy as he was only allowed 1/5 of his total power even though he was able to conceal half of his pressure.

When Ichigo asked both Zangetsu's why he would still have to have it even though he could control his own power better, they had said that his energy level had increased yet again making most of the previous work of second division null and void, much to Ichigo's vexation.

As Ichigo arrived at the riverside he saw the hollow looking over the water, it's head moving slowly from the left and right in seeming search of something that it may have lost sight of, when the hollow's face came close to seeing him, Ichigo quickly ducked behind a building when it looked over in his direction.

The hollow was a very big hollow, not huge like a menos grande but easily bigger than most humanoid hollows, which should be expected for this area which meant it wasn't small fry and could really mess him up if he wasn't careful. It seemed to look like a gorilla of sorts with long thick muscular arms and legs with humanoid like hands and feet. On one of the arms was a strange symbol that looked like it had been carved into the skin by a sharp rock. The hollow's mask itself had a frown on its face, with dark brown eyes and a pair of horns sticking from the top of it's head similar to a bulls.

After observing the hollow Ichigo knew while it might not be the wisest way to do things it was still the most honorable. So he jumped a few feet behind it, his sword at his side ready to engage the enemy. The monster turned around when it heard the clomping of sandals hit the paved sidewalk "Come on, hollow let's see what you got." Ichigo taunted ready to break his boredom at this new face

To his surprise the creature silently looked at him for a few seconds and then turned back towards the river ignoring him like it's life wasn't endanger at all, continuing to search to the length of the riverside for whatever it was looking for prior to Ichigo's arrival.

'_What the hell? This…isn't normal.' _thought Ichigo as he always knew from experience that hollows preferred to eat any soul that came moderately close to them sometimes even actively searching out souls, yet this guy or creature was just ignoring him for something else, a habit he had never witnessed before. "Hey what's your problem, why aren't you fighting me!" The strawberry blond asked, seemingly more like the bad guy with each second that passed in this…encounter?

The horned gorilla creature stopped looking over the scene and once again turned back again to the Shinigami and spoke in a low voice "Because you aren't screamer." It stated simply, as if the answer couldn't get any easier than that.

"Who's Screamer?" he asked curiously wanting to continue the conversation with the some-what contradictoral yet docile creature "And how the hell can hollows talk?" his curiosity burning at this question since he assumed that Hollows uttered out battle cries or snarls only, not coherent and reasonable words.

"Screamer is a hollow, who've I've been chasing for years, Shinigami-san. As for being able to talk, I don't know I always could, just thought it was normal." The gorilla clarified, before getting up to it's full height of about 10 feet and raising it's fists in a battle ready stance "But I suppose that doesn't matter now, since you a Shinigami have come to kill me a hollow."

Ichigo scowled in contemplation as he wasn't sure what to do with this hollow. Aside from other hollows this one could speak and understand, so he knew it must be pretty smart which could mean trouble for him, if it knew that Shinigami aren't supposed to endanger other souls and it tried to use that against him, but he also had a duty to do even though the hollow really didn't want to fight when he taunted it earlier something that most others would jump to correct.

"Who are you exactly?" said Ichigo, trying to figure out this person's identity since they could have been keep a Shinigami who had gotten eaten, while he also things civil and find out any other information he could before things could possibly get rough between them

"You Shinigami have bestowed upon me the name 'Giant Devil', but as to a name like yours Shinigami-san I do not know. It's lost to me, but at the same time it feels so close to me as if just needed a push in remembering it." Informed the now named Giant Devil, who still had his arms at the ready to strike the orange haired Shinigami should a battle ensue

"Why exactly have you been chasing this screamer fellow?"

"I have no need to tell you stranger, but if you truly need an answer then this will have to suffice: I just feel he needs to die."

The Shinigami sighed seeing how this wasn't getting him anywhere he was about to move in to destroy the creature with Zangetsu hoping to give it a mercy killing when it spoke up talking more to himself than Ichigo "He was here. Just a moment ago, but he's gone now…at last I've finally caught up to him."

Ichigo released his grip on Zangetsu "Are you talking about screamer?" the hollow nodded but spoke up "As I said he killed his scent for now. But he'll resurface soon. I know his tactics and way of thinking."

The creature turned it's attention fully to Ichigo "Tell me do you want me dead, Shinigami-san?" it asked, the tone solemn almost sad, as if it regretted something it had done

"Personally, no." he admitted in all honesty, since he didn't like needless killing unlike Hichigo who would get caught up in violence "You don't seem like such a bad guy, but I have my duty to perform, which is to defeat hollows and save wholes." He closed his eyes deliberating his next words since they were borderline treason "So I've decided to help you." He finished wanting to give some measure of peace to the peaceful being

"What?" the creature asked, not fully trusting the Shinigami since they were the mortal enemies of hollows, at least that's what he was always told and later believed with his numerous encounters in the human world

"I said I'll help you find this Screamer hollow and help you kill him." He said in utter seriousness letting Giant Devil see his scowl to show he meant business "He seems to be the reason you're a hollow now, so if I kill him, perhaps you'll let me absolve you without a fight so you can leave in peace."

"I don't trust you." The huge hollow replied back in a low voice "The last time I foolishly trusted a Shinigami; they attempted to kill me from behind when my guard was lowered all because they were weaker than me, when I had done no wrong."

Ichigo tsked in disgust, while it may have been hypocritical since he was technically an assassin now, he wouldn't ever try and befriend someone to lower their guard before stabbing them in the back. His thoughts drifted to Soifon and knew that was one of her greatest fears of being used and tossed aside. Ichigo spat on the ground in anger, that was the coward's way of survival, not Ichigo's.

"Tell you what." He said solemnly, causing Giant Devil to perk it's head down to stare into his face "If I betray you, then I'll let you kill me once you get to Soul Society or better yet let everyone in Soul Society know my cowardice and forever ruin my name. How does that sound?" extending his hand out so they could shake on it

Giant Devil mulled his words over since the other two Shinigami didn't dare make an offer like that, and the gorilla assumed that the rather strange Shinigami and himself were about even in power right now, so even if he did betray he could possibly stop and kill him. So moving it's large hand forward it touched the hand of Ichigo's "Deal." It said in a firm voice, signifying his trust

"Alright, since apparently Screamer is no longer here, we'll have to wait until he shows up again." He said laying the foundation of a basic plan of action, to which the hollow nodded it's head. Ichigo turned on the ear piece to speak to Hanataro again "Hey, Taro it's me again. I'm on my way back to the meeting ground and I've ahh got a 'friend'," getting a curious glance from said 'friend' "so expect two."

"Right, understood Ichigo-san, I just got off my shift so I'll meet you on the roof"

"Copy that, Ichigo out."

Ichigo turned back to Giant Devil "Well let's go."

So the pair took off thought at a much slower speed since, Giant Devil couldn't use Flash step and jumping quickly from one building to another might cause some structural damage due to the sudden increase in weight. After half an hour of travelling via roof hopping they arrived at the quick mart's roof, the meeting grounds half-way between where Hanataro worked and the inner city of Karakura.

"Now where is he?" said Ichigo using his hand as a shield from the sun as he looked off the building's edge trying to spot his friend amongst the crowds of people, while the giant creature stood off to the side waiting to see this 'Taro' that Ichigo guy had spoken to

A blur of black and blue suddenly collided into Ichigo's side knocking him over as Hanataro rolled off him and over to where Giant Devil was. "Ow, ow ow! I knew I should have just jumped instead of flash stepped off the roof like that." The bumbling boy said rubbing the back of his head as he lay on his stomach

The downed Hanataro slowly got up on his feet and began to dust himself off and check himself for injuries that may have occurred from the stumble against the hard roof top floor. Smiling when he saw none he raised his head and found himself staring right into the frowning masked face of Giant Devil. Slowly Hanataro started to back away cautiously, his hand tapping the ear piece rapidly "Ichigo, Ichigo ICHIGO! T-th-there's a huge hollow h-here w-with m-me, and and and…" his eyes watering in fear as he saw the sheer size difference between him and it "IT LOOKS HUNGRY!" he exclaimed fear sending his mind into overdrive even though Ichigo was clearly a few feet behind him.

While Hanataro was having a nuclear mental meltdown, Ichigo calmly got up and dusted himself off before whacking Hanataro in the back of the head with his fist "Calm down Taro! It's fine and what have I told you about flash stepping into people and not saying sorry!" he reprimanded the seventh seat for seemingly the thousandth time on that subject

"You-you said not to do that." said the timid boy as he clutched his wound on his head with one hand while grabbing some band aids with the other, silently hoping it wouldn't leave a mark.

Ichigo sighed "Right, now this is-"

"A hollow that wants to eat us!"

BAM! "No his name, I mean I'm assuming it's a guy, is Giant Devil." A tick mark still remaining on the wielder of Zangetsu's head as he introduced the fierce-looking hollow who gave a nod to his timid friend of the fourth "He's on a mission to kill another hollow who goes by the name Screamer."

The recovering Hanataro who now had two band aids in an X mark on his head, one for each lump, asked a question that bothered him "You said Screamer, Giant Devil-san?" his politeness remaining apparently even in the face of a hollow he thought was going to digest him mere moments ago

"Yes, tell me small Shinigami named Hanataro-san have you heard of him? Have you heard of Screamer?" the hollow confirmed, while praying that they hadn't lest Ichigo go back on their offer to help in his current life's mission.

The medic frowned considerably "Yeah, apparently he supposed to be a very nasty soul. That's either killed or hurt a lot of people, I've only heard the absolute worse about that hollow like a rumor how he keeps a soul close to him to lure Soul reapers in when they try and Konso it."

"I'm starting to hate this screamer guy more and more." Ichigo commented bitterly, while Hichigo screamed for blood for the bastards ruining of a good hollows name, since it was supposed to be earned through unrelenting slaughter NOT in cat and mouse hide and seek tactics that the chump was pulling.

A loud ringing noise was heard, the source of the sound was Hanataro's soul pager going off. He flipped it open as he placed it against his ear, and nodded his head a few times giving occasional 'mhmms' and 'right' before putting it away with huge sigh. "Ahh, Ichigo-san." He started as he scratched the back of his head trying to words things nicely

"Yeah, Taro." Not liking at all where this was going, as Hanataro seemed really nervous after the call he received

"We've got to report to Taicho using the monitor, and we have to bring our friend along." He said defeatedly

Ichigo and Hanataro both turned as white as Giant Devil's mask at having to imagine how Soifon would react to such a turn of events since it was borderline treason. Ichigo was about to ask Hanataro how they could have found out so quickly or otherwise known but stopped when a mental image of a smiling Subaru appeared in his head, which was accompanied by a loud groan having remembered her stupid spy network.

They both reluctantly went to the shed at the school grounds, and entered in the password unlocking the monitor room they were sanctioned to use on the training mission, Giant Devil also managed to fit into the room as well since it was much bigger than most storage sheds and the creature hunched over so it was barely over seven feet.

The big screen monitor flickered to life and the image of Ichigo's unhappy Taicho sat at her desk, with Shinjiro in the background maintaining the connection stability, was revealed to them. Ichigo's eyes wandered down to her desk and saw next to her name plate was the rose he gave her on their date. He smiled gently at the memory, but pushed it aside as Shinjiro said that connection was completely good to go.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, fourth seat of Squad two is reporting in." the orange haired boy raised two fingers against his head

"Hanataro Yamada, seventh seat of squad four is also reporting in." the navy haired boy saluted to his superiors

"Acknowledged." The captain said in her usual cold tone which was still reserved for business hours with the two "Now, I'm not going to mince words with you both, I'll be frank. Why is that hollow behind you still alive?" she asked leaning back into her chair with her finger thrusting out to the immediate enemy she saw

"This hollow is called Giant Devil, and the reason we haven't killed him is because he doesn't seem to be a threat, and only show hostility to one individual named screamer." said Ichigo reporting in his finding thus far and hopefully work his way to her good side.

"Be that as it may you must remember that once a hollow has fulfilled its initial purpose it will turn its attention outwards unto others." She explained since it was basic Shinigami 101 information

"I do agree that you are correct Soifon-Taicho, but this hollow is different than others I've encountered in my brief time in the human world and Soul Society."

Soifon's expression changed to one of concern as she leaned forward against her desk "Different how exactly?" her mind racing through possible new abilities that hollows had now come to possess or something equally unfavorable like a way to reproduce

"Well I'll let him show you." Ichigo replied turning back to face Giant Devil as did the captain and third seat, who looked on expectantly with their fingers crossed

"Greetings, I am Giant Devil, Soifon-san and other Shinigami-san." He introduced politely, giving a small nod of his head

"A talking hollow? In Karakura?" the woman questioned in a whispered breath. Her fear for the pair's safety rising since only very strong hollows could actually speak and talk in a coherent language unlike the roars and shrieks from Mantis or Frog heads and other lower ranked hollows. "This is a startling discovery, and judging from the size of this one he obviously knows a thing or two about battle."

Shinjiro spoke up getting the attention of everyone "You said that Giant Devil was it?" The hollow nodded "Was looking for Screamer right? So why not have him help."

"Explain third seat Taiga." asked the small captain, looking back to the third seat

"Certainly. I've personally heard a few stories about this screamer fellow and their all downright nasty from what the survivors have told me. Maybe having a hollow with them will give them the edge they need to take it down as I was told it could speak too."

The captain returned her gaze back to the monitor, before looking back down at her desk. Her stormy grey eyes peeked at the flower she had received almost two and a half weeks ago. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she allowed herself to believe in Ichigo "Alright, you have my express permission to use whatever means necessary to destroy Screamer, but afterwards I want something done about Giant Devil. For the sake of Soul Society, we can't allow strong hollows to roam unchecked and before you protest against this it's either a quick end for him or experimentation by Kurotsuchi-Taicho later. So I'm voting mercy killing."

"That is acceptable. So long as Screamer is gone I can rest easy." The hollow agreed, finally getting his chance at the obliteration of his mortal enemy

"Alright, Kurosaki signing out oh and by the way Taicho."

"Yes." She said as the transmission began to fade to static

"It's nice to see you kept the flower."

Soifon blushed at his words and was about to respond when the connection was severed, meaning that she wouldn't be able to give a reply for another day since it took that long for the connection energy to recharge.

"It seems he missed you." Shinjiro commented casually from the corner of the room, a smug look on his face since he understood what he was implying

"Shut up." She coldly replied even though she was smiling outwardly, after seeing Ichigo again for the first time in a long time she was feeling much more motivated to go back and work the troops harder than ever, particularly Omeada since he occasionally made suggestions of the captain doing her hair in a ponytail instead of the two rings and twin bands, which sickened her to no end and made the oaf pay for the installation of heated floors in the squad two barracks and a quick thrashing to get him to leave the subject alone, since she had only shown that to one person and one person only and he was busy training to be her Fuka-Taicho…and maybe more.

As Soifon got up from her desk to leave, Subaru came bursting through the door like a bat out of hell, almost hitting her sister who thanks to her honed reflexes and instincts jumped back at the last second to avoid the swinging door. The arriving woman's hair was disheveled and she was completely out of breath, most likely from running great distances quickly, since it was well known her endurance and swiftness to the other two. Her hand was firmly holding unto her sister's Haori for balance, but her teary eyes were something that frightened Soifon and Shinjiro who now saw the new occupant.

"S-Shaolin!" she choked out, panting from a serious depletion of oxygen "You need to see this immediately! I ran all the way from District 61 of North Rukongai to District 24 of South Rukongai and _personally_ confirm this incident!" Her voice filled with grief and anguish, as her fidgeting hand placed the report into her sister's hand.

Shinjiro quickly shot up from his seat and went over to comfort his distressed wife moving her to a nearby chair to hear what was wrong, as Shaolin still standing in front of the entranceway began to read it over wondering what could have put Subaru in such a state of panic. Soifon's eyes darted from the left to the right, absorbing each and every word that was put on the thin sheet of paper. She kept going fear and sadness welling up in her, once she got to the end, she read it again checking for any and all possible error but when she couldn't see any, her arm fell limply to the side no longer holding the strength to support the sheet of paper which fell silently down to the ground.

"Oh my god…no…" she whispered silently as a cold lone tear fell from her eye against the warmed wooden floor, knowing it was entirely her fault

(Human world)

"Alright guys, we're gonna crash tonight on the roof just in case Screamer decides to make a move again, in the mean time let's go to the field and get's some practice in Hanataro, we're gonna need it." Ichigo commanded, eager to get some last minute training in before the battle against screamer

Giant Devil cocked his head "What should I do?"

Ichigo turned back towards the gorilla being "You're coming with us too, that way if we happen to lose sight of him you can pick up on his scent and lead us to him. Besides I've never actually trained with another hollow. It could be fun."

Giant Devil eye's lowered as he was thinking about the man's words. He was about to ask what he meant by 'another hollow' but lost the chance when Ichigo flash stepped ahead to the baseball field, on the other side of the grounds, leaving the mix-match pair to catch up.

(School Ground: Field)

Ichigo stood on the pitcher's mound when Hanataro and Giant Devil showed up from the other side of the clearing.

"Alright, I've decided that Hanataro and I will fight against you first Giant Devil." He declared as he turned around to the sparring partners

"Two against one isn't fair you know." The hollow chimed in. Since everyone knew that two against one wasn't fair.

"You're right Giant Devil, however in this match I won't be using my Zanpaktou as I don't want to hurt you too badly or anything."

"So you'll just be using Hakudo, Ichigo-san?" asked Hanataro, feeling more confident that they could win against the hollow even though Ichigo wasn't using his Zanpaktou, his specialty.

Ichigo nodded his head "Yeah, and maybe a little Kido magic just in case." He turned his attention back to Giant Devil "In any case we'll start when I say go got it?" showing that he wasn't going to try and ambush him, like the Shinigami before him

The other two nodded and broke away from each other, Hanataro moving to stand a few feet away from Ichigo so he wouldn't hit him with his Zanpaktou, not that it would be a problem for Ichigo since he was trained by some of the fastest individuals in all or Soul Society, while Giant Devil took two massive steps backwards.

"Ready?" he asked staring into the eyes of his companion and opponents, and when they nodded their head, his face returned to it's normal scowl "Begin!"

"Fill, Hisagomaru!" Hanataro pepped up, thrusting his sword to the sky, the blade getting a couple of inches longer and a small black gauge appearing on its side

Ichigo jumped forward between Hanataro and Giant Devil, since he was more of a front line fighter unlike his friend who was better at distance fighting and was also a better healer than himself.

'_Hmph. He's protecting his ally the weaker of the two.' _the horned gorilla thought after seeing Ichigo's protective nature. He inwardly smiled at the gesture before he charged forward to attack the bare handed specialist.

Ichigo seeing the creature charge at him focused his eyes on the movements of Giant Devil's body and using what Soifon and the second division taught him followed the flow of reiatsu to where it would go when it attacked. He ducked underneath the massive arm and rolled over to the left determined to draw it's attention away from Hanataro, who was putting his blade back in it's sheathe it's purpose served, in raising Hanataro's power output.

The huge hollow lunged at Ichigo, throwing his massive right fist towards Ichigo's chest. Ichigo crossed his arms in an X and absorbed the shock from the blow and maintained his composure even though he was sent screeching back several from the sheer force behind the blow

'_Damn that hurt! I better evade than take!' _Shaking his arms to regain some feeling in them, silently noting the power behind the creature was real and not just size appearance

Ichigo gritted his teeth and charged forward at the monster, ducking quickly under the guard of the creature and he delivered a few lightning quick blows to the creatures abdomen, in the hopes to bring it to it's knees. Ichigo frowned when his attack seemed to have no visible effect on the creature _'What is this guy?'_

Giant Devil attempted to grab Ichigo, but a fireball launched from the forgotten Hanataro, launched his hand back and away, getting a low rumbling noise from the creatures throat from it's thwarted attempts to damage the martial artist. Ichigo seeing an opening to attack most hollows weak point then jumped from the gorilla's other arm and kicked himself off it while he smacked his left foot right into the side of the gorilla's mask.

The kick spun the creature around and a few feet back, but didn't so much as make it fall over only stagger it. In fact the hollow only seemed a bit more annoyed. It looked to the left and saw the perfect weapon for this job. Throwing his arm to the object and putting a little of his massive strength to use, he ripped out a tree from it's roots and gave it a test swing, eager to use his newfound club.

"WWWHHHATT!" yelled Hanataro in horrified disbelief that it knew how to fight with a weapon. It was bad enough the creature was already stronger than him but now it had a giant club too! He did not want to play 'whack-a-taro', since he would be the taro.

"Calm down Hanataro! Just remember your foot work and stay aware of your surroundings and you'll be safe!" Ichigo encouraged even though he really didn't like the predicament they were in, but such was the way of true battle, unexpected situations always occurred.

Ichigo's words carried over to the frightened seventh seat and quickly sank into his brain _'Right. Ichigo's here.' _Hanataro reminded himself, calming down significantly knowing he wasn't alone in this situation _'Just take it easy, and remember the training Shinjiro-san and Subaru-san taught you.'_

Seeing Hanataro put some more determination on his face and give a firm nod, Ichigo turned back to face the enemy. "Good now let's take the fight to him."

Giant Devil, while impressed that the pair still persisted in the spar even though he was now armed and dangerous, ran forward and swung the tree at Ichigo, as he knew swinging it at Hanataro might kill him.

Ichigo ran to meet the blow and flipped over the all natural weapon. He landed on the shoulders and sent an elbow strike to the creatures head, causing it to stagger from the rather powerful blow. Ichigo proceed to jump behind the wall of muscle seeking to do more damage, sending blows to spine and legs making the creature drop down on his knees. Ichigo smirked seeing how things were starting to turn around in the Shinigami team's favor

However when he glanced away to see Hanataro preparing another spell, he got captured by the Giant's hand. The orange haired Shinigami struggled to break the vice-grip Giant Devil had but to no avail. It only got tighter, forcing Ichigo to close his eyes to stop from screaming out from the force being exerted on his body.

"URRRAAAHHH!" the creature yelled out a battle cry as it slammed the hand carrying Ichigo into the ground with ferocious intensity, sending spider web cracks through the barren dirt field. The creature wasn't done there though as it once again raised the hand before smashing Ichigo into the ground, creating more rubble and furthering the hole in the ground, before jumping as high into the air as the hollow could and slamming Ichigo back down so hard some of the cars from the nearby street actually vibrated violently making a few car alarms go off.

Hanataro had stopped midway through his kido chant, his once determined face reduced to fear. He was frightened for his friend even if he was worlds stronger than himself. He grabbed Hisagomaru out with his right since his left contained the unfinished spell.

He ran over as fast as he could to save Ichigo's life as Giant Devil threw Ichigo up in the air determined to knock him away like a baseball player into the evening sky.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes as he dangled in the air, too hurt and tired to flash step away to avoid the strike, since he was only at 1/5 ability _'No choice, a little help!'_

As the tree came towards him, Hanataro launched his spell at the branches hoping to destroy them and allow Ichigo to fall back to the ground safely. A huge explosion occurred when the tree, spell and Ichigo were dangerously close to impacting on each other, forcing Hanataro and Giant Devil to cover their eyes from the cloud of smoke released. When it cleared the pair checked to see where Ichigo was.

'_I guess I overdid it…so stupid' _the hollow berated himself for losing himself in the heat of battle, it was so unlike him. It was the old him.

'_Ichigo-san…'_

An orange and black blur, appeared in front of Giant Devil for just a moment breaking it from its line of thought, before the creature felt a powerful blow strike it's stomach, causing it to kneel down in pain. The giant's body lurched over the form of what he presumed was Ichigo, since he saw the orange hair even if he couldn't see his face. Before Giant Devil could straighten itself up he was launched upward by an incredible uppercut to his face.

Hanataro couldn't even keep up with what he was seeing. One moment the creature was standing next, it's body was sky high, with apparently Ichigo. Hanataro wasn't sure though, he saw only his back with what was left of his clothes and his orange hair but his power seemed different. It felt…dark…evil

'_What's going on?' _he thought but it went away like the wind when he saw Ichigo ax kick Giant Devil back down to the earth.

BOOM!

Hanataro was in awe of his hero who landed in front of the giant crater he made on the pitcher's mound, his back still turned. "I-ichigo?" he called out, hoping his friend was ok both mentally and physically, even if the terror he was currently feeling was commanding him to run away from this god-like being.

The tattered Shinigami slowly looked back "Yeah, Taro?" he said, a half-expectant look on his face, almost like nothing was even wrong in the universe. "What is it?"

"UURRGGGHHHH…" the voice from the crater groaned out. Ichigo looked back into the hole he made "Hey, Hanataro get a move on it he needs some help!"

"R-right Ichigo-san!" the medic acknowledged running into the crater and using Hisagomaru to heal the hollow. In the middle of healing, Hanataro glanced back at Ichigo who was looking away nonchalantly, and his eyes widened in further awe. _'Not a single wound. All the wounds he must have just gotten are gone!'_ His wonder and impressive respect for the man growing even more._ 'Ichigo-san who are you?'_

After healing only Giant Devil, as Ichigo said he was fine. The new found team of three, returned to the roof top of the quick mart, eager to get some well deserved rest and anticipating the battle against screamer.

(Next day)

The team woke up bright and early, since they wanted to be ready to chase after Screamer at a moment's notice, but Hanataro's job in the human world called him away, an hour or so after they started to search forcing Ichigo and Giant Devil to put the search on hold, as they didn't want to take any chances.

Right now, Ichigo was sitting in a meditative position doing some mental exercises and visualization exercises with both Zangetsus in the center of the roof head quarters, while Giant Devil was keeping a nose out trying to pick up the scent of his prey.

Ichigo opened his eyes when the door leading towards them started stirring, and Hanataro walked by, outside of his Gigai. "Alright my shift is finally done, so I don't have to worry about being called in anymore!"

"Good not a moment too soon, I just found him, Kurosaki-san, Yamada-san." The gorilla-like creature reported his head darting back to the river area he had been at the previous day.

Ichigo got up and pulled out Zangetsu "Right, let's go."

The three started to leap from one building to another, as quickly as possible while hiding their spiritual pressure in fear that Screamer would pick them up and flee. Unbeknownst to the Shinigami, Hanataro's soul pager that he had forgotten in his Gigai's pocket started blaring off, with a message marker urgent.

(Riverside)

"P-please…leave me alone. S-stay away" the young whole replied to his pursuer

The whole was a young looking boy with curly dark brown hair. He looked no older than eight years old.

The hollow laughed "Haha! That's rich leave you alone, but you do your job so well Yuuichi-chan!" his tone laced with cruel sarcasm "You bring so many yummy souls for me and you give me the thrill of the chase! It's killing two bird with one soul. HA!"

The hollow, looked like a mix between a gargoyle and a pterodactyl. It's skin was a dark purple, had clawed talon like feet that enjoyed to grip his prey with. His arms had pterodactyl like wings that stretched about 8 feet across, his hollow hole rested in the center of his chest right below his square shaped mask.

"Y-you said that y-you'd take me to my mom. IF If I agreed to run away and attract the people in black." He gulped "I-I did what you said, n-now d-d-do your end!"

"Oh I did?" he said in mock confusion, pretending that he hadn't made that promise to the boy "Oh that right I DID say that." It's mask changing to a feral grin, while it's yellow eyes narrowed to small circles "Well, I guess I better hold up my end"

The boy's face lit up, and the cruel hollow sneered wickedly at the naivety of this kid for trusting a hollow "I'll eat you too, so you can see her on the inside of my stomach!"

The hollow reached out to grab the frightened child when it was shoved to the side by Giant Devil. Screamer immediately took to the air, and narrowed it's eyes on the hollow interrupting it's meal "Hey, buddy. I don't know what your problem is but-"

Screamer stopped it's rant and cocked it's head to the side seeing the giant horned gorilla like creature. Realization dawning him "Aww, it's you!" he said cruelly affectionate, while he landed on the top of a small tree tree. "How you been G.D? Still mad that I tried to eat your grandfather back in Hueco?"

"Very, but I'm not here to kill you just for that anymore." He took a menacing step forward "I'm here to kill you for that poor soul you've been torturing for so long now"

"Hahahah! That's funny, a hollow protecting his meal! Wow, your grandfather really broke your sorry ass down! What happened to the killer I used to know!"

"He's right here waiting to kill you."

Screamer silently cursed his luck. It's not that he wasn't strong far from it, he was probably one of the best, but G.D was even stronger than himself. He decided to hightail it for now but not before picking up his take-out. When Screamer looked over to where Yuuichi was supposed to be, he didn't see anything. "Fuck, the kid got away." He mumbled under his breathe

"That's right." A voice answered.

Screamer looked to the street and saw an orange haired Shinigami leaning casually against a lamp post, with his arms crossed and an unpleasant look on his face. "Hanataro got him out of there while you two were busy reminiscing."

Screamer panicked at being caught between a rock and a hard place. He sought to employ one last desperate gambit "My, fellow hollow, look it's a Shinigami."

"Yes, I clearly see him" Giant devil said flatly, as he sank into a battle stance

"He's here to kill us both, and if what he said is true than there is another around here somewhere. We should kill THEM not each other, as they are the enemy!" The flying hollow tried desperately to convince his stronger land based counterpart. _'In the chaos I can kill both of them'_

He would be sadly mistaken "That Shinigami is here to assist me in taking you down, Screamer." Giant Devil informed to the winged terror

"What!" his eyes widening at his plan falling to pieces. "You would ally yourself with 'him' against a fellow hollow! You bring shame to your grandfather and the killer, I called friend!"

A slash mark appeared on Screamers arm as he was kicked down to earth by Ichigo "God, you talk too much. I don't even know you and I want kill you already."

The winged hollow looked up past his shoulder, after colliding into the ground "You'll pay!"

Giant Devil swung his fist forward hitting the side of Screamer as it tried to take off again, it's talon lashing out against the gorillas stomach. Screamer turned his attention to the immediate threat taking his eyes off Ichigo who started to slash at his other clawed foot.

Screamer finally having enough jumped back and sent a blast of wind at the two, slowing them down enough for it to launch his exploding familiars at the strange team.

"What the hell! That's disgusting!" Ichigo revolted, seeing the winged being practically throw up some toad creatures at him

"Ichigo, move!" G.D commanded, knowing the fatal trick those toads possessed

"Too late!" the avian sneered launching an ultrasonic sonic screech that caused the toads surrounding the Shinigami to explode violently.

When the smoke cleared Ichigo was still ok, though some of his robes were blown off and he had a few scorch marks on his arms and shoulders.

'_Alright, now I'm mad!'_

Ichigo quickly rushed forward swiping at the winged foe who nimbly dodged it by swooping around it. At the same time Giant Devil removed a light post and threw it at the avian slamming into it and knocking it back down to the ground.

'_Arghh. I'm gonna die at this rate, I suppose a quick retreat is in order.'_ The hollow schemed, and it suddenly called forth a small rift for it to escape.

The other two seeing the rift a few yards away immediately rushed to it, when Screamer was about to enter, Ichigo yelled for Giant Devil to throw him full force at him. The complying hollow hurled the sword fighter as hard as it could literally like it's soul depended on it.

It worked, as Ichigo was sent jetting towards the creature his Zangetsu sword cleaved the creatures head from atop it's shoulders. Purifying the hollow's body but not it's soul, and from the decayed remains dropped a man bound in chains.

Ichigo landed expertly and turned an emotionless gaze back at the struggling form of the once might screamer. He walked over and eyed the despicable person in contempt.

"P-please…mercy!" the bound soul begged, the Shinigami in front of him

Ichigo seemingly smiled at the man, before tapping him with the butt of his hilt. A slow rumbling sound occurred behind the soul, and when he gazed back nearly expecting the gates of heaven, he was horrified to see two giant doors with skeletal designs on it. When Screamer turned back to the smiling Shinigami, his once happy face was looking very sour. "Go to hell." He muttered, and before the spirit could protest, the doors opened and a giant spear impaled the man through the chest, while a demonic jester like laugh exuded from the gate, pulling him back in as he screamed on the weapon, before it all disappeared. Like it never happened.

Giant Devil, who after seeing this, looked down silently praying for the sanctity of his own soul, wishing to not have to face the judgment and pain of hell, though he felt like it was a useless plight in the end, since he had offered his life to the Shinigami who just condemned his one-time friend.

Giant Devil approached next to the Shinigami "I am ready." His brown eyes closing in resignation, while he steeled himself for the end

"Forget it." The death god said uninterested in slaying the creature that willingly helped him despite being an enemy

"What?"

"I said forget it. I'm not killing you." He said again, knowing he was disobeying Soifon's orders but honestly didn't care

"Why?" the creature asked in wonder

Ichigo sighed "You've got family to return to back in your world according to Screamer, so go back to it." he turned to the still open rift "I'm guessing that asshole wanted to return home to lick his wounds, but since he doesn't need it anymore take it, and be thankful you get to keep your life."

"Thank-you, Shinigami-san."

"It's Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki." The orange haired soul reaper formally introduced

"I will remember that, Ichigo." The hollow said disappearing into the rift which started to close after him.

Once the gate was closed he contacted Hanataro to find out where he was, and learned he was back on the roof top HQ, so with a satisfied smile at the way things turned out, he calmly strolled on back.

(Roof)

Hanataro was busy preparing the Senkaimon gate with the Senkaimon creation device, having seen the urgent message the second division had sent to his soul pager that he absent-mindedly forgot about in his Gigai.

"I'm back Taro." Ichigo called walking through the roof top entrance

"Ichigo! Help me immediately! We just got an urgent message from Soifon Taicho herself!"

"An urgent message?" he questioned quickly, moving next to Hanataro to quicken the opening process of the Senkaimon "What was the message?"

"She didn't say except that she's cancelling our mission and order our immediate withdrawal from the field. She wrote she needed to see you immediately in her office." The frantic medic explained as the Senkaimon gate finally materialized.

Ichigo understood the seriousness of something Soifon did if she was willing to cancel his mission and order his immediate return. Something was wrong.

* * *

G.D: Another chapter has reached it's closing.

Blackout2010: Yes, Giant Devil yes it has.

Ichigo:...

Blackout2010: It seems that things will now officially come to start soon

Ichigo:...see you soon.


	8. Be lonely with me

Author's acknowledgement: To the (and counting)

555 of U.S.A

77 of U.K

45 of Canada

36 of Australia

25 of Mexico

21 of Brazil

25 of Germany

26 of France

22 of Philippines

16 of South Africa

9 of the Netherlands

9 of Sweden

12 from Russia

2 from the Switzerland

7 of Poland

9 of Indonesia

10 of Finland

3 from India

3 from Spain

6 from (I'm not making this up) Isle of Man

5 of Belgium

6 of Belarus

2 from Bosnia

3 from New Zealand

2 of Portugal

4 of Romania

4 of Ireland

4 of Ukraine

The only one of Luxembourg

3 from U.A.E

3 of Kenya

3 from Bangladesh

1 from the Italy

4 of Singapore

1 from Bolivia

1 from (where ever the hell) Brunei Darussalam

2 of Honduras

And 1's from Estonia, Hungary, Norway and Jamaica respectively

Total Visitors of this story

Thank-you for reading my story up to this point, I wish to say thank-you! Hopefully my story offers you the something you're looking for!

* * *

Blackout2010: Seriously Ichigo, I'm not seeing things. I mean seriously watch

Ichigo: Fine fine.

Soifon: Why am I doing this again?

Blackout2010: To prove I'm not crazy now please!

Soifon: (sigh) Fine

Soifon: (ahem) Tsun-

Shaolin: -Dere

Blackout2010: That's it right there!

Ichigo/Soifon:?

Blackout2010: What? You didn't see it. Do it again!

Soifon: Tsun-

Shaolin: -dere

Ichigo: I'm not seeing it.

Blackout2010: Oh come on!

Soifon: It seems we'll be here for a while. The rest of you should just continue on with the story. Oh, he (points to Blackout2010) doesn't own anything.

Blackout2010: I'm not seeing things!

Soifon/Ichigo: Yes, yes…

* * *

Ch. 8 Be lonely with me

Ichigo was running faster than he even thought possible towards the Rukongai district. Had it been a normal day or any other day for that matter he would have swore he made a record time, but right now that was the least important thing to him.

'_No…'_ he swore to himself as his mind went back to what had happened mere minutes before, before he heard the truth

(Flash back)

Ichigo had burst open the door leading to his Taicho's office, with Hanataro following closely behind him. The room's usual three occupants were incredible somber, but what Ichigo saw in them told him everything about them. Everything that said something was truly wrong.

Shinjiro's normal carefree demeanor was replaced by a hard stony expression, his eyes not even trying to make contact with Ichigo at all, making Ichigo wonder if the samurai was feel either guilty of something he had done or powerless at not having been able to done something, maybe even mixture of the two, though he knew all of it was to be revealed soon.

In Subaru's case her stealth and punishment force mask had been pulled down from her mouth, and her arms were stirring slightly back and forth from the strain her body seemed to be under, as they were placed upon her thighs as she sat in the chair, her head glued down towards the floor.

Soifon however, looked as if she had been crying recently from the redness of her eyes, which was barely masked by her hair. That was the only physical attribute that alerted to the emotionally controlled woman's distressed state but as soon as she opened her mouth, he heard it. The emotional strain in her voice "Ichigo, come in."

Ichigo's eyes darted between all three of them "Alright, what's going on?" The seriousness evident in his voice

"Your mother, Masaki Kurosaki." She whispered out, causing panic to flood his system

"What happened!" he demanded, his eyes opening considerably and his ears ready to burn every word she would say into his mind

"She's…" her voice trailing off not finding the strength or heart to say it to him of all people

Silence filled the room before it finally clicked to the human world team, what was implied "No." Hanataro whispered out horrified, while Ichigo had a look of pure terror on his face

"I don't understand! How!" The man questioned as he slammed his hands hard against the desk, his arms twitching from the adrenaline and horror coursing through him

"It was that hollow." said the loathing captain, hating every second that 'this' conversation continued "The one that got away at the health land incident, it was still at large and it struck again."

'_And it's entirely my fault because I stopped Subaru from pursuing it.'_ She mentally admitted, to perhaps ease her guilt-ridden conscious of her very poor decision as a Taicho…and perhaps as a person too.

Ichigo didn't need to hear another word, as he turned and ran as hard as he could back to his mother's home, pushing past Hanataro, and leaving the rest of them far behind.

Shinjiro moved from his chair to go and comfort the man as he knew such pain shouldn't be left unchecked, but was stopped by the hand of Soifon who held her head down towards the desk "Sis…" he breathlessly whispered

"No, not yet." She ordered, despite her own hearts protest "He needs a little time alone first, let's give him and his mother some privacy."

(Flashback end)

Ichigo continued running and when he saw the building he jumped with all his might up to the second floor. His fear of the truth rising by the second as he saw the door had been viciously destroyed, he entered the building and saw that some kind of struggle took place with some blood on the nearby walls and huge scratch and slash marks on the floors. He gazed into her room and saw it was just as trashed as the rest of entranceway. He continued into the kitchen and saw that everything was destroyed; the only thing that remained was the shattered picture frame and photo of both his mother and himself that she always kept on the center of the kitchen table.

Ichigo took just a few steps more before he fell down on his knees unable to stand up any further and lowered his head over the photo as he pulled it in closer to him, the only remaining thing of the woman who raised him since birth. A strange wet feeling was soon felt by the man on his cheek as some liquid fell down on to the picture, the man blinked for a moment and realized that he: Ichigo Kurosaki, Shinigami of squad two and son of Masaki Kurosaki had started to cry.

(Inner world)

A torrential downpour of rain was soaking the side of the buildings of Ichigo's inner sanctum, while two contrastly colored figures stood underneath it like they always would, now and forever more.

"_**Seems, like the rains heavier than normal." **_The dark side commented sadly, his clothes so damp and soaked from the ran they were hugging against him

"_Indeed. It also looks like it won't truly let up for quite a while."_ The older wiser of the two noted as his wet hair pressed against his face, his sunglasses off his face and in his hand

"_**I don't think even that girl, can clear it up. Not for a looong time at least."**_

"_True. But like all things in life, Ichigo will have to move on eventually. Perhaps that woman will quicken the transition as you say."_

The hollow looked away before staring down at the slowly flooding architecture _**"It's flooding down there. Perhaps we should come together again, so at least we won't be alone."**_

(Real World)

Ichigo got up from the remains of the broken kitchen before releasing all his spiritual pressure, as he screamed in indignation at the loss of his beloved mother, the goddess of his world to some pathetic hollow who got away by pure chance alone.

His power surged all the way back to the Seireitei and weighed down some of the Shinigami there, nearly all of them wondering who this strong spiritual pressure could possibly belong to, as it could be felt through the sekiseki rock, though a select few being the captains of 2, 4, 8, 10 and 13 respectively, along with the seventh of 4, third of 2, third of 9 and fuka-taicho of 10 knew the truth and the reason why.

After the swell of Ichigo's power had finally started to give out, his body started to get heavier and heavier as he came crashing down to the floor, slowly the man's mind began to close and he started to fade from consciousness and finally blacked out, only faintly hearing the sound of approaching footsteps of several individuals getting closer to his position.

(Sometime later)

When Ichigo opened his eyes again, he found himself lying down in an unfamiliar bed. He got up, straining his tired body to get a better view of where he was. He saw nothing but a clean white room. Hearing a steady beeping noise he turned and saw a heart rate monitor, attached to his arm. _'I must be at the fourth…'_ he concluded after seeing the medical equipment that could only belong to one place

"Ah, good you're finally awake." The relieved voice of Unohana called as she opened the door feeling the steady increase of his spiritual pressure rise to a far safer level then it was when he first arrived

"Unohana-san…" he said informally to the person who was like a big sister to him as she had visited his mother on numerous occasions. "Did…it really…is she…" he squeaked out trying to avoid having to say the words

"I take it you found out." She said the hurt noticeable in her tone, as an upset frown found its way onto her face the first in a very long time.

Ichigo looked away a forlorn look on his face, which made the healers heart wretch. She walked over to him and sat down in the chair beside the bed "Here, Hitsuguaya-Taicho and Matsumoto-san, found this in your hand when they felt your arrival from the human world."

She handed him the photo that had once been on the table. The photo she had taken of the pair when they went out on an evening stroll together.

"Thanks. How long have I been out?"

"You've been unconscious for exactly three weeks."

"That long?" he asked, to which she wordlessly nodded "Wow…it didn't feel all that long."

"You've had a lot of visitors, ranging from close friends like Hanataro-kun and Shinjiro-kun all the way to captains such as Jushiro Ukitake and Shisui Kyoraku to surprisingly Soifon-san herself." The woman informed, very surprised at the frequency Soifon-Taicho came to check up on him.

The frowning boy looked away "All those people who have my back, and I couldn't even protect a single one of them." He said morosely

Slap!

Ichigo looked at Unohana whose hand was level with his head, his own hand touching the spot where she had whacked him "What are you-?"

"Your mother made me promise to knock some sense into you if you ever started to blame yourself for something, you had no say in. I'm merely fulfilling my late Sensei's promise." She said elated at her work, though not enough to seem inappropriate given the situation

Ichigo smiled knowing, his mother probably would have done the same thing if she were still here "Thanks"

"Not a problem, Ichigo-kun." The medical examiner answered, her face working itself back to the gentle smile she was well known for

Ichigo turned away from the smiling angel and back to the wall, seeing Zangetsu leaning against it "So when do I get out?"

"Tomorrow." She replied picking herself up from the chair "Assuming you lie down and rest immediately." Throwing in her words of caution

"Don't worry I won't run off, well not yet!" the man replied a small smirk returning to his face

Unohana rolled her eyes at the boy before stepping outside. Once the door closed she let out a tired sigh, while she was happy that Ichigo was significantly better than when he first enter, she was inwardly wondering how exactly, a single hollow managed to kill her Sensei 'Miracle Worker' Masaki Kurosaki. _'I suppose I have many years to refine my skill so as to take revenge should Ichigo be unable to beat that hollow alone.'_ She thought uncharacteristically dark, the pain of the sensei she would call mother still simmering within her heart.

(Next day)

After being medically cleared by Unohana herself he gave her a silent hug, and disappeared to go let some of his friends know he was alright now. Hanataro had been easy since he was practically with Unohana herself. After letting him know he was fine he turned his sights to the tenth since he wanted to see Soifon last.

After much walking and occasional flash step since his body was out of it for nearly a month he finally got to the tenth division's Taicho's office. Ichigo was about to knock on the door when he heard the word "Enter." be emitted from Toshiro who having already felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure from a mile away, allowed his presence in the office

Pushing the door open he was surprised to see Toshiro Hitsuguaya allowing Rangiku Matsumoto, the laziest Fuka-Taicho in the history of tenth division, to sleep on the couch while he did all of the paperwork by himself. As Ichigo passed by the resting Fuka-Taicho he heard her whimper out his name out as she slept, obvious worried for Ichigo about how he was taking his loss in the only parent in his entire life. Ichigo decided to be merciful and let sleeping dogs lie, since she had been as close to him as she had been to his mother, and so the pain of loss was no doubt affecting her too.

"How are you feeling?" the white haired boy asked concernedly to his former sixth seat, while he gestured to the empty chair in front of his desk, grateful that the man took it as he didn't want him to collapse since he just got out of four.

"Better."

The young captain gave wry smile "That's good to know. You're certainly handling it much better than Rangiku over there." pointing his index finger over to the sleeping beauty, who tossed over in her sleep "she had about 17 full bottles of sake the previous night alone. She was completely gone before the paperwork was even halfway finished." he lightly joked, hoping to open things up between the two

"Yeah, that sounds just like her. Then again you allow it" he countered friendlily, glad to be back in welcomed company

Hitsuguaya sighed merrily "That I do. Maybe I got a soft spot for girls."

Ichigo quirked an eyebrow "Oh someone got a yen for Rangiku-chan?" that development coming from left field in the carrot top's eyes

The other boy rolled his eyes jokingly "Hardly, she just reminds me of bed-wetter Momo in a different way. A drunken way." He explained

Ichigo laughed as he joked with his friend "So anything new happen Hitsuguaya-Taicho?"

The most unexpected result happened. The genius captain of the tenth division, who wanted nothing more than to be recognized and addressed by his title, and looked down on those who called him a kid for it, jumped on top of the desk, and whacked Ichigo on the top of the head with his hand.

"That's Toshiro to you pal!" the genius exclaimed

"That…that…that's not fair! You always got angry when I called you Toshiro and now that I call you Hitsuguaya-Taicho" BAM! "You starting hitting me, what's your deal!" he demanded clutching his second head wound

"Simple, I'm talking to you as your friend 'Toshiro' not a captain of the Gotei Thirteen 'Hitsuguaya-Taicho'" the boy clarified, saying it like it was the most easy to understand thing in the universe

Ichigo grumbled out something about double standards, but relented having finally saw the 'genius captain of ten' do something that others would label as childish behavior.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you something Ichigo." The boy said growing a bit more serious, as he reached into his desk and pulled out folder with some office papers sticking out of it

"And what's that Toshiro?"

"A couple months ago, your current Taicho went to go see, head Captain Yamamoto about something concerning you. What she had requested was the possibility of a permanent transfer from my division to yours, but had asked him not to say or do anything about it since you still seemed to be adjusting. Shortly afterward, she returned back to the Sou-taicho and request that it in fact be processed, and met with me to discuss the allowance, to which I agreed it would ok seeing as how she did ask particularly nicely about it and gave rather elaborate reasons why. So now I'm asking you, Ichigo Kurosaki, if you wish to transfer over to the second division, as it does concern you and while you're under my jurisdiction I am willing to allow you to have a say in all of this, as it is only right."

Ichigo looked away from shock at the request. _'She was planning this even before February eleventh? She had to be thinking about long it before then if she was to schedule a meeting with and bring it up to the Sou-taicho himself'_

_Look Kurosaki, I do trust you though I…intended for it to be a silent trust between us._

His mouth opened in awe, when his mind replayed the word she had said to him on February eleventh. _'She been trusting me, they…weren't just empty words I wanted to hear at all. She's been trusting me since, since the beginning…!'_ He silently closed his mouth again, hardening his eyes vowing to meet up to the trust she had placed in him long before he had truly placed it in her. "Grant the request immediately Toshiro."

Seeing his friend's eyes hold such conviction, he knew better than to try and change his mind. After all when Ichigo made up his mind about something he'd keep at it till it was done, he was dead or unconscious. "Request granted." The smiling boy said slamming the stamp that said approval on the paperwork.

"I guess we're done here." Ichigo said getting up from the chair to move to the ninth division, the next spot on his list of places to visit.

"I suppose we are." The captain replied getting back into his usual business like behavior

"Later, Toshiro" the flickering Ichigo said before disappearing

"That's Hitsuguaya-Taicho to you, Kurosaki!" the enraged captain hollered a tick mark appearing on his head, even though his antagonist was long gone. Unable to just simply let his rage go unanswered he turned his head to the unsuspecting Rangiku "MATSUMOTO!" he yelled jumping at her from the top of his desk

(9th division)

Ichigo had never really been to the ninth division before. So when he saw that it was a quiet serene temple-like place, he immediately assumed that things were always peaceful, which indeed it was.

'_Must be why Shinjiro likes it here. It fit's his peaceful mentality.'_ Ichigo thought after he was pointed to the Taicho's office, where supposedly Shinjiro was meeting with his captain to give a status report on the 'experiment'.

He knocked on the door and when the voice he assumed was the captain said "Please, enter." He walked in. At the foot of a small table was a tall African American man with hair done back that ended in a dreaded ponytail and silvery purple shades over his eyes, a few feet away to the right was Shinjiro sitting on a pillow, who cringed when he saw him

"Ah, Ichigo…" the third seat whispered out weakly, unsure of what to say in this awkward meeting, since saying 'I'm sorry your mother died!' seemed really inappropriate for the recently recovered man

"Hmm, this one's aura is disturbed. I sense a recent changed has occurred within you, deep in your soul." The blind Taicho evaluated of his new guest "You must be the son of 'Miracle Worker' Masaki Kurosaki, Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo tilted his head in curiosity "Yes, I am, but why do you call my mother 'Miracle Worker'?" repeating the word having heard of it for the first time ever

The dark captain raised an invisible eyebrow at the younger man's words "You seem to be ill informed, perhaps because she wanted to let that part of her life die to become a mother." He said more to himself than Ichigo "I will tell you all the same though since it is only right. Your mother Masaki Kurosaki was both the teacher of our smiling Angel, Unohana-Taicho and also the previous Taicho of squad 4 with the current head as its fuka-taicho."

"I didn't know that last part." Said Ichigo looking at Shinjiro who shook his head as he didn't know that either

"Well, she was long ago Kurosaki-san. I am truly saddened at your loss, and hope you find some measure of peace, as I too have known the loss of someone close to my heart."

"Thank you for your words." Ichigo said bowing to the wise captain

"Think nothing of it, and may justice be on your path forever alongside you."

Just as Ichigo was about to leave Shinjiro spoke up "Ichigo, I think it would be best if you see Soifon-Taicho eventually, she was rather upset by the loss, herself."

Ichigo nodded his head and continued exiting the room. He then proceeded to head out to the second division. As he was running back on the roof tops, he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. He stopped his running and turned to face what his eye caught and saw Subaru Kujo approaching from the distance, not noticing him.

"Subaru!" he called out, throwing an arm up into the air in order to flag her down to his position

The woman seeing the man performed a sharp turning flash step from her building's tiles and was instantly next to the orange haired Shinigami "Are you well, Ichigo?" she asked immediately, read to perform damage control

"I'm better than I was when I first arrived."

"Finally some good news." She sighed in relief, as she was previously unsure how Ichigo would take such a huge loss in his life and only really had Shaolin's reaction to go by, when it came to unmeasured grief. "You had us very worried when you didn't wake up."

"Sorry, there are just some days that I feel like sleeping in." he joked, running a hand through his hair

The ninja-like third seat put her hands on her hips in annoyance "You are something else, you know that?"

"I try" he muttered weakly

Subaru shook her head, exasperated at his attitude to their worry though she knew it was just his way of coping "You do know that sister was deeply worried about your condition, correct?"

Ichigo nodded "Yeah, Unohana-Taicho told me she visited frequently" repeating the words she had told him

"She visited almost every single day you were out. In fact there were times she wouldn't eat at all when she visited you, and had to be thrown out by Unohana lest she end up in the bed next to you." The frowning third seat informed as she ran her hand through her hair, a habit she had picked up when it came to dealing with stress "She holds it against herself you know. Your mother's untimely death hangs over her head constantly as she wallows in pity for when she had allowed that hollow called Grand Fisher to escape that day."

Ichigo scowled that his captain was holding the death of his mother on her hands when it was the fault of this asshole Grand Fisher. He mentally made a note to slap some sense into her as Unohana did to him "Where can I find her to set her straight?"

The third seat looked on, a surfacing smile gracing her lips "You may find her in the forest area of the second division. She's out there training to both perfect an attack she had come across in her studies, but more importantly to try and keep her mind off the incident."

"Thank-you Subaru."

"No thank-you, Ichigo. Thank-you for being the person she truly sees." The woman bowed, as she saw the man hurry away

With his newfound information Ichigo traveled to the wilderness of the second division's 'backyard' training ground. When he was underneath the vast tree line he closed his eyes and opened up his senses, searching, feeling for the energy signature of his Taicho. _'Bingo. Got it.'_ the orange haired Shinigami immediately took off to the south heading deeper into the heart of woods.

As time passed during Ichigo's journey, he started to see that some of the tree had been uprooted from the ground or knocked over flat with hole marks in them. He kept going, hearing battle cries and explosions of reiatsu, underneath the dark gray skies of a soon approaching storm. When he reached the next explosion, he saw the beautiful Taicho of two in her combat uniform that she wore underneath her Haori, with her fist buried into another tree, a hole blown through it and the next ten trees in line behind it, a strange white energy, incasing her lithe form and extending outward almost like a second skin.

"Soifon…" he murmured from his spot amongst the branches, his words carrying over to her ears from across the expanse of destroyed surroundings.

Said woman turned around slowly, the white energy fading away at the loss in concentration. An unhappy look upon her face, when she saw the orange hair of her 'number one guardian', she forced her eyes away, angry and sad at herself for being reminded of the boy's deceased mother, someone she had grown close to and even called friend.

When Ichigo saw her turn away from him in dejection, he flash stepped over in front of her, determined to break herself loathing. "Soifon." He spoke again, much harder than before, as he stood directly in front of her

"I heard you the first time, Kurosaki" she said turning her head back up to face him. Her once red tear stained eyes had returned to normal "It seems you're doing better than expected, though I should hardly be surprised" her voice barely above a whispering knowing that if she spoke any louder, he would hear her strain…her weakness

"I heard that you visited me while I was at the hospital unconscious."

"Yes, I did. I was merely eager to have my fourth seat back." She replied giving away nothing that could reveal her own sadness, especially in front of him

"Supposedly, you visited every day to the point where Unohana had to occasionally kick you out. I'd say you were very eager or…" he carefully moved his hand under her chin gently so she could remain focused on only him and his words "or you wanted something else." He alluded wanting to draw her in and heal her pain

"Something more?" she asked her voice a blend of intrigue and confusion, at what he could be hinting at

"Perhaps you wanted forgiveness." He said, and when he saw her grey orbs soften significantly he pressed forward ready to drive into the heart of the matter "I heard from Subaru and Shinjiro that you blame yourself, for my mother's death."

"How absurd." She said indifferently, back handing the man's hand away from under her roughly

He continued on ignoring her statement and resistance "I say you don't need it." causing the woman's mouth to open in misunderstanding, since she had expected him to ask for at least an apology for her failure, after all it was the only reasonable conclusion a grief ridden person would do, lash out against others. "My mother called you a friend just as I do, she would never blame you for what had happened Soifon. In fact when she told me what she thought of you after meeting you for the very first time she said you 'were a no-nonsense woman with a good head on your shoulders', and I believe…no I know she's right."

"She really said that?" She asked in silent wonder, having never truly figured how high of a regard the woman actually held her in _'She really was a kind soul.'_

Ichigo nodded glad to know he was getting through to her "She did, and I believe her. It was not your fault. It was that hollow Grand Fisher, not you, Soifon who killed her."

Soifon looked down at the dry dirt floor, a wide variety of thoughts buzzing around inside her. She had come to admit to herself that Ichigo was a really strong person, he just lost his mother and yet here he was trying to tell her not to blame herself, to be strong and put on a brave face. When she oh so long ago had practically flipped out at the betrayal and loss of her own motherly figure and needed a whole month to come within a semblance of reason.

She traced her stare back up to Ichigo's face, looking him into his brown eyes "I'm truly sorry for your loss. Believe me Kurosaki. I know and understand the pain of being left behind by another."

"What do you mean Soifon?" he asked having never heard her every say or mention any death of family before, or the loss of a parent

Shaolin's body started to shake ever so slightly in fear. Fear knowing that if she told him, she'd have to tell him everything. She was unsure if she was ready for that, especially with her growing…attraction to the man before her.

"Soifon please listen to me…is it something personal?" he asked tenderly after seeing the body of the twin banded woman tremble and her eyes glazing over as if in deep thought or reliving a distant memory that wasn't pleasant but also not a nightmare either.

"Very." She said ghostly

"I see." He looked away from her and out into the distance past where the fallen remains of the trees were. His mind was thinking of what exactly to say and with a sigh decided to go all the way "There's something, I want to tell you and only you Soifon."

"What's that?" her mouth throwing out the words from the sudden change in topic, not that it wasn't entirely unwelcome by the navy haired captain

"It's a bit personal and embarrassing." He said frankly, getting a weak smirk from the woman "but I want to measure up to the faith you put in me a long time ago."

"My faith in you?" she asked, her mind working out his words and coming to the only conclusion she could think of in her weakened and emotional state "You know about the transfer don't you Kurosaki? How did you find out about it?"

"Captain Toshiro Hitsuguaya told me, that you actually wanted me permanently in your squad even before your birthday mission." He answered softly, while he closed his eyes "I honestly have to say that I really did doubt if you had any trust in me, but the evidence proves otherwise, and I was a bit ashamed that me a self-proclaimed guardian was both faithless and unreliable to someone I know I shouldn't have been towards."

Soifon remained silent taking in his words fully knowing he wasn't quite done yet with his rant "That's why when you believed in me, I really did think that my mother was more right than she could have ever known."

"Why are you telling me all this?" she asked the man who reopened his eyes ready to answer her

"Like I said to return the trust you placed in me." He said with a smile, before giving her the good news she probably wanted to hear "That's why I decided to join the second division indefinitely. I know Shinjiro, Subaru, Hanataro and even you are there for me as a friend, just like I am for you all…"

"The way you say it, it almost sounds like you've changed your mind on something." She said sullenly, expecting him to say that he was going to go back on it from the tragic loss _'I guess…it's…to be expected.'_

"Heh! I know which brings us to the embarrassing and personal part." He said with a blush, while he scratched the back of his head and turned his gaze to the ground briefly.

When Ichigo had looked away, Soifon started to feel a bit more self-conscious about herself. She could literally hear her heart starting to pound faster when he said wished to measure up to HER and coming to the embarrassing and personal part. Her Zanpaktou spirit Suzumebachi was telling her that the wind inside her world had picked up to a nice gust that was perfect flying, and telling her to get ready to spread her wings.

Soifon unsure of what to do with all of these strange feeling inside her started to uncharacteristically panic "Y-you don't say anything. If, If, If it's personal then you don't need to trouble yourself by expressing it when you aren't up to it yet!" she said talking hastily, trying to stop what was coming, before it became…intimate, before it became like, before it could maybe perhaps become…love.

"No, Soifon. I want to say this, to tell you this; because it's something I've been struggling with for a while." He said quickly grabbing a firm hold of her hand to prevent her from possibly running away from him before he could say it "What changed over the course of my stay here was simple: you."

"M-me."

Ichigo nodded solemnly "When I originally met you, I thought you were the most beautiful person in the world, and I still do. I slowly started to learn about you, through Shinjiro, Subaru and the time we had spent around each other if it was a mission or simple conversation. I do know something happened to you and that it made you turn so cold, but I didn't ask as that was something, I felt I should have you tell me about it yourself, when you were ready to share."

Soifon was turning bright red, and absolutely no words even began to come to her. She wanted to say something but she just couldn't think of anything, her mind frozen at his admittance of affection for her. She gulped as her own feelings started to buzz around in her chest, unsure in taking that step forward to be together

Seeing her eyes glaze over with emotion, Ichigo continued "I honestly want to be your friend who you don't have to worry about using you for your status. Someone you can always rely on, but at the same time…" he gulped knowing it was now or never "I'd…also like to be something more with you."

Air started to come to Soifon in short breaths, she gulped, her tongue licking her lips "I…" she started to answer, ready to voice her words, her feelings to the strawberry she had come to enjoy for the past few months showing through

Boom!

The storm clouds that raged over head thundered, let their watery gift of heavy rain to fall down on the pair thoroughly soaking them and their clothes

Soifon looked up to the sky for a few moments, the cold rain washing down her face and hair before looking back at the man who still held her wrist "I think we have the worst luck ever." She dead-panned, seeing how the moment was completely ruined by nature, she tiredly dropped her head against his chest with a small sweet smile.

Ichigo opened his free hand out to the side, letting the cascading water collect into it, until it flooded over the side as it was too much to contain "I guess we do" he replied an amused grin of his own at the turn of events

"Let's go back, Kurosaki." She requested softly, wanting to get out of the rain, knowing they both knew what the other wanted to say and be.

"Ichigo." He corrected the wet woman who was still leaning against him "Call me Ichigo."

Soifon stopped having remembered him saying for her to call him that on his first day on the job. Her smile widened just a fragment more as she turned a loving eye to the man "Only if you call me, Shaolin." She proposed

"Of course." He answered bringing his head closer to hers "Shaolin." Reaching down fully and capturing her lips, letting her hand fall freely as he moved his arm around her waist, refusing to let her go alone any longer. As they broke away for air, Soifon looked away shyly, silently happy that she did take an important step forward by herself. "Come on, Yojimbo. There are some things I think you should know."

"Yojimbo? Is that my nickname now?" he said playfully since he knew most couples gave their significant other a pet name of sorts.

"I'm your girlfriend I can call you whatever I want!" The blushing Taicho vaguely explained, to his infinite joy at hearing her justification "a-anyways it means 'Bodyguard'. I just wanted to shorten 'my number one guardian', as it is difficult to say in a conversation and impossible to hide from unneeded ears!"

"So should I call you 'Lin-chan'? 'My hornet'? 'She-no-be' (1) perhaps?'" he questioned cheerfully

"Do it and I'll kill you." She hollowly threatened, a smirk on her face seemingly despite how things seemed to have turned out, she was enjoying herself.

"Lin-chan, it is." He determined much to her mock annoyance. He softly grabbed the hand of his new found girlfriend and the two proceeded back to the Barracks, happy that they could both be lonely…together.

* * *

(1) It's a play on the words Shinobi, since Soifon is a woman who specializes in stealth and hiding, hence 'she-no-be' = 'she's not there'. As well as the fact she and everyone else in the division look like ninjas.

* * *

Blackout2010: And thus bring an end to Arc 1: the getting acquainted Arc.

Ichigo: So that means…

Blackout2010: Yup, next chapter things will begin move along and the rating will change to M.

Soifon: It seems your happy this chapter is over.

Blackout2010: Tell me about it, I had to redo the last part between you and Ichigo three times over as I wasn't satisfied with it. Anyway that's all for now, hopefully I'll finish 13 soon so the next one can be released. Till then stay safe!


	9. Another year and the rock begins to roll

Author's acknowledgement to the unknown reviews:

To unknown reviewer known only as 'Bleach fan'

I have no idea if there will be a sequel or not (seeing as I'm not even done with this) but there is a continuation of the story. If that's what you meant than I hope this satisfies you.

To Unknown reviewer known only as 'Bang Bang 22'

I'm glad you enjoyed and here is the update.

To unknown reviewer known only as 'Wut' (I am assuming it's pronounced as 'What?' no disrespect implied.)

First off thanks for reading so far, um as for chapter eight, I admit that would actually be my real world inexperience showing on that. See I've never been in a coma (or known someone who has) so I don't know when your unconscious if you'd just wake up the time later or if you'd be experiencing hellish nightmares or memories.

For the slap, well when I think of the word mother, I usually envision a woman who loving raises a person (usually the kid) and only wants the best for them, so she wouldn't want him to blame himself, since it wasn't his fault and the typical response to correcting behavior that is seen as unwanted or wrong is a slap. There is also the fact of different circumstances.

Canonically Ichigo lost his mom when he was what 5? 6? 7? 8? Early on is my point. He also felt guilt ridden because he was (indirectly) responsible for her death as he went towards the river where Grand Fisher was lying in wait for it's next meal, which Masaki tried and successfully saved her son at the cost of her life, so since he felt that if he didn't do (go near the river to save the girl) that she'd live, he held it against himself which was made worse by the fact that he was smart to know that he took away infant Yuzu's and Karin's mother from them before they got to meet her.

In this case (the FF), Ichigo wasn't anywhere near her so he never got to see her death first hand (which I assume wouldn't be quite AS traumatizing) so he couldn't entire fault himself for it (though he did blame himself by survivor's guilt). Ichigo is also much older and much more mature than back then. He's 16 at the time of her demise and he deals with death all the time (he is a Shinigami) so he subconsciously knows all things die eventually but it was very sudden and he wasn't ready for it entirely, which is why his various friends slowly brought him back into equilibrium (remember Unohana only started it and gave to push to recovery, he still visited those close to him, and after being comatose for three weeks a friendly face must be welcomed.)

If the Chapter seemed rushed then I apologize? I mean I constantly go back and edit, re-read it to make sure it flows and doesn't seem entirely unbelievable (I don't know what you meant by weird so you lost me on that one). If your talking about Ichigo just kind of forgetting about his mom, that's not true and he will have his eyes firmly locked on Grand Fisher should he ever encounter him again.

Anyway that's all for the Author's acknowledgment of the unknown review section, unto the prefic banter

* * *

Blackout2010: Well, well, well great people of Fanfiction. I have just finished another chapter which causes the release of this one and I would like to thank-you all for your support.

Ichigo: So now that this chapter is up, what pray tell is the title of the new Arc?

Blackout2010: I'm glad you asked, Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Arc 2 of Bleach: The Alternate Tale. The Karakura Arc!

Soifon: So now we're going to see I suppose the 'Shinigami side' of things could have been right?

Blackout2010: You are correct Mrs. Cougar.

Soifon: Cougar?

Subaru: Cougar. Urban dictionary. A significantly older woman who deems to score with a much younger man. In this case you at the age of &$ and Ichigo at the age of now, 17.

Soifon:...

Shinjiro: Umm...

Soifon: YOUR DEAD!

Hanataro: Umm, maybe you guys should just go ahead. Umm, please Soifon-Taicho don't kill the author ahh...

Blackout2010: MERCY!

Hanataro: At least he doesn't own anything...so no legal troubles but this is going to be an expensive medical bill

* * *

Ch.9 Another year and the rock begins to roll

'_10 months, hard to believe that it's almost been a whole year, since the human world mission with Hanataro, the loss of mother…and when Shaolin and I got together.'_ Ichigo mused about the events that had happened a while ago, as he was once again on his way, to the office of both his Taicho and Girlfriend, Shaolin, for another mission.

The two's relationship had been rather well, despite their occasional fights like any other normal couple, slightly made worse by the fact they had to see each other every day despite any rough waters, though they always did manage to compromise their otherwise unyielding beliefs and forgive the other. They had announced their new found relationship to only a select few namely Shinjiro, Subaru, and Hanataro who would leak it only to Unohana, since she had helped in their hooking up.

Ichigo and Soifon had come to the agreement early in the relationship that they didn't need to flaunt it to anyone, nor did they have to tell anyone, unless it was the Sou-taicho Yamamoto questioning them, which they both prayed would never happen as, romantic interdivision commander-subordinate relationships were frowned upon. Subaru had given her utmost word that Fuka-Taicho Omeada would NOT ever find out as she was well aware of his crush on her sister, while Shinjiro kept a close eye on Fuka-Taicho Matsumoto since he was one barracks over, and her knowing would be the most counter-productive measure conceivable in insuring their underground relationship stayed as such.

Shaolin, Subaru, and Shinjiro had also shared their story of what had happened to his girlfriend so long ago, saying that the former commander of the stealth and punishment force as well as ex-Captain of squad two: Yoruichi Shihoin not only betrayed the trust of them personally but also broke Soul Societies laws by assisting a traitor, who went by the name of Urahara, who supposedly attacked several Shinigami and attempted a coup d'état, escape punishment and fled her position with possible malicious intents. After hearing the story Ichigo agreed wholeheartedly to help them, and they in turn agreed to help avenge Masaki Kurosaki's death at the hands of the Hollow Grand fisher, that they had allowed to escape nearly a year and a half ago.

"It's me, 'Yojimbo'. May I enter?" Ichigo asked using his official squad two codename as he softly knocked on the office door

"Of course." came the cool reply from the Taicho waiting inside

Pushing the door open, he walked inside the room, smiling at seeing Shaolin, sitting back in her chair with her arms folded across her chest, gazing back at him self-assuredly. He closed the door taking his seat ready for another debriefing before every mission. A mission that he'd ensure was a success.

"So who may I ask do you want killed, destroyed or otherwise defeated, Taicho?" he said in a semi-professional tone, since they had agreed to maintain this façade of non-intimacy, for a while longer at least until they were confident no one was listening in or until Ichigo could become skilled enough to be considered for a captain's position as it would remove the commander-subordinate hitch in their relationship.

"Always to the point fourth seat Kurosaki." She said speaking with cold indifference, though Ichigo knew it was only because she was scanning for nearby reiatsu signatures "none the less, there is a mission that I feel is urgent to your application of becoming Fuka-taicho."

Ichigo tilted his head in confusion "'urgent to my application to becoming fuka-taicho'" he quoted, not sure what the problem was this time around since he had fulfilled the going to the human world part of the application and needed to only wait for the central forty-six to sanction the battle for fuka-taicho "What mission would that be exactly?"

Soifon sighed in frustration since this was all because of a stupid technicality "Apparently, the central forty-six has deemed that since I recalled you on your previous mission to the human world, the one you no doubt remember with seventh seat of the fourth division, Hanataro Yamada, they will not condone your activities as a certified mission to the human world. Hence your application to becoming Fuka-Taicho was denied because you didn't meet the required credentials."

"Tsk. What a load of crap." The orange haired Shinigami, complained in a sour tone, unable to believe that they'd say that after he and Hanataro had spent more than ¾ of their scheduled time there, and killed a particularly dangerous hollow with ironically the help of a hollow. Not that they could report the incident since it was unanimously kept off the record, lest investigation and questions be raised for his decision making skills since it went against protocol.

"Rules are rules, Kurosaki. I cannot change them even though I am a Taicho and believe me, I truly wish I could." The frowning woman replied, willing to give her own right arm for him to replace Omeada as the acting Fuka-Taicho

"So do I have to go back to being a 'substitute soul reaper' again? Or can I just go as fourth seat, Ichigo Kurosaki?" he asked, not that he cared about the rank but more for Omeada and whatever he trick he might throw next.

"No, you'll be going as you are, though a limiter will once again be placed on you." She confirmed, as her face soon turned into a vexed scowl having been reminded of the limiter "Though I swear I will never know where or why your power seems to increase, the near two years you've been here and all the work we put into you trying to suppress it just goes up in smoke. Its infuriating." running a hand through her hair, hating the fact that all the work they had actually put into him, was just wasted effort since it spiked after the Masaki incident. Though she knew why, as she had also had a spike occur when _'She'_ vanished, a spike she called 'Bankai'.

Ichigo's hand reached across her desk and clasped her hand softly, one of the very few acts of affection he was allowed to perform anywhere near the second division barracks, since it could be easily covered up should someone walk in "You don't need to get so upset, Soifon-Taicho. While trying to suppress may have been 'wasted' the ability to control it, hasn't." he raised his other hand up getting her attention

"Look" he said. Slowly whitish-blue reiatsu started to become visible, and rise off of his arm. Soifon felt his spiritual pressure continue to increase more and more, not enough to warrant attention but enough to where she could say without a doubt, he knew what he was doing. He cut off the display, and brought the arm back down to his lap. "See? All our work put together." He smiled

"Anyway" changing the subject, to something more related to the two of them "how is this special form of combat you've been working on going? I'm still eager to see it."

Soifon closed her eyes, feeling again for any foreign spiritual pressure and when she found none, she answered "Believe me, Yojimbo. It's almost done. And when it is you will be the first to see it."

Seeing her give the invisible green light to be casual Ichigo went along "I still say that I really don't mind, defending you as you use your 'corrupt' Bankai, Shaolin. Speaking of which have you been able to figure out the reason yet?"

Soifon cheeks flared pink for a moment having been reminded of his 'guaranteed promise' that he made her when she originally showed him her Bankai. When her cheeks stopped burning she glared at him in annoyance, as it was still a touchy subject for her and her warrior pride "While it is appreciated Ichigo, I adamantly refuse to be some pampered princess, even though I am a noble woman, we both know it's not in me. As for the reason (sigh) while it is still inconclusive, Subaru has been able to determine the polar opposite of what triggered it would be the key to fixing it."

"You said that when you first used it, it was the exact same day as when _'She'_ left. You were definitely angry at her and wanted her dead, so does that mean you need to love her and wish her to be alive?" he asked, trying to solve the Bankai problem literally since to him it was the polar opposite.

"Perhaps, though if that's the case then the obvious outcome will be me being stuck with this abomination forever" she snorted, knowing the chances of things turning out well being virtually non-existent "hence the reason for the technique, to counter balance it and take _'her'_ down, should I encounter either her or something less pleasant. But that is beside the point, as we are currently discussing you and your mission."

"Right, right." He waved off returning back to the briefing they were in the middle of prior to the detour of conversation

"(Ahem) You'll be scheduled to leave in two days. You will be accompanied by a member of the thirteenth division, Rukia Kuchiki. Since you have previous experience, you will just make sure she can adjust safely before performing you own tour of duty in Karakura; however, should another strong hollow like Screamer or Giant Devil show up you are authorized to assist her." She explained, giving the basic details of the mission "Also please note that I am not giving you authorization of any kind to team up with anymore hollows on this go round, so please deal with them accordingly."

Ichigo rolled his eyes at her dry humor "How long will we both be in the human world for?"

"Exactly one month's time."

'_Heh, well it looks like I won't be missing our anniversary then.'_ He smirked confidently at hearing the time limit "That's not very long, either you have a lot of faith in us or you want me back quicker than ever." He leaned in a bit closer "So which is it Lin-chan?"

Now it was Shaolin's turn to roll her eyes, though she couldn't suppress her smirk "I don't have a clue as to what you're talking about Yojimbo. As I clearly see a fourth rate wash out in front of my desk trying to look pretty." She teased

"I guess I'll just have to try harder than, and not disappoint you." He countered, rising from his chair to leave the woman's office

"See to it that you don't."

As Ichigo turned his back to approach the door, he stopped giving a sparing glance back at the woman "Hey, Shaolin." He called calmly getting her undivided attention "I promise you, that when I come back, you'll be in for the surprise of a lifetime." Smirking slyly, at what he had planned for her

The woman looked at him intrigued by what he said "I understand. I will wait until our next meeting then for this 'surprise', Ichigo. Knowing you I'm sure it will be incredibly something." She then turned back to her desk to finish the paperwork that was left over

"Later, love." Ichigo whispered as he left the room, which was picked up on the ears of the captain, who looked back up as Ichigo had left.

Shaolin looked at the door in unhappiness at seeing him go, though she knew it had to happen, as the rules of Soul Society came before all else, even them. "Farewell lover." She whispered out, knowing he wouldn't hear her.

"Oooh, 'lover' now is it?" came the voice of Subaru as she emerged from the one of the many shadows in the room "Congratulations, sister dearest, you've actually admitted to yourself you care about another."

"Shut it." the captain said tersely, feeling a bit humiliated as Subaru wasn't going to let this new found admittance go anytime soon. What a family.

"Alright, alright, I can tell when someone's snappy." The girl said decisively, taking a reflexive step back, as if the captain was some rabid animal ready to bite her hand for invading her space "I'm just expressing my feelings of approval at seeing you two happy, though I must admit that I am curious about this so called 'surprise' of his."

Soifon glanced back at the spy in curiosity _'She doesn't know? That's a first.'_

"Tell me are you honestly saying that you have no clue as to what this surprise is supposed to be?"

Subaru ran her hand through her hair, contemplating how exactly to answer it since a definite yes and definite no, would be lying "All I know is that he told me he had a surprise for you, but he requested that my spies don't keep any tabs on him for a while so as not to spoil it, so yes. I don't know the details of it."

"Hmm"

"Don't worry. I'm sure it will be unique. Though I hope you have something to show for on the anniversary as well." The ninja replied coolly, while Soifon's mouth parted in a o as she recalled it was coming up "Which apparently you don't if that horrified look on you face means an 'I can't believe, I forgot.'" She added seeing the surprised look on the girl's face

Soifon after hearing the unneeded commentary scrunched her face up, muttering about bratty sisters and minding your own business "I still have two months." She grumbled out, trying to think of something she could give him for that event

"Actually it's a month and four days to be precise. So when Ichigo gets back it will practically be time." She once again corrected her misguided sister

"So what do you suggest then Genius?"

"You love him correct?" she asked rhetorically

"…" the other girl mumbled something under her breathe

"Correct?"

"Yes! Ok? What's your point?" she snapped in embarrassment, hoping nobody else was around to hear her

"Easy, I'm just trying to help." She said calming the flabbergasted woman "Have you" she swallowed the lump in her throat "thought about doing 'it'?"

Soifon moved her eyes away from her sister "I...well, it's crossed my mind. But, I mean I've never thought we would do sex." She sighed "We have gotten along rather well this past two years and I am curious about it, but my duty comes first before…us."

"I see. Well, just remember he cares about you deeply so don't let him go." The shinobi-like third seat said, slowly back stepping into the shadows she had emerged from and disappearing from the office, leaving the Taicho alone again.

"I don't plan to."

(Ichigo)

Over at the training field, Ichigo was quietly meditating his body while speaking to Zangetsu in his inner world, inquiring about the attack he would supposedly learn from the old man, though it was constantly met with the "You will feel it when the time is right and your heart is set on the duty of battle" or whatever that meant.

"'Ey! Strawberry, wakey-wakey!" the pompous voice of Omeada called out to the meditating man, eager to set the record straight for the strawberry.

Ichigo half-opened his eyes and when he saw the Fuka-Taicho approaching he closed them again seemingly ignoring him, though he was actually doing his best from trying to kill the man at the moment as attacking him without cause or reason would give Omeada and his family a possible chance to hinder his Shinigami career and destroy any chance of being Fuka-Taicho for Shaolin, which was something he wasn't going to allow, since he knew she deserved much better than this guy.

The burly fuka-taicho while he gritted his teeth when the boy didn't respond to him "Hey punk I'm talking to you!"

Ichigo opened his eyes again, a dark scowl appearing on his face as he got up from the ground "Yeah, as much as I don't want to I can hear your big mouth. So what does your fat ass want?"

Omeada's temper flared at his insult as his illustrious self "Shut it commoner! Now you listen, and you listen good, punk." He sneered nastily mistaking the lowering and closeness of Ichigo's eyebrows as a sign of weakness rather than a sign of aggravation "I don't know what you did to Soifon-Taicho to get her to talk to you or give you special attention like you've been getting after every training session for the past year and a half, but I'm telling you right now stay the hell away from her, she's mine you got that." His jealousy going to new heights at having remembered hearing about how Shinjiro, Subaru, and his goddess wasted their time sparring, meditating, even talking with this fool "That also goes for that one girl I saw 'Lyndis' was it?" he added since he had also sent several Shinigami into Rukongai in search of the woman with seemingly little luck

Ichigo rolled his eyes and turned away in such a dismissive way that it pissed off Omeada even more as Ichigo had intended. Since if he put his hands him he was wrong, but if Omeada put his hands on him the gloves were off.

"Listen buddy" saying the word with extreme sarcasm "I honestly don't know why you believe, Soifon-Taicho would even consider going out with a guy like you. Your pathetic, in all aspects of being a Shinigami and only got where you are because of your family's name. Not because of the skill you've miraculously conned yourself into believing you possess, so get over yourself. And even assuming she was desperate enough to consider you, which I know for a fact wouldn't happen, what makes you think she'd even stand the idea of another woman being involved with you as the same time as her? Did you think of that jackass?" The orange haired Shinigami informed disgustedly that this guy thought he could even hope to measure up to Soifon's standards, and then think about bringing another woman in just tore it for the boyfriend. Even though it was still the same person the principle of the matter remained unchanged in Ichigo's mind.

"Ha! That's a riot Strawberry!" the giant laughed evilly finding great amusement in the idiot's thought process since he obviously didn't know the rules of the game "You really know nothing of politics for you see you are merely a commoner. Whereas I!" he announced in a grandiose fashion "Am the number one heir to the Omeada clan and soon to be head, so I can easily purpose an arranged marriage between myself and the Fon clan, which they would accept without a doubt."

"What do you mean?" The bearer of Zangetsu, asked hastily, his mind focusing in on these words that the giant was sputtering out carelessly and sending Hichigo into a mass project of the best way to execute this man _'Shaolin…'_

"Simply, since the great Omeada Clan is one of the four major noble clans like the Kuchiki and former Shiba and Shihoin clan, I am higher up in social and political rank than she is." He proclaimed proudly, a wicked smirk on his face "Yes, Strawberry, I know for a fact Soifon-Taicho is the head of the minor clan: the Fon family, and all noble clans be they minor or major always want to move up in the world. That's why when my family proposes a political alliance or in commoner terms a marital agreement between us; she'll have absolutely no choice but to accept."

"That doesn't make any sense, if she's the head, the LEADER, why would she still be forced into it, if she could just decline." The strawberry said, growing more fearful at the abominable look of satisfaction on the man's face. A face he wanted to break more and more, with each passing second.

"Elders." The fat fuka-taicho said smugly, in a single breath, having thoroughly researched the subject before hand and already made a fool-proof plan "All Minor Clan heads are required to have an established council of elders, who not only advise the clan head in family affairs, BUT can also override a clan head's decisions should they feel it's in the best interests of the clan as a whole."

Ichigo's mind started to piece together the information and he came to the conclusion that the fat bastard was obviously implying. It didn't take a genius like Subaru or Toshiro to know how power hungry nobles could be especially if they were just given the opportunity to jump vastly in ranks by getting the current female head married to an interested male heir of one of the four major noble families of Soul Society.

"That's why I'm telling you this, so you don't get any funny ideas with my future-fiancé and wife. Who knows strawberry maybe, if I get to like you enough, I might just invite you to be my best man at the wedding ceremony or maybe be the one to give the bride away." He said going into a mock thinking pose "Nah! I'll just send you a video recording. Gyahahaha!"

'_So you plan to fuck up her life just to have your way with her. You're dead.'_ Ichigo scowled fiercely, at the man for his unbeknownst insults to himself and his girlfriend. Ichigo released a low threatening growl from his throat because he knew that he couldn't touch him unless…

An evil smirk came on his face when a good idea graced him courtesy of Hichigo "Ifyouwannasparsaywhat." He said quickly, clenching his fist tightly at his sides

"What?" the giant said dumbly, not catching what the man had said to him

"Good!" he announced hearing an imaginary fight bell ring in his head, ready to deliver a painful and flawless victory (1)

Ichigo launched his fist forward at startling speed eager to do as much damage as possible to the bastard. The blow slammed into the gut of the fuka-taicho, knocking the wind out of him and sending him several feet away, his body dragging and rolling across the floor the whole time and throwing up a cloud of dust.

Omeada hacked and coughed from the staggering blow, his hand clutching his stomach from the pain, as he desperately tried to pull himself off the ground. By the time Omeada could get back to his feet and turn at his opponent, Ichigo had already drawn Zangetsu from it's cloth and started swinging wildly about in near blind fury, the Zanpaktou expertly and easily slashing most of the clothes off the man while simultaneously giving him a number of shallow cuts mixed with occasional deep cuts all over his chest and arms, as he tried to defend himself from the savage onslaught by his rival.

"Damn bastard!" Omeada roared throwing a desperate back hand at his assailant, as blood started to seep out from a few of the slices on his arm.

The hate-filled Ichigo leaned back casually avoiding it as it passed harmlessly in front of him, and then retaliated by quickly spinning around and throwing a heel kick into the man stomach, trying to make the man kneel over in pain and humiliation. When the clan heir didn't fall to the ground from the attack as expected, Ichigo then pulled his leg after it connected and relaunched it again this time aiming at his self-proclaimed immaculate face, breaking Omeada's nose in the process.

The blow knocked Omeada backward, who twirled around in pain as he back stepped a couple of feet. With the distance between them, the damaged man touched his face with his hand and saw the blood, his blood on it. "You…" the bleeding man fumed at being touched, wounded by HIM of all people "I'll kill you!" he screamed as he grabbed the hilt of his Zanpaktou ready to pull it out and release, which Ichigo let him as he was more than ready to break him and his blade "Crush!"

"ENOUGH!" roared Shinjiro taiga arriving on the scene between the two fighters, his spiritual pressure on full burst, making it harder for the two men to move, from the intense strength mixed with what Ichigo though he heard rage, and for Omeada to breathe. "Either you two desist your petty squabble immediately or I will put you down." twisting his hand that contained his unsheathed katana for reference, in case they really didn't get his point the first time around.

He turned his eyes over at Ichigo "Fourth seat Ichigo Kurosaki, while this was a sanctioned battle and I can't reprimand you because of it, I will not allow this to continue any further, regardless of reason since your opponent was disarmed and unready for such intense combat."

Ichigo dropped his head, knowing his temper had gotten the better of him. Omeada smirked seeing the display. "As for you, Omeada." The smaller man said bitterly turning more of his concentrated pressure on him "Since you are my superior, I can't reprimand you, however taunting and ridiculing another officer is forbidden and I will inform your Taicho of you dishonorable behavior on the job, unless you apologize as you had started it first."

"But-"

"I don't care!" he snapped angrily, his pressure flaring again at Omeada causing him to flinch "I know the both of you have bad blood between you, and while I won't ask you to like each other you WILL respect each other, regardless of how unsavory the other maybe." Silently indicating to the pair he indeed heard Omeada's boastful statement "Now both of you apologize to the other."

Ichigo while still upset squared his eyes directly unto Omeada's bloody face "Sorry." He spat out, saying the word with all the venom in his being

"Tsk. My mistake." He uttered, in disdain for having to apologize to this loser

'_You bet your ass it was!' _Ichigo thought snidely

"Good, now return to your duties, and I don't want to see you two disturbing the peace any more especially you Ichigo." He said authoritatively, though Ichigo knew he was just trying to be fair about the matter, and prevent him from losing his chance at being Fuka-Taicho.

Though bloodied, Omeada put an arrogant grin on his face for being able to at least verbally rub his status in strawberry's face and get him in trouble, which while small was still a victory in his books. "See ya 'round." and disappeared with a flash step presumably to the fourth division for the night or two if he wanted to shirk his duties again

Once the man was gone Ichigo turned back to the slowly calming down Shinjiro who was sheathing his sword "Shinjiro, I need to find Subaru immediately." said the carrot top completely focused on his new goal, not wanting to waste another moment in preventing Omeada from making a move on Shaolin.

"I already heard enough on it to know what you're going to do. I'm just wondering if you think you'd be able to do anything within twenty-four hours." wondered Shinjiro, as he came down from his anger high to more peaceful territory

"I'll prove it."

Shinjiro shrugged unusually calm about the situation, which unnerved Ichigo as he felt he would be more assertive about the future well being of his sister "If you wanna find Subaru she'd probably be out in the forest right now, training."

Giving a quick thanks, Ichigo started to flash step to the forest, looking for the spy who was hard at work training under its lush covering. As Ichigo reached the forest he started to feel for her spiritual pressure, since searching the forest would take forever and waste time he didn't have. _'Got it. Hmm? Two signatures?' _he thought wondering who the other's was, since he assumed the smaller of the two was Subaru's since she could cloak herself, though the second felt familiar.

Deciding to just see who it was, Ichigo ran through the forest as quickly as he could trying to meet up with her but it seemed like she was intentionally making it difficult for him. As whenever he got moderately close to Subaru's signature it would suddenly move towards another section of the forest. After another ten minutes of chasing, he finally caught up with her and she wasn't alone.

"Hi Ichi-chan!" the pink haired Fuka-Taicho of the eleventh called out in her overly cheery fashion

'_So this must have been the other pressure I felt earlier'_ he pondered silently with straight face "Hey ahh, Yachiru was it?"

A bright smile broke on the girl's face "That's right! I'm glad you remembered!"

Ichigo couldn't help but give a crooked smirk at her energy, since it almost reminded him of his mother. He turned his head back to Subaru "So why did you keep running off like that? Every time I got close to you, you'd leave."

"Oh, sorry about that. You see-

"We were playing tag!" the tiny girl answered interrupting her S.W.A. bodyguard's explanation of what they were doing

"By tag…you don't mean…" The man let his voice trail off, having remembered the flash tag they played with him, the ones that involved deadly weaponry and him being the one to run away from them until the time limit was up

…or die trying.

"No, just the regular variety tag Ichigo." Said Subaru already knowing where his mind wandered to when the word tag was mentioned "We're not sadistic Ichigo."

"Huh? Is there another 'tag'?" The bubble-gum storm questioned, after seeing Ichigo sigh in relief it made her even more curious about the 'other' tag that they were talking about

"Yes, the…adult version. The one children don't like to play." said Subaru trying to make it sound like a boring game for her, out of concern for her safety and the safety of everyone she decided to play the game with.

"Then maybe you can teach Ken-chan! He's a grown-up!" the image of her grinning adoptive father popping in her head, since he was good at finding people…after crashing through a bunch of walls to locate them that is.

"Perhaps later." _'The later after never that is'_ the third seat thought smarmily, knowing how deadly he would be if he played it with others, especially people like Hanataro, who while getting better was still tender at heart

"I'll hold you to it Dark-chan." Yachiru declared, nodding her head to further emphasize they had an agreement between them that she couldn't go back on now, not even if she tried to bribe her with cotton candy.

"Dark-chan?" questioned Ichigo, a weird smile on his face at the strange nickname the S.W.A president gave to the intelligent third seat of two

"My codename in the organization, A.K.A squad two, is 'Shadow', hence when I explained this to Yachiru one day. She just started calling me 'Dark-chan' as Sha-chan or Dow-chan didn't seem to work, and I had already explicitly asked her not to call me Su-chan as that is reserved for one person…off duty at least." The dark purple haired girl explained to her friend the origins of the nickname from her codename

"Kissy-Kissy." Yachiru poked fun at her bodyguard, smacking her lips in a air smooch a few times like she had seen baldy do whenever her dad and friends went and saw people kissing, which got a snicker from Ichigo

"It never ends…" the third seat whispered out as her hand slowly greeted her forehead, unable to believe that she was getting humiliated by Yachiru of all people. _'Perhaps Karma does exist despite Norn's visions. Maybe I should treat Shaolin a bit better so my luck can turn around.'_

"Please stop…" she asked politely since she didn't want to hurt her feeling by yelling at her or speaking loudly

"Ok, ok Dark-chan." The giggling girl promised as she rubbed her eyes getting rid of a tear of mirth. When she removed her finger a sudden bright idea hit the young girl that was so great she started to jump up and down repeatedly "Ya wanna play with us, Ichi-chan!" asked the girl, eager to have another partner in the game as only two people got boring after a while.

"Nah, I really-"

"NononononoNO! Come on please, pretty please!" the girl cried out letting loose a waterfall of tears, as if she was the most pitiable creature in existence and was being unjustly denied by the taller man.

Ichigo cringed at the sight, feeling like a total jerk about denying her request. He looked over to hoping for some help from Subaru and instead saw the androgynous woman with a frown on her face. Her eyes silently expressing a 'look at what you did now jerk' message to him further adding to his guilt.

'_I suppose Shaolin can take of herself for a few minutes'_ he reassured himself to ease his conscious "Alright, we'll play! But, first I need to talk with Subaru real quick alright?"

"Yay! Alright Ichi-chan, go ahead but run quickly because Dark-chan is it!" the girl warned since it was only fair he knew who was it before they started the next round

"Fine! Fine!" He waved off her words and watched in interested amazement her taking off into the forest at startling speed. Still facing the direction the girl fled, Ichigo moved his eye to the corner to the far right corner and address Subaru "Listen Subaru, can you grant me access to both the Fon family and Omeada family residences?"

Subaru looked at him her face a mixture of worry about what would make him ask that and wonder for why he would ask that of all things. "That's a rather big request, Ichigo." She spoke in complete honesty, since she was an outsider by all intents in purposes but could blackmail his way in "Assuming, I say yes, I would need to know the reasons why for security purposes."

"The problem involves your sister. Omeada said some things today that really bothered me, so I just want to make sure she stays safe. I know she can take care of herself but I don't want to leave anything to chance."

"Bother you how exactly?" she inquired into the development, already knowing the bad blood between Ichigo and Omeada from their numerous encounters and various reports she had of their clashing personalities but shared interest in Shaolin

Ichigo sighed as placed a hand behind his neck "He was thinking of making a semi-forced arranged marriage with himself and Shaolin."

"'Semi-forced'? I don't understand either it is or it isn't." said Subaru with her eye brow raised questioningly, since either someone would do something of their own volition or wouldn't do it at all unless otherwise convinced. So to be semi-forced seemed impossible to her.

"He's gonna propose it to the clan and is counting on the elders to overrule her decision when she does decline, saying her action would be for the betterment of the clan or some BS like that."

"Ah, I see. You wish to prevent such an occurrence. That's very noble of you." The surrogate sister said in full understanding of the whole picture now "I wouldn't really get too worked up in it, but seeing as how you look so determined, I'll grant you permission to enter the Fon family estate as it is within my power; however you're on your own when it comes to the entering of the Omeada estate."

"Thanks" he said semi-appreciative, wondering why the two were so lax about this when typically anything concerning their sister's happiness was on top of their priority list

'_**Maybe it's because they've recognize you're the man in the relationship, and know that you're gonna have to step up for your woman if you want to keep her!'**_ His inner hollow bragged about his suggestion, since it was only natural instinct the Alpha male gets the Alpha female by working for it

'_I guess'_

"Anyway you'd best move." recommended the woman, as a golden arrow suddenly materialized in the air next to her and was sent flying towards him

Ichigo back flipped to dodge the projectile and when he hit the ground again immediately rolled to the side when two more arrows were sent at his crouched position by from what he guessed Subaru. "Hey why are you attacking me!" he exclaimed quickly leaning back to dodge another arrow

"Simple. I wish to keep you on your toes and constantly aware of your surroundings." She replied, willing even more arrows to materialize at her side, forming a sparse protective circle behind her, while the arrows turned slightly to point at the man. "And I'm It." saying the last part as if it suddenly justified everything she was doing and/or about to do.

"Give me a break!" he yelled to dissuade her, but when it didn't work he jumped into the nearby branches when three more arrows embedded itself in the tree behind where he once stood, and raced off through the tree line

"If you can't show me your speed, you'll never successfully infiltrate the Omeada residence." She informed the launched arrows once again being restored to the maximum of 8 "Now let the hunt begin."

Ichigo made a bee line through the forest tree tops, all the while dodging any incoming arrows, which were few in number but were also very quick and precise in their accuracy. He kept jumping from tree to tree, cursing his luck as he couldn't sense her spiritual pressure at all. _'Where is she?'_ he questioned to himself, as he glanced over his shoulder, knowing it was a bit moot since she was quicker than him and could very well be in front of him waiting for his arrival into another volley.

Ichigo's instinct kicked in as he jumped into the air as two arrows came from below, the branch he was just on. His eyes widened when they curved around the branch avoiding the collision, while not veering off course enough to be rendered useless _'Shit!'_

Ichigo flash stepped past them and landed on another tree only to find three more arrows hurling towards him from the front, while the two from behind adjusted themselves again, locking on to their target. _'Alright this getting old'_

Ichigo moved both his arms away from his body ready to launch a spell from both hands to take out the approaching bombardment "Hadou 33: Soukatsui!" he yelled, sending the fireballs out from his hands. The fireballs collided and overwhelmed the narrow streaks of light causing them to dissipate into nothing. Ichigo sighed in relief from the temporary reprieve the kido bought him _'What's Subaru thinking releasing her Zanpaktou like that? She's going to get in serious trouble.'_

Ichigo was taken from his thoughts again as he heard the whistling of more arrows inbound on his position, he turned his head back around to see the leisurely approaching form of Subaru, feeling no real need to show off her speed, launching another barrage of arrows at her sister's Yojimbo. Ichigo flash stepped again, to get away from his pursuer.

'_Hmph. Run all you want Ichigo, I'm only toying with you.'_ thought the huntress ready to continue her game of deadly flash tag. She flash stepped into the next area following Ichigo's spiritual trail, when she arrived she didn't see Ichigo at all. She cautiously took a step further onto the branch beside her, scanning the area with her eyes to try and spot the man not relying on her ability to pick up spiritual pressure as the whole area was covered in his power making it a pointless endeavor.

"You didn't think you could ambush me did you?" she said turning around to stare back into the face of Ichigo, who had Zangetsu drawn and with a few more steps be ready to press it against her neck to end the game between them.

"Honestly, yeah I kind of did." He admitted his intentions to the woman, who smiled gently at his naivety at believing she'd fall for such an amateurish trick

"So foolish." She said before disappearing in a burst of speed behind him and delivered a quick kick which was followed up by a launching of arrows.

Ichigo while knocked into the air, as he couldn't dodge her kick swung Zangetsu to break the arrows that collided against its blade. As Ichigo landed on another branch he loosened his grip on the blade itself and let it fall down, while roughly grabbing the cloth before it was completely out of his reach.

Subaru stopped her assault and looked on in confusion _'What's he doing?'_

Ichigo started to swing the sword in a windmill motion, with each revolution getting faster and faster than the last, until it looked like a giant round buzz saw. Ichigo with a confident smirk tilted his shoulder back and launched Zangetsu at his target.

Subaru was stunned at the display; she had never seen or heard of a fighting style that relied on using you blade like harpoon or flail. She quickly jumped away from the tree she was at, watching it collide full force into and ripping completely off the ground. She slowly got up and surveyed the damage. _'Incredible. If that had hit me, I might not have been able to get up from it, at least not as I am.'_ She turned back to Ichigo for her answers to his tremendous display of precision and power "Have you been doing some kind of secret training when my spies haven't been watching you?"

"Well just a little bit." He said, giving a small tug to call back Zangetsu and once again starting up its spin cycle, also not admitting the training he did with Hichigo for something big "But I spent most of it on your sister" he admitted

"I see. Well no point in continuing this bout." She said, letting her guard drop down again as she jumped over to Ichigo's branch, while he stopped spinning Zangetsu and looked at her in confusion. Since he was almost sure that this was a deadly flash tag game. "I don't wish to die because you decided to impale me on your released Zanpaktou. I'm a spy not a warrior. I can't take that kind of punishment readily like you can Ichigo."

Ichigo rolled his eyes at her excuse "Tsk. Whatever 'Mrs. I'll release my Zanpaktou and turn my sister's boyfriend into a bull's-eye target'."

"Release?" she said turning a questioning look, that showed how genuinely confused she was "What are you talking about? Fourth seat and up are forbidden from releasing their Zanpaktou unless dire emergencies have been called to order you should know this better than anyone 'Mr. Exception'."

"Don't play dumb!" He shouted in annoyance "I'm talking about those golden arrows you tried to put in my ass this whole time." His arm shaking violently as he pointed to about dozen or so stuck into the nearby foliage

The woman turned to where he was pointing towards, her eyes taking in the sight before comfortably returning back to the exasperated man "Oh that? It's just kido." She said casually, barely giving the arrows another thought in the conversation

"Kido?" he asked incredulously, his skeptism evident from her unconcerned remark "How the hell did you do that without at least saying the name?" wanting to know the secret behind that since saying the kido name was from what he knew at least necessary to perform the art

"Simple, over the course of my studies and supplemented time given to me during my thieving days, I had read over much of kido spells at the library, and restricted areas. I had sought to put them or rather one spell in particular into practical use to serve as distraction during my thieving days at least before Shaolin took me in. That particular spell I learned was a level 65 Hadou, named Isukumeru hantei (Impaling Judgement), Shaolin, Shinjiro and Yachiru simply call it my 'Arrow Trick'." She elaborated

"Hold up. If that was a level 65 Hadou why wasn't it huge or something. My unchanted Soukatsui was bigger and stronger than that." Ichigo commented, since everyone knew higher number meant more destructive capability which in turn meant to bigger size, in fact if he remembered correctly the next Hadou after that Raikoho was supposed to call down heavenly lightning

"Ichigo you know that when you skip the incantation of a Hadou the spell itself falls to about twenty percent power correct?" When Ichigo nodded his head in confirmation to that information she continued "I have come to master that spell to such a degree that I can mentally say the command and it will appear, unfortunately a side effect of it is that, it cuts the power down another one-fifth. So as long as I mentally command the spell, it only has four percent of its true power. Hence it serves more as a training tactic for those slow on their feet, distraction tactic which is what I had intended for it, or intimidation tactic to be surround by seemingly infinite barrage, though it would be effective against far weaker opponents than myself."

Ichigo let the information soak into his head, and filed some of it away as it could prove useful one day to be able to launch a spell at the drop of a hat without any warning for the enemy, and Subaru would only really explain such an in depth mechanic if it was worth it.

When Ichigo glanced at the woman again he suddenly noticed something odd "Hey, Subaru I have to ask, how come you don't ever carry your Zanpaktou?" his curiosity getting the better of him since the woman had never shown her Zanpaktou to him before, unlike Shinjiro who at least released one part of his dual release Zanpaktou in combat, and kind of wanted to know why the spy barely ever had it with her "I mean Shaolin is always complaining that you never bring it with you, so what's the deal?"

Subaru laughed merrily at the question and mentally applauded him for picking up on that little trend "Sorry, Ichigo. Her 'complaining' as you so put it is really just our thing, so you don't have to take it quite so seriously. She knows that when my blade is required of or for her, it will be one of if not the very first drawn, even if it is seemingly against her from time to time." She alluded mysteriously, which made Ichigo roll his eyes as she always, always, had to sound mysterious. Though Shinjiro constantly said she was like that, even going so far as to talk in third person which he only broke just prior to their meeting of Shaolin, and always took her words seriously.

'_Then again him being a samurai and all as well as her husband, he probably has to take nearly everything seriously.'_ Ichigo thought off-handedly since the man at times came off as strange for his complete and utter seriousness and devotion to certain things, Subaru being one of them.

"Oh by the way." She said taking a small step closer to him and tapped him lightly on the shoulder with the back of her hand "Tag. You're it Ichigo."

Ichigo's jaw immediately dropped, at what she did, to which she smirked confidently having easily pulled the wool over his eyes "I told you I'm an actress and that my arrows were merely for distraction, so as to complete my objective which was to capture you. From now on please pay attention to the details people give you of things as it could save your life, or in this case win a game." the unusually hyper-competitive third seat stated

Ichigo let out an annoyed groan at her antics before the pair went off in search of Yachiru, and when they found her, they played a few more rounds before it became too dark for the bubblegum haired fuka-taicho to see. Ichigo was going to walk her home out of courtesy, but Subaru's heated denial of his going anywhere near the place she was going stopped him from pursuing the matter, though he saw Subaru's heart wretch when she refused Yachiru to allow Ichigo to take her back and see the captain and company, despite her begging which made Ichigo come to believe the third seat had a soft spot for the energy ball.

Ichigo returned back to the barracks alone, and after visiting his girlfriend to wish her a good night while not mentioning his visit to both her and Omeada's homes, so as not to worry her with unneeded stress, went to bed early eager to bring Omeada's world crumbling down. One dream at a time.

(Next Morning)

As soon as the sun broke across the horizon, Ichigo was already out of the Seireitei heading straight for the Omeada residence having remembered the way from his occasional visit by the S.W.A meetings he might have to fill in for when they were held there. Taking a page from the way Subaru was always dressed, he had dawned his stealth and punishment force uniform that he rarely used since they didn't provide much battle protection that his Hakama did marginally better. It was an all black gear, that covered him from head to toe his face mask pulled down to allow breathing until he entered and a black bandanna to cover his head and hair, having been reminded to cover it at seeing a picture of Shaolin when she was younger, and he quietly admitted a bit cuter, cover her hair with the bandanna as she sat next to the woman who he had learned was _'her'_.

The marital saboteur, reached the Omeada residence as quickly as he could, and stealthily entered the building through one of the windows, careful in not making any sounds. As Ichigo closed the window he entered from silently, he pulled up his mask and slowly walked through the hallways, his footsteps not making any noise as they quietly pressed against the floor with each step he took, since running would cause his steps to echo and be audible to those nearby and might make them investigate why someone was running inside the house.

Hearing the rustling of the door he just passed, Ichigo kneeled down quickly to gather some strength and reiatsu and jumped up towards the rafter and held on for dear life. When he had secured himself, he turned his head and saw the head butler Vincent, muttering about food for the lord, so he assumed he was going to the kitchen to bring food to the masters he was indentured to.

'_What a job. My heart goes out to you Vincent-san.'_ The strawberry ninja silently giving his condolences to the hard working butler as he dropped back down from his elevated hiding spot. He turned around since the way he was going was obviously not the right way and more than likely the servants were on this floor, meaning the masters were no doubt above them literally. He quickly walked down the hallway and went up the flight of stairs two at a time to lessen his exposure time on the staircase. Reaching the top he pressed his body against the walls hugging it to minimize his presence, while he kept a firm grip on his spiritual pressure, so as not to be a danger to the habitants.

He shimmied closer to the edge of the corridor and peered down the hallway momentarily before getting off the wall and quickly running down it. His eyes taking note of his surroundings and any foreign movements.

"Hey Maru, how ya been man? Sleep well?" a voice from the corridor up ahead called out to another, causing Ichigo to freeze in his place. Steadying his breaths he started to inch his way back, keeping his eyes fixed on the next corridor at the floor in case he saw their approaching shadows, to find another way around when he heard some voices approaching from behind, coming towards him trapping him in between the two groups of passing servants.

He silently panicked as the ceiling was much closer to the ground so he'd be much more easily spotted in the early morning light. He turned his head and with a mental gamble opened the nearest door next to him, and as quietly as possible closed the door, praying against hope that the people wouldn't take too long and just pass by.

"Hey who are you?" an unknown voice asked a hint of arrogance in it. Ichigo started to sweat bullets at being caught so quickly in his mission. He turned around ready to knock out his target, when he saw a red headed girl in her bed barely sitting up. Her eyes were squinting while she peered in his direction, as she was trying to make out his image to no avail. "Hey, I'm talking to you." She asked again, a little louder this time

"Oh, ahh just a servant your ladyship." He lied, hoping she was too out of it, and mistake him for a servant instead of a home invader, since it was extremely early for regular souls to be awake.

"Oh okay." She replied tiredly, giving a yawn while turning back around in her bed so her back faced the 'servant' "can you put my glasses over on night stand there then when you leave?" lazily poking her arm past her side and over in the general vicinity of the night stand

Ichigo looked over at the bed side table. "Sure." He replied as he started to look for her glasses, finding them by the book shelf across the room. Seeing that his close call was over, he tip-toed back to the door and pressed his ear against the door, and hearing no noise from the other side exited the room.

When he reentered the hallway, thankful that its previous occupants were long gone, he proceeded further into the building stopping once or twice for the patrols of servants on their way to do their assigned morning tasks. He came to the third floor, the top floor since the building was much wider than taller. He proceeded quietly, using his spiritual detection honed in the second division to find, the room that had the most remnant particles of Omeada, since that was more than likely where he stayed when he was at home.

Coming to the door, the home invader opened it slowly, lest he might wake the occupant that might be inside. Once the door was about half-way open Ichigo saw that the bed was empty, so he quickly entered the room, throwing caution to the winds with a smirk at his outstanding luck so far.

"Alright, I made it." he whispered to himself. Ichigo walked over to the book shelves, looking for any clues or handmade blue prints for Omeada's plan, maybe even a small journal that might have a small bragging in it. His eyes slowly going over each book in the line, before quitting seeing as most were for 'get rich quick schemes' or some variation of 'how to woo a woman'. He turned back around to face the rest of the room and walked quickly to the nightstand he spotted and roughly opened it, and smiled when he saw a make shift plan to con the Fon family into a political marriage.

Ichigo crouched down against the floor reading the 'document', his eyes looking over every detail and account of his 'master plan', which documented many incidents and encounters between himself and Shaolin, all of which ended badly for the idiot.

'_That fat bastard!'_ Ichigo snarled slamming his fist into the floor. His rage started to smolder within him, when he learned that Omeada intentionally allowed Soifon to beat on him, just so he could have it documented and report it as an abuse of her power and authority. So as to bring not only shame on the family but also force compensation from the leader: her.

Ichigo got back up pocketing the documents in a small envelope. It seemed the only silver lining in all of this was that this plan was apparently plan B, which the fourth seat assumed that Omeada asking Shaolin or the Fon family straight up for the marriage between the two of them as plan A. Ichigo brushed past the giant desk that was near the foot board of the bed, as he readied to exit the estate and return to his room, to change and prepare for his meeting with the Fon family of assassins.

"Excuse me, master Omeada are you in there?" Vincent called out from the other side of the door, that Ichigo was about to head towards.

"Shit." Ichigo whispered as he quickly looked around for a place to hide, and saw it.

The butler waited a second and heard some kind of soft scuffling noise perking his interest "I'm coming in sir!" the butler announced slowly turning the door knob, in case the master was indeed inside but not decent.

When Vincent walked in he saw that the room was empty, much to his surprise since he would have sworn he heard a banging sound emit from the room earlier and a brushing sound a moment before. "Hmm?" the butler mused seeing the drawer to the night stand was open. He walked over his footsteps making Ichigo's heart rate jump with each step as he hid underneath the leg opening of the desk diagonally in front of the bed and across from the night stand, his back against the thin wood the only thing protecting him from the butler's line of sight.

Vincent closed the opening with an audible creak before turning to do the master's bed. Honestly he hated his life from time to time, but it was his lot in life. When Vincent was satisfied with his work he turned to leave and stopped when out of the corner of his eye he saw _that book_ lying shamelessly on his master's desk. He walked over and picked it up with much distaste "Deplorable." He wrinkled his nose "Why he writes and draws _this_ kind of literature I will never know. I'd best put it out of sight."

'_Especially since S.W.A comes through here on occasion particularly certain members.'_

Ichigo's breath softened significantly so as not to alert the butler, who placed the book on the chair barely two feet away. The book slipped off it and crashed down to the ground. "Whoops, seems I placed it too close to the edge."

'_Too close to the edge is right Vincent-san!'_

Ichigo held his breath and closed his eyes, when he saw Vincent's hand lean down to pick up the fallen tome and replace it back on the chair, which then got pushed dangerously close to Ichigo forcing him to curl his body up to avoid making contact with it and giving away his position.

Ichigo continued to hold his breath until he heard the footsteps of Vincent retreat out of the room. With a sigh of relief, he slowly pushed the chair back to give him some much needed elbow room so he could crawl out of his hiding space. As soon as he got out from under the wooden cover, his curiosity got the better of him, and he picked up the book that Vincent was willing to call "deplorable".

Ichigo covered his nose to prevent a nosebleed from coming out at seeing a half-naked woman on the front. _'No wonder Vincent reacted so badly to it!'_ he thought his eyes then shifting down to the author's name and they nearly fell out of his head when he saw the name 'Marechiyo Omeada' written in cursive at the bottom right.

"_**That guy is something else."**_ The white demon of his mindscape said in disbelief, that he thought he could score a girl like the one on the front. His eyes then narrowed when he saw a book mark in the thing, that his host missed from shock _**"Hey Ichigo why don't you see what that fat ass felt was important enough to leave a book mark in!"**_

'_I'm afraid to know.'_ He replied as he shifted to the book mark, and when he reached the page he felt his spiritual pressure spike to a level he never knew he was capable of. What he saw in the picture was HIS Soifon, HIS Shaolin down on HER hands and knees, in submission giving apparently him judging from the speech bubbles a blowjob, calling him Goshujin-sama like she was some cheap hooker or sex slave (2).

Ichigo's spiritual pressure rose so high, from imagining that fate befalling her if this marriage were to happen, that he woke up everyone in the house, and pinned them to the floor or bed, while he disintegrated some of the smaller objects in the room he was in. He quickly went out through the door almost removing it from it's hinges, book and plans in hand and saw that Vincent had passed out from being so close to the epicenter of the incredibly strong spiritual force. He continued through the building, power on full blast passing by unconscious servants until he eventually left the residency and reigned in his anger and his power, before taking off to the barracks again and then head to his real destination, not seeing or sensing the person who watched the spectacle with a smirk on his face at having found his target.

Ichigo returned to the barrack, for a very cold shower to counter balance his heated anger, and quick change of clothing back into his normal Shinigami attire and headed back out this time towards the 15th eastern Rukongai district, with documents and doujinshi in hand, while he thought about how he would really explain things to the Fon family.

As Ichigo approached the hillside entrance way to the Fon family home direction courteous of Subaru, he was stopped by about a dozen or so guards from the punishment force appearing from seemingly thin air, in a typical surrounding formation

"State your business or leave immediately Shinigami. We will not ask twice" one of the guards demanded, his arms folded behind his back like his associates

"I'm here on business to see the elders of house Fon. You can verify it by third seat of the second division Subaru Kujo, as she was the one to grant me a meeting with them."

"Did she now?" the apparent leader questioned in belittlement "Unfortunately for you she doesn't have all that much say as to who gets to enter and exit the compound. Nor do people just request to see the elders and get it granted."

Ichigo looked at the man, before lowering his head in thought before shrugging since he really didn't have anything to lose if it wasn't him "Hey, is your name Yahiko?" Ichigo asked the scout squad captain, ready to kick their ass if it wasn't and he still denied him entrance.

"Yes, what of it?" Yahiko confirmed in a cocky tone

"Subaru said that if I did meet you, I should say: 8, 27, 5, 3, P, R12. (3)" He recited what the pale beauty had told him to say should he encounter the man

The leader opened and closed his mouth at a loss for words. "Grrr…Fine, you may enter but we have our eyes on you." He gritted out apparent embarrassment and frustration at being reminded by something that strange password meant, though his other teams mates looked at each other in confusion but complied with the command of Yahiko. The shinobi-like Shinigami's disappeared from sight, no longer obstructing Ichigo's path, though he could still sense them nearby.

"It seems they want to keep their promise to watch me and try to bring me down if I come off as a threat." said the carrot top, as he trudged onward to the home of Shaolin Fon

'_**Heh. Fat chance of that! Cause unfortunately for those fucks I'm not ready to die quite yet.'**_

Ichigo continued up the hill passing under various shrine like archways, in the distance he heard the fleeting footsteps of others, no doubt alerted to his presence. As he got to the top of the hill he saw a giant walled enclosure, with a massive gate, with two spear wielding guardsman standing straight expecting his arrival.

"We have already heard from the advance scout party, you may enter." One of them commented as Ichigo approached, both of the spearmen tapping the butt of their spears twice the signal to allow the gates to open. "Go straight down all the way to the back of the complex, the council's chamber is there. Make no detours and no delays or we will kill you for trespassing."

'_**Yeah, just like you killed that chick Subaru who also robbed your asses.'**_ The monster commented snidely, remembering that she apparently managed to go in and out of this place like an everyday thing

Ichigo rolled his eyes at the unheard commentary "Whatever, I won't be long hopefully."

Ichigo walked past them, and looked back when he heard the large gate creaking as it closed behind him. He turned his head back around and saw a lot of eastern temple like structures, as well as guards posted on the balconies above him with bows drawn. The archers watching, waiting, for him to make a move so as to get rid of him all the quicker. He removed his gaze from the possible death from above and glanced over to see another temple though this one stood out the most. It seemed eerily morbid, like it's annals was just riddled with sadness and tragedy. The wood had easily a few layer of dust on it from being unkempt or abandoned.

Ichigo took a step forward, wanting to get away from the dreary place, and started down the main entrance way. As he walked down the path he started to pass by the Fon Family sparring grounds and training field, which conveniently bisected the grounds into a left and right half and was filled with easily forty or fifty martial artist clan's men practicing their moves against each other or against some training dummies.

'_Probably to intimidate others, by subconsciously letting them know there's only one way in and one way out, two I suppose if you count in a body bag.'_ Ichigo noted as he saw one of the fighters round house kick one of the dummies in the head, severely bashing the head in and possibly giving a concussion if it was a real target. Ichigo turned away from the intentional demonstration unimpressed, knowing that if the man couldn't use his strength and focus his reiatsu enough to completely destroy the head of the dummy how could he take out a moving target like an intruder, much less a hollow or traitorous Shinigami. _'I guess Lin-chan and the second division train better than these guys.' _A smug smirk worked it's way onto his face from remembering all the training he did from the first year alone and their occasional after training sparring as he began to leave the fields _'At least she worked me harder.'_

Finally reaching the end he was let into the hall of the elders by two more guards, apparently since they let him keep Zangetsu at his side they must have been extremely confident that he either didn't have the balls to attack the elders in their chamber or wouldn't be able to leave the compound alive if he was ballsy.

The Council chamber was set like a traditional Japanese throne room hall. Each of the elders were sitting upon their knees on top of a small pillow, in a line that was curved like a crescent moon with two empty pillows, one in the middle of the room presumable for their audience and one at the far end of the hall directly in front of it.

"Approach the center and state your name." one of the various council men instructed to their guest who had just arrived before them

The ever frowning Ichigo calmly walked over to the center of the room towards the pillow, casting quick glances left and right to see if any weapons were hidden on them and confirmed they were indeed unarmed. "Kurosaki Ichigo." He stated as he dropped down to sit upon his knees, carefully removing Zangetsu from his back and placing it at his side just in case they might try something, after all he was in a entire compound full of assassins and Soifon always told him to question strange things and view everything as a possibility, no matter how impossible it might seem.

"What is your business with us, Kurosaki-san?" The council man to the direct right of the empty pillow asked, his voice soft perhaps do to his age, as he seemed to be in his upper forties in appearance which meant a lot in Soul Society, since people aged very, very slowly

"My business with you all involves your clan." replied Ichigo, speaking much more politely at old man Zangetsu's request since they might be more understanding.

"Don't waste our time. You would not have shown up if it did not concern us. Speak your message and leave" the councilman on the far left hand side said hotly

Ichigo wasn't going to dignify it with a response since he wouldn't trust his mouth. Thankfully the previous speaker addressed the sudden outburst "O-mone. That's enough. There is no need to be rude to our guest so let him speak." He turned back to Ichigo "Forgive his outburst Kurosaki-san. But we are very busy men, if you would please."

Ichigo quirked an eye brow _'At least he's sensible'_

"Sure. It has recently come to my attention that the current head of the Fon family, Soifon-Taicho, might be 'targeted' by another individual." He said trying to pick his words carefully since he didn't want to create any false premises for them "By 'targeted' I mean that she is being pinned after by a man named Marechiyo Omeada." He elaborated, to show she wasn't in any mortal danger for the moment at least

"You speak of the Omeada clan's first son of the current head, and current number one heir to clan leadership, do you not?"

Ichigo nodded "While that may seem all well and good on the surface, it has just recently come to my attention that he intends to blackmail your clan, into forcing a political marriage between both him and your clan leader Soifon-Taicho."

The councilman Ichigo was speaking to, tilted his head to the side and stroked his chin while his eyes narrowed in thought "Blackmail us how exactly?"

"As usually punishment in the second division under Soifon-Taicho's command you pay with your body. Every error, every flaw, and every mistake you make you receive corporal punishment for it, so as to prevent it from occurring in the future as when you're out on missions against hollows a single error or clumsy mistake can result in the loss of good, competent, men and women, or worse the loss of a pivotal battle post."

The council men unanimously nodded their heads in agreement as it was only common sense to them, since they actively instilled that thought process within their clansmen as it had been done to them by their fathers and mothers "Unfortunately since Omeada is a clan heir and possible clan head who got his position in the second division because of his family, he holds some level of sway over Soul Society politics. He has also recorded every violent outburst that Soifon-Taicho has committed against him for his own incompetency, and was going to use his families influence to force your clan to lose it's nobility status and power in Soul Society."

The council men started to talk amongst each other discussing the ideas of being kicked out of power, the justification of their leader's actions, and the possibility that it was a conspiracy set up by the Shinigami before them. The Councilman who had been speaking with Ichigo raised his hand to silence those around him, his cold grey eyes staring right through Ichigo. "I have heard your words, as has our leader." Ichigo perked up slightly, not knowing that Shaolin was actually here "She will speak on your words before we make any decisions."

The sound of the soft tapping of shoes came from behind Ichigo, who forced himself to not wheel around and greet the woman or apologize for not telling her. The tapping came closer and closer until Ichigo saw the form of Soifon, brush past him without so much as a second glance, her Haori and twin bands billowing behind her, she kept walking forward past her nervously sitting boyfriend before turning around swiftly and sat down on the pillow directly ahead. Her eyes hardened in her typical business-like demeanor.

"Thank-you councilman Fon." She said coolly to the councilman beside her, she then turned her head back to Ichigo ready to conduct her business as the current leader of the Fon family. "Now then Kurosaki-san, I have heard more than enough to understand what is going on here. My question to you is this: How do you know this information and do you have any proof to back up such a claim? As slandering the name of another will not be tolerated in the slightest."

Ichigo quickly got up from his pillow, and pulled out the envelope he had kept the make-shift plans safe in, so as to walk over and hand the documentation to her and prove his claim true, when he was suddenly completely surrounded by multiple members of the Special Forces, who had their weapons pointed at various sections of his body.

"No sudden movements, Kurosaki-san or we will be forced to eliminate you." The Taicho said getting up from her seat, and began walking back towards him to retrieve the envelope clutched in his hand. Once she was close enough, she maneuvered her hand throw the mine field of weapons and took the envelope away and gave a quick signal for the enforcers to retake their posts, leaving Ichigo still standing but this time alone in the center while she returned back to her spot for some light reading.

Ichigo very slowly sat back down lest the assassins he didn't sense come out again, while Shaolin read over the documents and then with a frown on her face handed it over to council man beside her. "I see. So this does confirm some of your theory." She said methodically slightly disturbed by such unexpected occurrence, while her fellow elders were busy reading it over and handing it to the next one in the line some with intrigued looks others with anger or sadness at how this turn of events came unearthed

"Yeah, that's why I felt the need to inform you all, as it concerns you and your leadership, Soifon-Taicho." He said his subtle hint not lost on her, which might have gotten a weak smile if not for the need of professionalism

"Hmph. Well the way I see it this is our chance to move up in the world." One of the other councilmen spoke up, giving his view point on this discovery

"Yes, I agree. If Soifon were to marry this man, the Fon families honor and prestige would be raised to even greater heights." Another councilman agreed, as he felt having a female leader was a sign of weakness even if the woman was a captain in the Gotei 13 "Perhaps now we might have another heir."

"Don't be foolish. If our leader married off then it would be the end of the Fon clan as there would be no more legitiment heirs or heiress, unless she bore two children, one for each clan." Someone objected

"That can be easily arranged since this fellow already wishes to marry our leader and seems eager in 'that' endeavor. Surely she is capable in…womanly affairs" The previous speaker countered

The councilman two pillows away to the immediate left of Soifon spoke up "We shouldn't rush into anything. I believe our leader does have a say, since it pertains to her." He contested, trying to protect the leader's rights

The room soon erupted into an endless stream of what should be done, shouldn't be done, what was for the best interest of the clan, and what not. Ichigo would have made a move to hurt some of the guys but didn't dare as he knew Soifon would directly oppose him for both his disrespect but also to ensure his survival, so he sat still trying very hard in keeping his emotions in check but had a very displeased scowl on his face at the way these people were discussing things.

"Enough." The stoic Soifon commanded to the group effectively silencing them "It seems that nearly everyone here has their own goals and objectives, with the exception of Councilman Fon right next to me and Kurosaki-san before me. Now I will address the issue myself." She got up from her seat and stood over all of them getting their undivided attention, her eyes scanning over all of them before opening her mouth to speak again "I have personally seen one Fuka-Taicho Marechiyo Omeada's professional work habits-" she inwardly smirked after hearing Ichigo stifle a cough "-and leisure habits. The man has absolutely no sense of pride or honor and puts no effort into his assigned tasks and duties, hence the reason for my 'direct approach' to fixing the problem."

She closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest "As for me having a political marriage with him, I am against it personally. Yes, I'm well aware that some of you don't like me being leader, courtesy of my surrogate sister informing me, and while you all may think it would be beneficial for the clan, I tell you now it would not be. The man has no talent or the abilities required to be a leader, and would only serve to bring dishonor to the clan name."

She paused to let the information sink into the council. After waiting a sufficient amount of moments she continued to place more nails into the coffin before setting up to burying the issue forever "Furthermore should you all go against my wishes and have the marriage happen anyway, there is no guarantee, I would live long enough to produce an heir or have any wish to produce an heir with the man, which doesn't even put into consideration that the man's pathetic ability would only hinder the child overall, so he or she would unfortunately not survive the training required of a Fon, and would be subsequently disowned. Once again leaving an Heir crisis, and leading to a break in the family over a petty succession crisis. However this is all assuming I am even capable of bearing children as some women are born infertile, and before this issue my..." she turned her head away from Ichigo's direction so he wouldn't fully see her face when she said the next part, partially out of embarrassment "abilities were never once called into question, so I would have no way of knowing."

Ichigo's eyes widened at what she said about the disowning. _'They still do the disowning. Even if it's just a kid? Man, this families more fucked than I thought. No wonder Shaolin doesn't like to talk about them very much.'_ He thought incredulously at the audacity these people had in throwing someone away when they weren't supposedly 'good enough'.

"That is why; I am against and have acted the way I have towards Omeada. So my vote towards the issue is against the future proposed marriage between myself and the blundering idiot. I'd sooner marry that Shinigami in the center of the room before Omeada." She finished tired of explain the whole situation to the vastly uninformed councilmen, while Ichigo smiled at her undertone which was noticed by councilman Fon who otherwise remained silent

The room soon went a buzz with murmurs, agreements, disagreements, theories, and suggestions. Finally Councilman Fon stood up to give the final addressment to the assembled mass "Gentleman, the general consensus has agreed upon what Kurosaki-san and Soifon-sama has brought up on the matter. While we do feel that marriage to the Omeada clan does have its obvious pros it has very severe cons as well. We have concluded to keep the option open and we will implement it should we feel that the necessity arrives" the councilman stated, which Ichigo growled in dislike which Soifon heard but didn't otherwise give an indication to her knowing "However! Should Omeada or his clan actively bring this up we will merely say we will consider it. That is all."

Soifon while displeased with result nodded her head "Since that is all the meeting is adjourned and the council is dismissed."

Slowly the men of the room got up from their pillows and began filing out, passing by Ichigo without a second glance or thought. Ichigo got up from his pillow and looked back at the retreating form of the men with a look of contempt, having to sit through and hear how they were simply going to use another person to increase their own power left him less than pleased at the attitude most noble seemed to have when it came to politics. The only ones who remained neutral or supportive of Ichigo's plight were Shaolin and Councilman Fon, her seemingly soft spoken right-hand.

Ichigo started walking over to Shaolin who along with Councilman also began to close the distance between him, when he felt something hard in his pocket, and began digging into the pocket with his hand while his mind recalled the piece of 'literature' Omeada made as he felt the books shape. The carrot top mentally cursed himself for forgetting about it, though old man Zangetsu pointed out that it may have been for the best, as it could have garnered more support for the marriage. "Soifon-Taicho, I just remembered a piece of evidence that you probably won't want to see, but I think you should look at." He said. His face bearing a depressive scowl, really hating what was about to happen next, already expecting the oncoming storm

Soifon had a visibly concerned look on her face since her back was to Councilman Fon so he wouldn't see her expression, as her mind wondered what could have Ichigo so upset "And that would be what exactly?" she asked, her tone trying to maintain the conversation on a professional level until they would be alone

"This." He handed over the H-doujinshi to the small bluenette, who gave a 'what the hell?' look to Ichigo when she saw the half naked woman on the cover. Feeling her temper start to boil over from receiving this of all things from her boyfriend no less she was just about to snap in anger and break Ichigo in half for giving her this pornography so shamelessly, until she happen to see and read the authors name in the corner of the book and her ire soon turned to Fuka-Taicho Marechiyo Omeada.

"Open the book mark and you'll really see." Ichigo commented extremely coldly, to his clandestine girlfriend who was looking ready to tear something to shreds or better put someone. When she pushed the book open to where the book mark rested her eyes widened and her mouth parted in a horrified O. Soifon almost unknowingly started to read the text within the speech bubbles, her eyes darting between the words and pencil sketched 'drawings' and 'pictures' and unconsciously started barring her teeth with a very pissed and very disgusted look on her face, her body shaking in unimaginable anger even more so than _'her'_.

"Son of a bitch!" she yelled throwing the book to the nearby wall at blistering speeds leaving a book sized indention with small spider cracks into it while the manuscript dropped to the ground in a near broken heap, the spine clearly broken. The only reason that she hadn't quickly followed it up by launching a fire Hadou on it was because it was evidence. Evidence that she and the good Councilman next to her could use to their advantage, though once that role was over it would be straight to the furnace with that book.

"That fat bastard is dead! You hear me dead!" She yelled angrily releasing a ton of killing intent into the room, which Ichigo was surprised to find that the councilman was seemingly tolerating just as well as he was.

"Soifon-Taicho, please calm down." Ichigo pleaded to the understandably infuriated woman, knowing it wouldn't be good for anyone else minus himself, if she released all of her spiritual pressure at the compound with so many weaker souls nearby

Soifon turned her sights on him letting him truly see the hatred in them until she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Silently willing herself to calm down very slowly, as Suzumebachi was no doubt caught in the middle of a tornado of anger in her soul scape desperately holding on to anything nailed down as she was ferverently trying to not get blown away.

"Thank-you Kurosaki-san." She said gratefully trying to cool her jets, since it would no doubt leave a bad impression of the Fon family in the councilman's case and over the course of their relationship she was always telling Ichigo to be calm and collected not that he would all the time and her being hypocritical would no doubt put holes in her arguments, though Ichigo did suggest that she be more emotional since if she kept in her system for too long something bad might become of it, to which she albeit silently and reluctantly did agree but _'her' _still remained "Now if you have no other business here, I will personally escort you out."

The lone councilman tilted his head curious as to why the leader would see a guest out personally when she could just have a servant do the task, but chose to not voice his opinion as he did concede that she lived in Seireitei as well so would be going the same way. Ichigo quickly picked up Zangetsu and returned it to it's usual spot as the pair exited the chambers proceeded down the long path to the exit. They walked in silence, for about five minutes each one not sure what to say to the other.

Finally having enough of the silence, Ichigo spoke up about two feet behind her on her right hand side trying to break the proverbial ice between them "Hey Soifon"

"Taicho" she quickly corrected before he said anything else, since they were still on the grounds and only now coming unto the sparing fields she had practiced in when she was a child in order to protect _'her'_

"Right Taicho." He affirmed catching her implyment of professionalism and began reworking his words in order to continue it's replication for the time being "I want to say sorry. Sorry for not telling you yesterday in your office."

Still walking the woman turned her head sideways, just enough to see his face through her peripherals "Saying 'you're sorry' is an admission of guilt. I have found no fault of your own on the matter, so you should bear no guilt." She turned her head back with a cool smirk, and spoke low enough so only he could hear her "besides, you're the one who originally found no fault in me for some strange reason. I suppose I could make an exception and do the same for you."

Ichigo shook his head in bemusement, at her reference to his dearly departed mother Masaki. "You're impossible." He joked; glad to see she too was also still holding up after nearly one year since the loss, though they did lean on the other in the beginning and still did on occasion.

"And you're difficult." She countered

"What a pair we make huh?" he said and then chuckled, hearing and seeing Soifon scoff at his words and shake her head in amusement.

"Oh, by the way" The Yojimbo, having remembered that one councilman, mused to his Lin-chan, as they exited the front gates and were now going down the hill side to Rukongai "How come that Councilman Fon guy stayed behind when most of his buddies left, when you gave the ok?"

Shaolin stopped dead in her tracks, which made Ichigo halt too. She sighed and turned around to Ichigo, her hand pushing the bangs of her hair out of her tired face "That man Councilman Fon, the current right hand advisor for the leader as well as one of the oldest Fon members to still be alive…is my father."

"Ooohhh." He responded with a low groan feeling awkward with hints of shame mixed in, now that he was capable of looking back on the whole situation in calm understanding, since he literally just handed her, the man's daughter, a porno book right to both of their faces, plus given his moderately close proximity, he might have overheard most of things they said to each other. He at least managed to see her throw aside her usual cold emotionless demeanor, in a moment of passion.

'_**Smooth king. Real smooth.'**_ The hollow said dryly, ready to chalk this up as one huge colossal step backwards in terms of getting into her pants sooner

'_Shut up…'_

'_**Eh, at least you got to meet your future father-in-law.'**_

"Let's just go." suggested Shaolin willing her body to move forward unknowingly breaking the man from his hidden daze. The pair continued to walk in silence, all the way back to the second division not a single word was spoken. By the time they entered the complex it was dark out and all the other Shinigami were asleep, so as to be prepared for any training or mission they would need to do the following morning.

"Well here's your stop Ichigo." Shaolin finally spoke up saying the first few words in the previous three hours of walking.

"I'll go to bed after I walk you to your office Taicho. I would be a horrible bodyguard, if I left your side." He added the last part quickly, to prevent her from complaining

"You're an idiot." She ridiculed, but none-the-less walked onward to her office, with said idiot by her side

They reached the Taicho's office less than a minute later since he was moved to the fourth seats room which was on the floor below them. Soifon pulled out the keys to her door and unlocked it, pushing the door open gently. "Ichigo" she whispered to her boyfriend "Since you are here why don't you come inside for a moment. I want talk to you briefly as I might not get the chance."

Soundlessly Ichigo entered and closed the door behind him, as Soifon walked across the room removing her Haori and Zanpaktou, placing it on the coat rack and desk respectively. When Ichigo turned back around, he saw Soifon slide open the balcony door and nudged her head indicating her wanting to speak outside.

As soon as Ichigo stepped outside, he let out an exhalation of air from the unusually cold air of the night. He moved over next to his captain and leaned against the railing with his arms crossed, waiting for her to say what she wanted to talk about.

The woman gazed over the starry night sky briefly then turned her head to her 'Yojimbo', not wanting to keep him up since he had a very big day tomorrow that would extend all the way till next month. "Ichigo, I do want to thank-you for what you did today even though it was unnecessary. I say unnecessary because, while I truly did not know of this incident, Subaru has more than enough access to blackmail material to force the councilmen's agreement or stave them off a decision and Shinjiro asked me to make it a bi-law that my fiancé would need to be approved by him before a marriage agreement can be met which most of the fools on the council tend to forget." She elaborated to her aficionado

'_I guess that explains why they were so laid-back. It was well thought up before I even entered the picture.' _He thought with a huge sweat drop, while his inner hollow was laughing his ass off saying this was entirely BS. "I feel like such a spaz that you wouldn't believe it."

Soifon looked at him amusedly and spoke in a warmer tone "Yes, you are, but you're my spaz."

Ichigo rolled his eyes "Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome." She returned the gratitude with a childish smile much to his annoyance "But, in all seriousness. I do thank-you for warning me about the…marriage." saying the word with utter disdain since the association brought back the mental image of the book and Omeada's grinning face, which could give anyone nightmares

"Heh." The strawberry blond carefully pushed himself off the railing, standing straight as he looked directly at the short woman "Don't thank me. I wanted to do it."

Soifon looked back at the man and slowly returned her gaze back over the view of the night filled Seireitei. "You know I'll miss you." She said somberly, silently wishing she could go with him to the human world to at least keep an eye on him…for just a little longer

Seeing her distress he took a few steps closer to her "And I you." He replied placing his hand on top of hers, while his other reached her other shoulder pulling her in softly. Once she was close enough he removed his hand and placed it against her cheek, drawing her attention back towards him.

'_A parting gift'_ Ichigo thought, as he leaned down and kissed her on the lips, sending a jolt of electricity up her spine. Soifon gazed back at him eye-lids half open, as she deepened the kiss allowing his tongue to enter her mouth to play with her own. The appendages battling over dominance, before the pair broke away hot and bothered.

The strawberry buried his head into her neck kissing and sucking on it gentle, forcing Soifon to fight back a moan of pleasure from the exquisite treatment, her fist tightening against the man's uniform as she pulled him in to return the favor, giving a small love bite at the base of his neck, both to their much needed satisfactions.

Ichigo moved in and kissed her again, but when his hand moved to help assist her take of her uniform she stopped him. "No. Not yet Ichigo." She panted slightly in between breaths "I'm…I don't think. I'm ready yet." She reluctantly admitted, knowing that she shouldn't have allowed it to go this far, and suddenly call it quits. _'No doubt he's mad…'_ she thought grimly since any hormonal man would be rather put off at being denied sex at the very last minute

To her surprise Ichigo leaned in and kissed her on the forehead "I understand. It can wait, till your ready. Take all the time in the world" he stated, knowing she had a choice in what she did and didn't want to do and he promised himself to respect that about her

'_**Hey don't tell her that king!'**_ Hichigo yelled out in defiance, hoping to get the king to change his wording at least. He then let out a frustrated grown when he appeared to be sticking by his iron hard commitment to the woman _**'This shit suck! This close, This fucking close and then zilch."**_ The creature turned and kicked some dust off the side of the buildings in the inner world, to try and vent to no avail _**"(Sigh) I'm gonna go see if the other me's got the porno channel or something'**_

Back in the afterlife, the blushing woman looked away from her boyfriend "I'll be prepared next time. I assure you." She said meekly, her inexperience being used to help fortify her next attempt so as not to lead the poor man on again

He leaned in and kissed her on the lips again "I know you will." He said taking a step back to leave the balcony and once again return to the world of humanity the following morning. When he was in the doorway he turned back to face her "I love you Shaolin." He called, and started to turn back when Soifon grabbed his hand, a rare shy expression on her face

"I love you too Ichigo. G-good night."

"Good night."

* * *

(1) Most won't understand but I do like to fulfill certain request every now and then, though I do have to apologize for no giant voice screaming it…

(2) I know I'm big on originality but I'm not making this shit this time. There really is one out there and since it's M you can ask me and I'll give you the name if you desire to Google search it to confirm it.

(3) Breaking the code 8, 27, 5, 3, P, R12. = 8/27/2005 3 PM Room 12.

* * *

(Omake: Author's lament)

Blackout2010: Sigh...

Hanataro: What's wrong?

Omeada: Yeah boss?

Blackout2010 (turning gaze to them): It's you two. I really intended for the both of you to get significantly better and well...I only really partially succeeded with Hanataro, you were a total failure Omeada.

Omeada: What do you mean?

Blackout2010: Originally you were supposed to be suspicious about the two in chapter six and figuring everything out back in this chaper, again originally. I really don't know how it turned into this. I mean I know I hate your guts but I never intended to make you out to be so evil, it just happened and unfortunately it fulfill the requirements for plot advancement, so sorry.

Hanataro: What about me?

Blackout2010: Well, unlike your canon counter-part who probably would have pissed his pant and fainted after seeing a hollow, you've become a graduated combat medic, though I do give you props that you stood up to Byakuya in canon as that takes guts. Unfortunately in either case due to my inexperience I highly doubt I can have more than one romance going on at any one time, so despite getting better you'll probably still end up alone. Sadly.

(Omake: Author's Lament end)

* * *

Blackout2010: So ends chapter 9.

Subaru: How exactly does this constitute as part of the Karakura Arc?

Blackout2010: Simply, it introduces and leads into the major to unfold.

Shinjiro: I see. I guess we'll need to wait for the next stage before things pick up.

Blackout2010: Later!


	10. Perfect

Author's acknowledgment: to a growing concern amongst the viewers.

Hi, Blackout2010 here to answer a noted concern amongst the masses of FF in regards to my story. First off, I'll come straight out and say this story is by no means abandoned nor do I plan I abandoning it (I mean who the hell writes a story only to want to abandon it intentionally later, that's kind of lame but I'm getting off track)

If I were to come to start screeching halt in production, I just go back to editing my work to try and jump start again, failing that I would release a chapter and use the responses and reviews to get started up again. {I mean if I'm gonna abandon it I should at least submit the stuff I've already done.}

Now for updates, while a few already know of my…circumstances, I'm just going to put this out there for everyone out there who I haven't spoken too. I will soon come into a change of…occupation (hopefully) which will inhibit my work speed, so you may not see anything from this story for a while (but again it goes back to the paragraph above). So I ask for your patience on that and with me. Thank-you, now: unto the prefic banter.

* * *

Blackout2010: Greetings (again I suppose). Welcome to latest installment in this…drama?

Ichigo: Stop stalling and answer the question that's on a good number of people's mind. Who's the new 'Substitute' Shinigami?

Blackout2010: Well…how about we make this a little for the reader. How about you [the reader] think of who the new Substitute would be, and then after if you choose to leave a review, let me know who you thought the person would be.

Ichigo: Isn't that a little vague? I mean it's not an OC is it, cause that would be really sadistic…

Blackout2010: No, no. It's an actually character created by Tite Kubo and…here's a hint you've met the person Ichigo...well I suppose not in the fic least, but…hmm that leads to a paradox…you know what never mind I said anything!

Ichigo: (gee, real helpful)

Blackout2010: Now then take a moment to think about your choice

{Insert moment to ponder}

Blackout2010: Ok, now go ahead and read, and good guessing people.

* * *

Ch. 10 Perfect…

Ichigo got up the next morning early to get a quick last remember me bite to eat, and hurried over to the meeting ground so that he and his new partner, Rukia Kuchiki, could do their assigned tour of duty in, to his amazement at the statistical oddity of it occurring again, Karakura town. Ichigo had grabbed the usual quick apple and toast combination, as he zoomed through the cafeteria to be prompt and provide a good example for what a true Shinigami was supposed to be like for the newbie.

His mind having mentally figured out that since he was still retaining his fourth seat position and still going to Karakura meant the lack of danger was probably accredited to his partner and her last name. However he resisted the urge to make any prejudice judgments about the Kuchiki since he knew first hand that not all nobles we're spoiled brats like Omeada-baka, especially after his little visit to the Fon family the previous day.

While it couldn't be noticed by his business like face as Ichigo was going through the hallways, he was actually a feeling myriad of emotion. He was a bit sad at the fact that he'd be alone this time around with no friends to be had if this Rukia person didn't like him, excited to be back out on the battlefields again, and strangely happy for what did and almost had happened last night with Shaolin.

'_**I don't see what you're so fucking happy for. You were one step away. This fucking close and she'd have been yours forever but NOOO, you had to be Mr. goody-two shoes. I'm telling you king, I've been with you since day one and occasionally love you like a brother, but I SWEAR I will kick YOUR ass if you don't tap HER ass next time!'**_

Hichigo snapped, still reeling that any straight man would willing cock-block himself, for another. It was so inconceivable to him that it nearly blew his mind and the worse part about it was that if he tried to influence him, the woman would get suspicious about his drastic change in behavior and try to kill him.

_'Oh get over yourself. You're just as bad if not worse than Omeada, at times.'_ Ichigo pointed out in distaste to the depraved creature that roamed his inner world unhinged, as he left the second division barracks and entered the labyrinth road ways of Seireitei's inner sanctum

_**'Don't you DARE compare me with that punk ass bitch!'**_ Hichigo screamed out, burning with anger at the mere insidiation that Ichigo was making that the two of them were even remotely in the same league as each other _**'I might be a lot of things King! A lot of shit but last I checked FAT and USELESS definitely wasn't on that goddamn list!'**_

Ichigo rolled his eyes at the monster's means of justification. 'Look. Just set it to the side for now. Besides we gotta focus on killing some hollows and staying alive first before we can get back to Shaolin' the teen stated playing on the hollow's basic impulses and hobbies, all of which included death of someone or something

Dark Zangetsu scoffed _**'Yeah right, us dying is about as likely as Hanataro beating Shinjiro in a Zanjutsu duel to the death! Still I suppose it's been a while since I got to make something worth killing bleed, and I do miss the feeling.'**_ The hollow mused elatedly at the end with the prospect of death and carnage as it started cracking it's knuckles and popping it's shoulder to loosen up the muscles, ready to go back to the grind stone that doubled at making tomb stones for his next victim

Ichigo sighed in vexation at how easily the creature diverted it's attention, like a cat suddenly jumping at a beam of light on the ground thinking it caught it till it sees another solar ray _'Are you really part of Zangetsu? Or are you just making this shit up as you go?'_ he obligatorily asked feeling like he had insulted the older wiser Zangetsu inadvertently, who was no doubt watching passively the constant arguments, conversations and dealings between himself and his own dark side.

The doppelganger looked thoughtful for the briefest of seconds as if it wanted to answer the question, but then smirked smugly inside of Ichigo's mind and decided to not even bother answering his question, since if he couldn't figure it out by now he'd probably get it in time. Ichigo was about to ask again, since the usually chatty but blood thirsty hollow remained quiet on his end which was both a cause of relief and great concern, when someone walked into him as he veered around another corner in the maze-like Seireitei on route to the meeting grounds.

"Ohh, sorry about that pal." The silver haired man that walked into Ichigo replied, his eye lids opening about halfway to reveal his crimson red orbs in a threatening and condescending way "I hope I didn't hurt you." He added his grin growing wider, knowing things were about to get real interesting now that he encountered his target and finished his task.

Ichigo felt a little creeped out by the guy, and the way he spoke sounded very insincere border lining sarcastic. The junior officer had to actually clench his fist to physically resist the urge to shudder being around one of his superiors. The only other person to actually get this kind of reaction out of him was back when Shaolin had threatened to kill him on numerous occasions during the first few months in squad two before getting appointed the nickname 'Sloppy Kurosaki' by the at the time ticked off uptight woman.

"It's alright Taicho. I'm ok, now if you'll please excuse me, I need to get going." He wisely ended the conversation quickly as he walked around the guy to get away from this uneasy feeling he was receiving from the Taicho, and return to his soon to be started mission.

As Ichigo's body started to fade further and further into the distance, the silver haired Taicho turned around in the direction the man went and with his eyes still open, let his very wide grin break even further across his face, making him look like an image of a laughing demon "Heh. Bye-bye Kurosaki." He said in a innocent child-like voice before letting out a dangerous almost possessed chuckle, in his hand the Senkaimon creation device and Soul pager he had 'relieved' the unsuspecting man of, knowing that by the time he realized it, everything would be far too late to stop anything. 'Guess, I should report in for the next phase. Guess things are final going to liven up around here!'

(Ichigo)

Entering the meeting grounds where he and Rukia would meet he saw the open Senkaimon door guarded by a Shinigami with a spear. "Hey, it's me Ichigo Kurosaki, scheduled to use this gate alongside Rukia Kuchiki." He told the guard and took a quick gander around the area hoping to spot her "Speaking of which you haven't seen her have you? She was supposed to be here by now." He asked, only knowing it was a girl, because he had heard the name be called at the S.W.A meeting that one time he went

"Oh, so you're the guy." The guard said aloud, having confirmed that this was definitely the guy who was supposed to be here after taking a look at the scheduling mandate he had and seeing his name next to hers for this location "Well you're late Kurosaki-san. She already went on ahead."

The swordsman was a taken aback and thrown for a loop both at his partner having gone ahead without him, and that he was late for his mission that Shaolin was counting on him to accomplish. He looked at the clock on the nearby wall and it said 7:00 am, the time they were supposed to meet up with each other, which bewildered the man even further. "I'm not late. We were supposed to be here at seven on the money." The male Kurosaki contested over the odd occurrence

Now it was the guards turn to be confused "Really? Because she arrived an hour earlier, saying that you had to leave by six am sharp. She waited on standby for about ten extra minutes and when you didn't show she went on ahead, asking me to keep it open till you decided to show up. I guess there was a mix-up somewhere." The guard then shrugged it off casually since it wasn't entirely his problem "Then again you both are from different squads are you not? I guess it happens from time to time. Nobody's perfect."

The experienced reaper verbally cursed his luck that someone, screwed up such a thing but let it go since he, Rukia and the mission would hopefully still be fine. The only real problem would be the time zone difference between Soul Society and Karakura, which would affect his body from the jump in spiritual planes. "Fine. Whatever." He muttered out grumpily to himself

He then pulled his Hakama's collar down a bit and placed his index and middle fingers against the outline of a small flower on his skin. "Ichigo Kurosaki, limiter on." The flower lit up brightly for a moment and then when the light faded the flower turned a dark black, symbolizing it current in usage

Biding the guardsman farewell, the soul reaper entered through the Senkaimon gate, and hurried to the other side, back to the quiet trainee area. After jogging for a few minutes, he saw the light at the end of the tunnel which caused Ichigo to quicken his pace, a giant grin exploding on his face as he returned back to Karakura town.

As soon as Ichigo flew out with the door promptly closing behind him it's purpose served, he instantly realized two things. One: that it was nighttime, as the stars lit the clear sky overhead while the man made lights tried to compete eager to not be out done by nature, and two: He was floating hundreds of feet in the air, and since he wasn't expecting such unsteadygrounding he wasn't using his reiatsu to keep him airborne…which meant

"OH SHIIIIIIT!" he screamed, while plummeting straight to the ground at break neck speed, doing his best to focus his reiatsu before he became a strawberry jam splattered across the smoothly paved tarred main street of the unsuspecting town.

As his reiatsu reached sufficient enough power he messily flash stepped over to a nearby convenience store roof top mid free fall just barely making it in time as his body collided with the roof ground, in pain but very much alive. "(Pant) (Pant) You'd think I would have learned my lesson of falling off buildings. (Groan)" he said bitterly to Hichigo

_'**You make it sound like it's my fault.'**_ Hollow Zangetsu shouted ready to defend himself once again from more false accusations and slander, after all if he was to be known for his infamy it should at least be accurate _**'This incident was because some dick wad doesn't know the first thing about the proper fucking placement of entranceways, and that Incident inside here!' **_throwing it's arm around the surrounding infrastructure of the inner world, to help the man recall the memory better _**'happened because your dumbass decided to open a window and step out before you had FULL access to your Shinigami powers or even an Asauchi with you, and if it wasn't for me grabbing hold of your ass and pulling you back into the building, we'd both be dead!'**_

"Whatever." the teen responded dryly, having difficulty believing the bastard was really keeping track of such things since he normally only cared about the here and now, and the living from the soon to be dead.

_'**Let's just get this over with. So find that Bitch who left you and kick her ass!'**_ The creature barked out, still feeling edgy over how things had been going lately

_'So friggin violent all the time, I wonder how I haven't lost it yet.'_ He silently wondered as he closed his eyes and opened up his senses to possibly feel or detect any nearby Shinigami, which would hopefully be his partner or a clue to her whereabouts. His eyes snapped open when he detected four spiritual signatures, three clustered together a moderate distance away and the one faraway almost isolated near the west side of town, it was definitely one hollow, a strange unknown one to Ichigo, and two Shinigami, but the second Shinigami signature was extremely faint. 'Someone's dying!' Ichigo concluded as he felt the signature begin to fade more, slowly getting weaker

In a blur of speed Ichigo, hurried over to the skirmish. He dodged through traffic jumping from car top to car top and hopped up skyward unto the power lines to get a better view of the surrounding area, when he sensed them again he leapt from the electric lines unto the buildings and started to jump from one building to another, chasing after the quickly retreating pair. Who were stabilizing their distance from the pursuing hollow, more than likely for the injured ones sake.

_'Don't they teach healing kido anymore?'_ Ichigo wondered as he dropped down from the building since he was close and rounded past another corner way, trying to head off the fleeing pair. Not understanding why the Shinigami didn't even bother to heal the ally in his or her arms so they could re-engage the target, or radio in back up telling him their current position instead of having to chase them. Ichigo followed the road down till he was in a dark four way intersection, and came to a halt unsure which way to go, since their spiritual energies were coming at him from all the directions.

Doom. Doom. Doom.

"That way! Hurry!" a desperate voice yelled out to someone

"It's getting closer!" another fear filled voice, seemingly answered the first one

Hearing the sounds of apparently women's voices and the approaching steps of the hollow, Ichigo turned to the east and ran down the street, and grinned seeing two people, one being carried underneath the shoulder of the other, as she ran towards him with a giant fish faced hollow creature in hot pursuit of it's meal.

"I got this just keep moving Rukia!" he reassured pulling out Zangetsu as the pair flew by in their rushed escape barely acknowledging his command, not that they needed to be told what to do. The strange fish faced creature stopped it's chasing of the female Shinigami and looked at the death god with the colossal blade quickly seeing it as a new source of food lying in it's way. The dumb creature tilted it's head before roughly launching itself forward, it's gaping mouth open to take a chunk out of him.

Ichigo didn't even bat an eyelash at the creature, instead he brought Zangetsu around and caught the blade inside of the fish bone hollow jaws halting it's attack.

"Wow, your weak." Ichigo commented, extremely disappointed in the strength difference between this thing and Giant Devil or even Screamer. _'Then again it's the trainee area.'_

"Graahhha!" the hollow roared in displeasure for having a blade stuck in it's mouth rather than the sweet Shinigami soul only inches away.

"You can't even talk either?" further disappointment filling the young man's voice, while the creature moved it's face a few inches closer to the man "(sigh) Oh well best do away with you and help out my Kohai before tearing her a new asshole."

Putting a bit of his enormous physical strength to good use, the strawberry hacked off the upper portion of fish bones head. The body dissolving into nothingness now that it's life had been extinguished

Seeing his work done, he turned back and ran in the direction of his partner ready to kick her ass for her stupidity. As he arrived on the scene, he saw a small collection of mantis type hollows being fended off by the female soul reaper. Without a moments hesitation Ichigo jumped in to give his assistance to the woman.

The female soul reaper's arms were shaking in apparent fear but she none the less willed her body forward and swung her kind of blunt Zanpaktou at a mantis striking it's head area, causing it to roar in both pain and annoyance at the feeble attack.

The mantis swung it's sharp scythe like claw knocking the blade away from it as it slashed at the girl who instinctively jumped back to avoid getting cut across her upper body. As she jumped back, she turned around hearing the roar of the strange creatures behind her and her eyes widened in surprise when she learned she was jumping into the waiting embrace of another mantis. The girl closed her eyes to at least mentally lessen the pain about to befall her.

However before impact could be made between the two, Ichigo swung his giant blade at the waiting hollow destroying it before it could thrash the newbie from behind. "Are you alright?" he questioned as he moved to position his back facing hers to prevent another back attack on either of them.

The now hyperventilating girl nodded her head as she took a step closer to the back of Ichigo. _'Great, she's practically immobilized…'_ Ichigo thought in worry seeing his partner, from over his shoulder, shaking hand. Taking his hand off his sword but remaining in his spot to not frighten the girl, he pointed his finger at another mantis "Hadou 4 Byakurai!" he yelled shooting a thin line of white lightning.

The girl seeing the bizarre move, decided to take the distraction the spell had on the monsters and swung her asauchi at the creature in front of her catching it off guard. The blade impacted the side of the monster causing it to stagger to the left from being struck in the neck.

"Go down!" the female Shinigami grunted out despite her increasing panic, pulling the blade back just enough and preformed the action again whacking it like a wood cutter trying to cut down a stubborn tree with a hatchet.

The second cut did the job as it sliced through the creature enough causing it to disappear and leave her blade's edge stranded in mid-air. The girl turned around and saw that her ally was busy dealing with the other creatures giving her a chance to breathe. Her previous exhaustion from running away and now being forced to fight catching up with her.

Ichigo swung his sword horizontally and bisected the remaining two hollows from the waist up. Seeing how all the threats had been successfully eliminated Ichigo took the time to look around and noted that the whole from earlier was still safe having got up and hide behind a telephone pole. The man let out a sigh of relief before he turned to his partner who was still panting up a storm from exhaustion.

"Hey you alright?" he asked. The woman swallowed the lump in her throat as she stepped into the streetlight so she could better see her savior.

The girl was light skinned and had golden brown eyes, and dark purple hair with a small red ribbon in it to tie the back up in a spike. Her Shinigami uniform was pristine with no added attachments whatsoever. Clutched in her hand was as a long but narrow katana that might have served better at bashing someone on top of the head rather than cutting them apart.

"I-I'm fine now. T-T-Thank-you." She stuttered out, unable to believe what just happened to her

"Good." He said crossing his arms methodically, the calm before the vastly approaching storm "NOW WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING GOING OFF ALL ALONE LIKE THAT! YOU ALMOST GOT YOU AND THAT WHOLE OVER THERE KILLED! TELL ME WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!"

The girl took a step back as she didn't expect him to suddenly go off the deep end on a total stranger, she would have sworn he'd have flipped a table if one was present "Who the hell do you think you're talking to buddy!" the girl snarled out, not happy at being yelled at after a life or death situation she honestly didn't expect on her way back from her last night school class "I'm thankful that you saved me, but you don't have to blow up on me! That was my first time seeing those…those things!" unable to describe what the creatures were despite their animal-like appearance, since they were either clearly not of that geographical origin and able to be that big and feral

"You've never seen a hollow before? And you're a Shinigami!" he asked clearly not seeing that one coming at all, since he remembered his senior hollow hunt in the outer edge of Rukongai, when he was fifteen 'Whose running Shino Academy to produce people like this!'

"I-I am?" the other Shinigami replied back genuinely confused _'D-did he say S-Shinigami…? Like the death gods from those old kiddy stories dad used to tell me about?'_

"Hey stop ignoring me!" the woman in white yelled, chucking a rock at Ichigo, who clutched his head in pain from the impact the stone had against his skull.

Ichigo looked over at the soul, and saw a dark haired girl with a strange antenna like parting of hair going over the bridge of her nose and dark blue eyes, with an unhappy look on her face. The short woman had on a white kimono of perhaps a soul who just died in the bath, when all this started happened.

"Alright, I'll Konso you." He snapped, rubbing the sore spot on his head further cursing his string of bad luck so far. 'First the arrival time, a really hot-headed but pathetic partner, and now a rock to the head. What else does today have in store?'

"I don't need Konso, I need help!" the dark haired girl in the white kimono shouted, startling the boy that some random soul knew Shinigami only information.

"Wait, how do you know that?"

The girl puffed up that he still hadn't figured it out "Because I'M RUKIA KUCHIKI, your partner you ninny!"

Ichigo stared at the girl like she was crazy, before turning back to the other Shinigami, who nervously waved back after getting stared down by the man. Finally he couldn't take it anymore "Pffft. HAHAHAHA! Oi, that what you get for going it alone!" he ridiculed, since bad situations always came up when people tried to do things on their own all the time _'Heh, it seems my lucks improving already.'_

The proud Kuchiki took a double take on what he did before she sneered at him venomously "Oh yeah well how about this Bakudo 1 Sai!" the pissed girl yelled her incantation, her hand aimed in a crisscross pattern at the hysterically laughing man.

Ichigo kept on laughing until he felt his limbs start to lock up at the joints while his muscles suddenly quit working. "Huh? Wha-uugh!" and then he fell down to the ground face first getting a rise from both girls. "Hey, let me go you midget!" he demanded, while said midget came over with a evil grin on her face and started drawing a creative image on his face

"There now we're even baka." She said smugly, to the now mouse looking man with the word baka written all over his forehead.

"Ahh, should I just leave?" the still unnamed girl said with her nervous smile, still standing there though wishing she wasn't more and more.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on!" the downed man yelled out as his body began to fluid reiatsu into his body to undo the binding spell he was caught in by Rukia 'I hate binding spells!'

"Fine. I'll explain." Said the white robbed Rukia, who sat down in front of him and pulled out a sketch pad from out of thin air "You see after I left since you didn't bother showing up-

"That because you were early!" he yelled out interrupting her recounting of the events that had transpired while Ichigo wasn't present

Bam! He got whacked in the head again this time by the notebook the girl had in her arms.

"as I was saying." She said when silence reigned again, continuing on as if she hadn't hit a defenseless man, much to the man's annoyance "I went on patrol around town all day by myself." She flipped the page and a super hero rabbit was standing on the top of a building looking over the city "eventually fish bone showed up, as I was preparing to return back to the Senkaimon." Flipping it again as a evil looking rabbit showed up confronting the super hero rabbit in the middle of the street

_'God does her drawing suck.'_ The distraught teenage Shinigami mentally stated his opinion, on the verge of crying his eyes out at the horrible luck he'd been having so far

_'**Don't say anything otherwise your gonna get whacked again.'**_ Hichigo suggested as he and the other Zangetsu were working out the last kinks in the spell to free the king _**'Though, I still say if you had gotten 'Lucky' yesterday, this would never have happened.'**_ The berserker commented using a lousy pun, which only further added to Ichigo's grief

"Unfortunately, a human was nearby the girl over there." Rukia pointed her finger to the still nameless woman, continuing unabridged since she couldn't hear the mental conversation inside her still trapped senior "so I tried to fight it off, however it took me by surprise by going after her and I was unfortunately too heavily wounded to continue fighting as I took the blow, so in order to ensure our survival I had to force transfer my powers to her. And so here we are now." She finished giving the report to her commanding officer on the status quo

Finally undoing the spell Ichigo pushed himself up from off the ground to stand again "So you screwed up?" He roughly summarized all of what she said into four simple words. A tick mark appeared on her head, for being taunted by this guy despite his personality being similar to her deceased friend, and she moved to hit him again when he caught her wrist mid swing. "Please don't do that, I was just joking." He then let her hand go, while Rukia pulled it back and rubbed the spot she was grabbed at

"Look, I'll fix this whole thing, I just gotta get out my Senkaimon unit and we'll be fine." He started to go through his uniform, wondering where he put the damn thing. When he couldn't find it he started to search and pat himself down harder and more hurriedly "Shit I don't have it!" Ichigo panicked, still feeling but not finding the very important piece of equipment

"Whhhattt!" Rukia yelled out in disbelief that he didn't have that of all things, since it was almost if not just as important as a Zanpaktou on a mission to the human world or anywhere outside the realm of Soul Society "How do you not have it!"

"Ahh…" stuttered Ichigo his pupils shifting back and forth on the bottom corners of his eyes as he tried to recall what had happened on his way here, he then remembered bumping into that creepy red eyed silver haired captain before leaving Soul Society 'Shit, I must have dropped it after walking into that guy!'

_'**No, that can't be it.'**_ Dark Zangetsu disagreed, suspicion on his mind when thinking about that creepy feeling the silver haired man gave Ichigo _**'If you had dropped it, you would have at least heard it bang against the concrete floor. Perhaps and I'm just throwing this out there, but maybe that guy stole it from you, after all being taught by the one of the best hakudo fighters in Soul Society only another Taicho could really have a chance at getting past your reflexes nowadays.'**_

Ichigo scowled at the implication Hichigo was referring to. Surely another Shinigami, a Taicho no less wouldn't resort to the common thievery of another's Senkaimon unit. Right?

"Tell me Rukia do you have one?" the strawberry asked automatically, trying to not jump to conclusion especially those kinds of conclusions since it was wrong to believe evil of other without proof.

"No, they told me that it would be given to the higher ranking Shinigami." She said in honesty, informing him of what was told to her by a messenger from the equipment depot branch of the R&D

_'What the hell's going on? That's not normal. Usually both people have one for just this situation. Maybe Zangetsu is on to something.'_ Ichigo thought growing more worried about this strange line of behavior, first the arrival time and now no equipment, but pushed it to the side for now. Since someone needed to take charge of things to which he was the only candidate with human world experience "Alright. Nobody panic. We're temporarily stranded until back up arrives, which shouldn't be too long since my Senkaimon unit was also my communicator. So we'll just do our normal job until then."

"I don't have a communicator but I do have the hollow alert." The raven haired girl said, retrieving a cell phone looking device from her pocket that blipped on and gave the time of night and current position of the team

"Good, now we just need a place to -" he stopped speaking as he sensed a place with very powerful spiritual energies nearby, which were Shinigami like in nature "I think we just lucked out" A grin on his face at the incredible stroke of luck that they could be getting out of this jam as soon as they go into it

Ichigo quickly grabbed Rukia under his shoulder and the other girl's hand, and flash stepped as quickly as possible to the area he was sensing. When they arrived at the source, they were confused to see a traditional Japanese store, not a team of Shinigami having a meeting or preparing to leave back to Soul Society.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Rukia asked ignoring their 'friend' who was busy kneeling over a garbage can throwing up, her body unused to the movement of flash step especially from the extremely fast-paced movements of the Special Forces officer

"Only one way to find out." He answered as he walked over to the porch of the shop and lightly knocked on the door "Hey is anyone in there?"

The door opened just a crack and a dark skinned large heavily built man with a goatee, wearing glasses and an apron appeared with a fierce expression on his face "How may we help you tonight sir?" the man asked very nicely a stark contrast to his outward facial expression

Ichigo moved sideways and pointed at Rukia lazily "Yeah, my friend over there is hurt and needs some assistance."

"I understand bring her in while I go get the manager." He said gruffly fully opening the shop door before returning back into the building, searching out for it's owner to inform him of the 'guests'

Seeing that they were allowed entrance, Ichigo walked back to Rukia and helped her to her feet so they could continue on, while the other girl watched them cautiously and after mentally weighing things and wiping her mouth with the sleeve of the black get up she had on followed them into the store after they had entered. As they entered the building they saw some strange arrow like design on the floor that pointed to another arrow just a few feet away. With a shrug at the strange décor tastes the group followed the signs until they ended up in a small well lit circular room, with the guy from earlier, sitting next to a new man at a table.

The other man was a blond haired guy with a strange hat on his head that had bucket feel to it with a white and black pattern in it, he also had a black coat thrown over the shoulders of his green attire that ended in a pair of sandals, in his hand was a cane of some kind.

"Ah, welcome to my humble shop Shinigami! How can I help you today?" the blond manager said with a million dollar smile on his face, as the three customers sat down in the chairs provided by his assistant who was wearing a name tag with the word 'Tessai' on it

"We need your help to get back to Soul Society." Ichigo informed knowing that if these two could see and already knew about Shinigami it would save them time on having to explain things and expedite their departure.

"Sorry, but I can't help with that one." He said happily, much to the Shinigami's chagrin that he was so damn chipper about the current situation they were in "But I can give you a mighty fine discount on some of our products!" he offered, ready to give the 'discounts' to the Shinigami by which he meant having the prices set at 120% normal price not that they would have known of course

"Tell me would you have a Senkaimon creation unit or a communicator?" asked the powerless Shinigami willing to buy that if they couldn't get his assistance in returning. After all money was no object to the Kuchiki clan.

"I'm afraid not." He lied smoothly, though when he saw Ichigo begin to narrow his eyes seemingly suspicious that a Shinigami shop keeper wouldn't have such vital equipment, he followed up with some truth to keep himself of the radar "I only deal with accessories and some items related to Soul Society. You know a sort of office supplies store for Shinigami who happen to be in the human world, not really stuff that the R&D would have."

Ichigo looked back at Rukia, a frustrated sigh escaping him since they were back at square one, waiting to be rescued by another team. "Tell me do you have a Gigai for my partner here." He asked wishing for some kind of break in this endless stream of bad news

The blond man looked at the woman intently with an eye brow raised and hmmed real quick as his mind pondered all the possible scenarios that could have left her in such a state "Tell me Miss Shinigami how exactly did you go about losing your powers." He inquired to help narrow the feasible possibilities and come up with an easy or easier solution

So Rukia began explaining the situation to the man telling him everything from when she first arrived in Karakura to when she encountered the hollow on her patrol to lastly when she was beaten and had transferred her powers to the girl beside her, who seemingly absorbed most if not all of it, to which the girl apologized with a pout. The manager nodded his head as he started taking notes of the situation and when all the information was given the blonde started to mentally run through which Gigai would be best.

_'Hmm, well I suppose I could give her that one. I've been meaning to get rid of that mistake ever since I got here, and this could be one chance.'_

"Ok, I got just the one for you Miss Shinigami." He answered getting up from his chair to go check the back for the special Gigai

"It's Rukia. Rukia Kuchiki." The Kuchiki introduced, having remembered her manners that her brother had teachers instruct her on for when she joined the clan

"Ah, it a pleasure to meet you then Ms. Kuchiki." He bowed before walking out, through the door they had entered in, rather rudely since he or his friend still hadn't introduced themselves to the group. Though Ichigo couldn't say anything since he, being too focused on getting out of here, and the other girl, who was nervous about everyone in the room in general, in the group hadn't either. They sat in silence, not one trying to make any conversation at all before the man came back in, with his happy smile still shining "Ok, well the good news is that I do have a Gigai for Rukia-san, the bad news is that it won't be ready until tomorrow and I don't have a spare for captain frown over there. So come back tomorrow and I'll have you in your new Gigai."

'Captain Frown' scowled at him wondering why everyone in the world wanted to give him demeaning nickname, like 'Sloppy Kurosaki', 'Strawberry-chan', or now 'Captain Frown', while Rukia got up from her chair and thanked him and promised to stop by tomorrow. Though Ichigo figured she was being so much more courteous and friendly with the shop keeper since it was to get back at him for calling her a midget earlier.

The owner walked the Shinigami plus one team to the entrance of his shop, before seeing them out. As soon as the man turned back to close the door Ichigo called out to him. "Oh, sorry for not introducing myself. The name's Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki."

The man stopped mid-motion of closing the door with a dumb look on his face, since he didn't expect to have to introduce himself since he was an exile, and this Ichigo fellow was a Shinigami of Soul Society, his technical enemy. "Keisuke" he said before rudely closing the door in Ichigo's face, ending the conversation before anymore information could be found out about him.

_'Geez if he wanted us out, he could have just said so.'_ Ichigo grimaced at Keisuke's strange behavior, while his mind subconsciously drifted back to the traitor Soifon had told him about, though he did tinker with the idea since the man knew about Shinigami, did match some of the physical description, and seemed to have spiritual pressure he never-the-less dismissed it, since why would a traitor allow Shinigami into his home and let them leave knowing of his whereabouts, and he really didn't come off as captain material. Anyways Keisuke was a rather common name, it could be anyone.

"Hey, Ichigo." The girl in white said to report in their first good break to the brooding man in charge "I just got us a place to stay at her apartment." Jabbing her finger at the still unintroduced girl "She said if her dad knows he wouldn't mind letting us stay for a few nights. Well, me I suppose since he probably can't see you and you won't be in Gigai."

Ichigo nodded his head, not wanting to argue with the girl's choice of location since he didn't really have a place to let them crash at, since he wasn't super familiar with Karakura town and knew exposing her to the element, when Hanataro and he occasionally stayed at the qwik mart roof, would be completely unacceptable given her weaken state. The man walked past Rukia to the generous soul to at least give thanks. "Hey, thanks for letting us stay at your place for the night."

"It's no problem." The violet haired golden eyed girl said with a smile, having started to warm up to the two since their initial encounter "and I doubt dad is going to be mad, especially for those who saved my life. It's the least I could do…ahh" she faltered upon having to use the orange haired Shinigami's name since they had yet to officially introduce themselves, which she felt embarrassed on since she was usually pretty good at remembering to do that.

"Ichigo." The appreciative Shinigami answered, extending his hand out for the traditional handshake

"Haha, 'strawberry' how manly!" the girl chuckled at the man's expense for the meaning of his name, which made the true Shinigami groan in annoyance. After stifling her mirth away the girl closed her eyes and grabbed the hand gently "Senna. Senna Kurosaki." She introduced amicably ready to make friends with the intense but friendly death god

Ichigo felt his heart stopped when she said the word Kurosaki. "W-what?" he asked reflexively his smile dropping away and his face getting shades paler with shock as Kurosaki was a very rare name and only he and his mother ever carried that name in the history of the afterlife, with the exception of only one other person…

"I said it's 'Senna Kurosaki'" the human girl said weaker, hoping she wasn't offending the guy since his arm that she grabbed had started to shake with almost nervousness? and he had gotten a faraway look in his eyes like he was thinking about something else entirely.

"Tell me." He said coldly, which got the attention of the two women since they could practically feel the ill intent in his words. His eyes were filled with a dark light, at the thought of seeing him of all people here, since he abandoned him and his mother when he was born "You said you live with your dad right? Tell me: What's. His. Name." his voice getting harder with more dark thoughts filling him, thoughts of how his mother might still be alive if the man known as 'Isshin' had stayed with her.

The girl looked down at the ground in guilt, which caused Ichigo's anger to falter since he didn't expect to upset her "Well…he's…he's not really my dad." She admitted her voice full of sadness at having been reminded of her origins, but continuing finding strength in perhaps protecting him from Ichigo "You see dad told me I was originally an orphan, and he adopted me when I was still a really young since he's been with me for as long as I can remember, but instead of making me change my last name to his, he made me keep my last name. He said it was the only thing that was truly mine and that no one could ever take it away."

Ichigo bit his lip at jumping to the wrong conclusion, while Rukia looked away able to sympathize with her words, since she had no one too at least until her sister brought her big brother into her life. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up." He tried to apologize for his insincerity to the human turned Shinigami girl

"No, it fine." She said a bitter-sweet smile on her face "I'm proud to have my dad even if he is a bit weird sometimes. But at least you guys will get to meet him too."

"I'm sure we will." Rukia replied, before turning a sly eye towards Ichigo, who returned the look with a questioning stare "Maybe he can teach Ichigo here how to be on time in a person's life when it's REALLY important!" she teased trying to break the unneeded tension and make their hostess smile again

Ichigo rolled his eyes "Oh, get over yourself! You were early!" He shot back getting a playful chuckle from Senna and a heated glare from Rukia, as the pair walked off towards Senna and her father's home.

It took a while for them to get there, since Senna was adamantly against using flash step, lest she throw up again though Rukia promised to help train her to take up the mantle of Shinigami until her powers returned, also dragging Ichigo along for the ride too since he was the only Shinigami available for the task to teach her kido and flash step, much to his annoyance for being signed up for something he didn't at least consent to, not that he would have had a choice since he had firm understanding of his limitation and knew that he couldn't protect Rukia and Senna while killing hollows at the same time.

"Here we are." The dark purple haired teenager announced their arrival at her home, breaking the bickering between the Shinigami over the details of their mission and the training schedule for Senna.

The house looked like a medical clinic. When the Shinigami brought it up to her attention, she informed that it was actually a morgue for dead people and that she and her father lived on the second floor apartment which could be accessed from the side of the building.

The two Shinigami caught a bit off guard from learning where they would stay remained silent, as they followed their hostess up the metal stairway, and waited a second while she fished for her key to open the door. As they stepped in they were both pleased to see that it didn't look or smell of dead people, and looked like a place a regular family would stay at. It had a small nice couch and TV set over in the small living room, while across from that the kitchen and dining room were pretty much one with just a small table and chairs a few feet away. There were also three doors, which Ichigo assumed was their bedrooms and the bathroom.

Senna walked over to the table to check for the mail since her dad came home from work before her, and saw a letter addressed to her from her father. She opened it up while the two Shinigami looked around the place they would have to call home for an indeterminable amount of time.

To my dearest Daughter

It saddens me to say this, but unfortunately I must be away on a business trip for a little while. Don't worry, even if you don't see me, I'll always have an eye out on you or any kids that I would be like a father too, like I promised I would be for you. But I don't want you to think I'm coddling you. You're a big girl now at the age of seventeen, I think you should be more than responsible enough to handle having guests over so you won't be alone while I'm away. So you're in charge of the house your word is law. Stay safe and know that I love you very, very, much my daughter.

Love

Daddy

_'I see. Darn. I hope you stay safe dad.'_ Senna accepted, pressing the letter against her hakama after reading the content of it.

She turned back around and yelled to the Shinigami who had wandered astray "Hey! It looks like Dad won't be here for a week or two since he's on a business trip. He also said it's alright to have others at the house since he trusts me so long as we don't make too much of a ruckus." Relaying the message to them, as they appeared back in the kitchen having finished inspected the place

"Dang, I kind of wanted to meet your dad." The only man in the house said disappointedly, since he probably would admitted that he could use a fatherly role model figure since Kyoraku-Taicho was not the qualifying type not that he had kids, Shinjiro wasn't a father same with Hanataro and Toshiro, while Ukitake was too sick to ask for advice.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you will someday." She reassured, setting the letter back down on the table "So how long are you guys going to be in town?" asked Senna as she took a seat at the table, eager to have a conversation with an actual death god and not a random spirit that she saw on occasions who would later decide to haunt her for a bit.

"We WERE scheduled to be here for only a month." answered Rukia, still wondering how this took such a wrong turn for the worse, in the trainee area no less. "but considering this fiasco it could take longer, unless a rescue team shows up."

"Well how long will that take?" worry filling the ribbon wearing girl's voice, since she still had school to attend and wouldn't be able to do this Shinigami business forever "I mean you Shinigami do have some kind of failsafe right?"

"Honestly, I don't know." replied Ichigo in brutal honesty which caused the girl to deflate a little bit "I suppose it could be a few a days, since we have no way of contacting them. Though they should get antsy when no one calls in for a status report, and they'll send someone to find us."

"I see." She said in disappointment, that she couldn't help them in anyway. As she stared down at her clothes she saw that it was the same as what Rukia had been wearing earlier, which brought up the question: where was her clothes?

"Hey, umm how exactly do I? You know go back to being me." gesturing towards herself with her free hand while her other pulled up her collar so she could peek down and blushed in embarrassment and quickly dropped the piece of cloth back against her. Having just learned firsthand she was completely naked underneath, no trace of her previous clothes were there (1).

"Oh that's simple, all you do is get back in your body…YOUR BODY!" Rukia yelled hysterically, unable to believe her oversight on something that important "We forgot your body back there!"

Now it was Senna's turn to flip out as she shot up from her chair "OH MY GOD AM I DEAD! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" her mind plummeting into the depths of despair at the idea of no longer being able to do the things she wanted to do with her life.

"Look let's calm down! I'll go back and find you, in the mean time, Rukia why don't you inform her on how to re-enter her body again." Ichigo instructed, getting from the chair he was sitting in and started running to the door, heading back to the incident zone searching for reiatsu energy emanating from the not so deceased corpse.

Finding the woman's body Ichigo hurried back to the home and dropped it on the floor, to which Senna easily got back into her body, much to her relief at not being dead permanently. Once she was back in she picked herself up off the floor, and gave a thankful hug to the two of them before walking into the kitchen to make some leftovers since she was starving from all the running away from that weird hollow thing that Rukia had mentioned when she was carrying her. "Would you like some?" she offered, since she didn't have a clue if the death gods would actually need to eat food or not since they were dead but didn't want to take the chance of looking like a bad hostess

"Nah, I'm good." Ichigo declined not feeling particularly hungry while Rukia also declined and went into the next room to go see an object that had got her attention earlier "But if you have a bed that would be nice" feeling unusually tired for some reason

"No worries. You see that room over there" she pointed to the room at the far end "That's dad's room, he usually let guests sleep in there when there over so you can have that room, while Rukia stays in mine."

"Alright, good night." He said wishing her sweet dreams as he walked past Rukia who was entranced by the strange box thing called a 'TV'. He entered the dark room, and flipped the light switch to see that it was surprisingly tidy. Almost like it was never used in the first place. Ichigo got into bed and quickly drifted into sleep.

(Inner world)

"**Hmm. Somethings up, old man. Ichigo's overall power level is decreasing."** The hollow said in suspicion, since his power was actually supposed to keep rising. In fact it was almost due. Something was wrong.

'I sense it as well. It is most troubling; perhaps a step of caution would be best.' The spirit answered unsure of this recent development. 'I have a plan that will require you to follow to the letter. Maybe then we can find the source.'

(Human World: Rukia)

After about an hour or so watching the human made show on the strange box, she had bided Senna good night, once she was alone in the room, Rukia's mind went into overdrive wondering about her partner and why he looked so much like her deceased friend from so long ago. _'Is he his reincarnation?'_ The short girl thought, trying to figure out the mystery of Ichigo. _'Is Kaien haunting me for killing him?'_ she slapped her head for those thoughts _'No, Kaien said it wasn't my fault, so it's not…I'll never bring down my team again…'_

As she laid in the bed, her mind slowly grew more fatigued. Deciding that enough was enough she went to sleep deciding that she'd get her answers soon, as she continued working in the human world alongside him.

(Elsewhere)

A small personal report was dropped on a wooden desk by a lanky man with silver hair, a Taicho's Haori with the emblem of three and a very eerie grin on his face. Alongside the report was another status report that said 'for Taicho of two only' and Ichigo's Senkaimon unit and communicator.

The glasses wearing man sitting at the desk looked at it with a pleased expression, his brown hair being pushed out of the way so as not to obscure his vision "Excellent. Now we need only do the next part of our plan before things will finally come full circle."

"Course, I'll just go get the device real quick and hand out these status reports from 'Kurosaki-san' to his Taicho." The silver haired man replied to his leader, turning away from the man and exiting the room, to provide the first step in the fall of Soul Society.

"Perfect." said Aizen smugly, casually leaning back in his chair and envisioning the world he would soon create after the fall of the one who escaped Kyoka Suigetsu, already knowing who to send and what to say for his spectacular performance 'Farewell, Kurosaki-san.'

* * *

Author's notes

1. It's only for the first time the power transfer that's why she naked underneath. Rest assured, from now on when she's shot out she will be wearing bra and stuff underneath. Shinigami do not battle in the nude.

* * *

Blackout2010: Well that's ends that chapter.

Senna: I'm so excited to join the team, hopefully I can live up to your expectations!

Rukia: Don't worry, I gave Ichigo my powers once and look how far that took him

Ichigo: Bleeding on the ground against Byakuya?

Rukia: Of course not!


	11. Take aim

Author's acknowledgment: to the unknown reviewers

To unknown reviewer known only as 'DD'

I do thank-you for your review. I do wish you had said more than dislike, since that really doesn't help me. Perhaps you could send me a PM and tell me what you disliked (since I know you usually give sound advice I had seen a previous review of yours a while back so I know you're not a flamer of any kind). Was it the story as a whole? Ch. 10? A character, something said? I mean I appreciate that you told you how you felt but…I'm sure you see what getting at. If I don't know I can't change, so if you are reading this please enlighten me, thank-you.

* * *

Blackout2010: Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, I just turned twenty, and now a present for you!

* * *

Ch. 11 Take aim

"Hey Ichigo we're heading out!" Rukia said to the man who was sitting on the couch busy staring at the T.V watching the Karakura daily news at 8, while she and Senna were gathering their things to head out to the high school for another day of highly educational classes.

So far it had been about a week since they first arrived here and still no sign of any other Shinigami's presence, minus that Kisuke guy who couldn't help them, though Ichigo was still wary of him. His uneasiness not readable explainable, it was more of a gut feeling, and they usually were pretty good when they came to him.

The death god lazily waved them goodbye as the two exited the apartment, though inwardly he was a bit jealous that Rukia got to go to the human world school, while he was stuck on patrol under the self-imposed pretense of 'training' not that he really needed to since he could take down any hollows that came his way, quickly.

But he did start to notice his strength was seemingly more limited than normal, even more so than the one-fifth limiter on. When he asked Zangetsu if something was happening to him, they explained that they were working on it and had decided to set aside a little bit of his power over time similar to a bank account to be used just in case of a dire emergency, and Ichigo was extremely wounded. Ichigo reasoned it was probably due to being inside the Seireitei which had more concentration of reiatsu for so long he had forgotten what it was like to be in the human world again which had considerably less reiatsu particles, and allowed them to do whatever they thought was best as long wasn't anything over dramatic or detrimental.

The teen hollow hunter leaned back on the couch his eyes looking at the ceiling, but to him seemingly looking through it at something just out of his reach "(Sigh) I wonder how Shaolin's doing." He muttered, silently worried about his girlfriend well being, since the last time he came into the human world he lost someone very dear to him and didn't want a repeat event especially in this situation where he'd be unable to do anything.

(Later that day: Senna and Rukia)

Bored. That would be the best way to describe student number thirteen, Senna Kurosaki as she sat in the classroom's fourth row, ninth seat, listening to the teacher lecture on and on about the history lessons of early Japan, the stuff most high schoolers kind of knew already. Senna glanced back to her immediate right hand side and snorted before turning back to look out the window on her left, seeing that Rukia was absolutely enamored over the information, and was slowly drawing a picture on her notebook of what looked like a rabbit in samurai gear riding a horse into battle, as it carried a flag that had on the side the words 'Chappy Victory' or whatever that meant to the strange Shinigami.

Senna yawned tiredly because of the training regiment Ichigo and Rukia stuck her on and made her do every other day, since as they explained that they couldn't teach her a lot of Shinigami skills since it was extremely illegal to train non-Shinigami's, and settled for just the physical side of things, since Ichigo or Rukia would be there to support in actual battle, and the tediousness of this particular lesson since she was just going to forget all of this crap anyway after the test was over with. Unfortunately she yawned a bit too loudly as the teacher stopped mid lesson and looked over her way with narrowed eyes

"Well then Kurosaki-san. It seems you're very knowledgeable about today's lesson so why don't you explain to the class who defeated Nobunaga Oda during the battle of Honnoji." The teacher challenged to the girl, forcing her to stand up from her seat and answer the question aloud

"Ahhh…" the girl drawled out her eyes darting from one classmate to another looking for help, when the class started to smirk at her for being called out she took a wild stab and decided to go with the last name she was paying attention to "Ummm Mitsuhide Akechi and his army?" she said out questioningly, going with the first thing to pop into her head

The teacher rocked back and forth smugly "Congratulations you are correct Kurosaki-san. Though I would ask that the next time you're paying your undivided attention to the lesson you don't yawn or have such a blank stare." Getting a few nervous snickers from some in the class "It could make me begin to question your enthusiasm for the class."

"Hehe, y-yeah sure. No problem." Senna chuckled out nervously as she retook her seat. Once she was back in the teacher turned back around to the blackboard and started rambling again while drawing some more graphs and lines. A few more minutes passed before the bell rang ending the class.

"Alright class, lunch time. I'll see you all tomorrow, don't forget to do pages 326 through 328, and yes Asano-san you have to show all your work." She announced to the class before gathering her things to leave the room

Seeing that they were dismissed Senna got up from her desk and walked over to Rukia who was just putting the finishing touches on her latest masterpiece. "Tell me how is it that I get called out when your drawing in class?" wondering how she got away with it all class

The dark haired woman turned in her chair reaching down to put the notebook in her backpack "That's because, I looked like I was taking notes, while you were busy staring off and thinking about something else." She explained as they got up to head to the roof top for lunch "Is everything alright?" she asked in modest concern at her successor of her Shinigami powers

"Yeah. It's just this whole Soul Reaper business." Senna responded wearily, as they enter the hallway with their lunch in hand, not that she was feeling particularly hungry "I honestly hope I'm up to snuff. Those weird mantis things aren't too much of a problem now that I've got a little training in, but…"

Rukia smiled confidently "Don't worry, while I can't fight like I used too. I still have some kidos handy."

BEEP! BEEP!

Rukia's hand immediately flew into her pocket as she pulled out the hollow request pager. She looked back at Senna who had a determined look in her eye and with a solemn nod they went up to the roof, to prepare for battle.

(Elsewhere)

Ichigo paused during his patrol, and glanced back towards the school feeling three unfamiliar reiatsu signatures. One he was unsure of but it definitely didn't feel like a hollow the other reminded him of a hollow but was different too, and the last was definitely a hollow.

'_I better go check it out'_ and in a blur of speed Ichigo was off to the school to investigate, and assist the two girls if needed

(Senna and Rukia)

As soon as the pair reached the top floor, Rukia pulled out her trusty soul release glove that came with the Gigai and pushed Senna out of her body so she could fight unrestrained while Rukia dealt with hiding it on the roof top shack, a safe haven for the body until they could ensure the threat was neutralized. As soon as the body was successfully hidden Rukia jumped onto Senna's back, as they headed in the direction of the disturbance.

"Make a right here and it should be just ahead!" Rukia barked out the directions to the creature for Senna

Following the directions, the pair arrived on top of a building overlooking central park and saw an unusual sight, a tall blue haired boy with glasses wearing a white shirt and khaki pants from their school, well Senna's school, was holding a blue bow-thing like an archer and he was fighting a spider-like hollow.

"Quincy?" Rukia muttered questioningly, while Senna dropped down to the street across from the battle allowing the girl to safely get off and come up with a battle plan "Senna, same rules apply just help protect the man."

"Got it." she confirmed as she did a sub-par flash step over to the field, using her rather blunt Zanpaktou to cut a web shot aimed at the man, who to her surprise wasn't there when she turned around. _'Where'd he go?'_

A line of arrows came blistering down from the sky hitting the area around Senna, and the top part of the spider hollow called Webrack, nearly hitting the female Shinigami. "Hey watch where you're aiming!" the girl cried out, having only narrowly dodged the volley by inching back just enough

"What are you talking about? I was aiming at my targets." he replied coldly as he fell back down to the earth, while Senna blocked a claw swipe inwardly shaken that this boy who went to her school was actually aiming at her too, since he said 'targets' plural.

The archer boredly drew his bow again and launched some more energy arrows, while Senna flash stepped to the side to avoid them crashing into her though her inexperience caused her to stumble mid transposition, while the hollow roared out in pain from being struck by the condensed reiatsu energy.

Picking herself up from off the floor, she crossed her hands to begin one of her kido chants at the distracted monster "O Lord, Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man, Inferno and pandemonium, The sea barrier surges, March on to the south! Hadou 31: Shakkaho!" a medium sized burst of flames shooting from her hands and engulfing the creature making it disappear.

"(Whew) That was close." the relieved Senna said, happy that the immediate hollow threat was over and done with "Now for that guy…" turning back to see the man putting his bow away by letting the energy holding it dissipate and adjusting his glasses with his middle finger "Hey, you! What the heck is yo-URYU!" the girl shouted wide eyed from seeing her classmate from school here, fighting monsters like that like it was a mundane thing.

The blue haired man's impassive eyes widened for a moment after seeing Senna better in the one of a kind Shinigami hakama _'Senna? A Shinigami? Impossible I never once sensed Shinigami powers from her before. Which means she only recently acquired them, but from who?'_ The man narrowed his eyes as his genius level IQ quickly gave him an answer _'I see so it must be them the ones who visited…I best keep my distance unless of course they interfere with me or him, in which case I'll simply bury them.'_

Sensing a strong spiritual pressure approaching Uryu merely turned away with an audible 'Hmph' before disappearing leaving her in her stunned stupor at knowing his identity.

Senna ran over to where he had stood a moment ago and tried to find his reiatsu like Rukia had taught her, but sighed when she couldn't find it. _'I can find hollows, but I guess not people yet.'_ She thought defeatedly since after a week she still wasn't all that good at it. Giving up the search she returned back to Rukia who had been keeping other people away from the area. Silently wondering what was Uryu doing here and how he did that.

(Ichigo)

Ichigo stopped abruptly on the school roof top, the previous hollow energy signature gone. _'Not bad only a week on the job and Senna can take care of herself.'_ Ichigo thought with a smirk, since the girl picked up on things pretty quickly _'I guess I might as well wait up for them.'_ Deciding to take a load off until they got back, with a status report

'_**Hey King! Can you step in for a moment, we need to talk.'**_ Hichigo beckoned, needing to discuss something that the other Zangetsu found out

'_Fine.'_ He mentally replied as he sat down on the grounds in a meditative position, as he closed his eyes a whooshing sensation flew through him and when he open his eyes he was staring back into the familiar sideways city of his inner world.

"_**Nice to see you could join us."**_ Hichigo said snidely as he laid on his side further up the building.

"So what did you want?" asked Ichigo as he got up from his meditative spot

"_We have learned that your power is being weakened by both an Internal and External source, that we are unfamiliar with at this time"_ The older Zangetsu answered from the far right side of Ichigo, slowly approaching forward and stopping a few feet away

"Well…" Ichigo scratched his head, thinking of a reason why "I guess the limiter may have gotten put on tighter, Lin-chan did say that my power rose after mother's death. So that should be the external but what exactly do you mean by internal?"

"_**What he means is that something about your body is reacting to something else. We're not entirely sure just yet, but I have a hunch as to what it might be."**_

"And it's what?"

Hichigo pushed himself off the window and stood up with a smug look. _**"There might be another one like you."**_ Jabbing his finger at Ichigo

"That makes no sense." Ichigo deadpanned

"_**I didn't say I was done, jackass learn some patience!"**_ The hollow snarled, much to Ichigo's chagrin about the irony of him saying patience _**"What I'm getting at is maybe there's someone else here in this city that has power similar to your own."**_

"Another Zangetsu?" the boy questioned skeptically "Subaru already said that there only a one-to-one ratio when it comes to Zanpaktou, so how can there be another one."

"_We are not sure if it's another Zangetsu, Ichigo. We are stating that there maybe someone here that may possess an inner hollow such as yourself, though who it is we are uncertain."_

Ichigo looked down his mind going into deep thought over the possibility that someone else had an inner hollow or something similar to that._ 'Is there another?'_ he asked himself. He had always been able to hear his hollows voice for as long as he could remember, yeah it had frightened him but at the same time it almost felt a part of him.

Slowly his mind drifted back to the information given. Was some else here also like him? He did recall that strange energy signature from when he first arrived; it had disappeared shortly after the he met up with Rukia and Senna. Speaking of Senna she could also be the one too, after all he always had the hollow since he was a child, and she did have the last name as his.

"Nah. It wouldn't make sense she was in the human world plus her dads here which makes it even less believable." He muttered analytically, trying to work on the mystery "Perhaps that Keisuke fellow?" he questioned, the man did come off as strange and he did have a gut feeling about him as to being the traitor but maybe just maybe that gut feeling was to him being similar. His mind then started thinking about another one "There's always Rukia too. I've never met her before now, so I don't know what her powers are like. Hmm…"

{Ichigo!}

The boy perked up, looking up to the gray skies above him after hearing his name called by someone from the real world.

{Ichigo!}

Said boy looked back at the two spirits "Look I gotta go guys. Whatever you guys are doing just keep it up. I need to leave." He ordered as he closed his eyes to return to the conscious world.

"Hey wake up sleepy head!" Senna yelled at the unresponsive Shinigami for the third time in a row, ready to grab him and start slapping until he woke up

"Y-yeah." He said regaining awareness to the world around him, his hand holding unto the woman's forearm in to convince her to let him go

Senna back in her human body let out a sigh of relief seeing he was still ok from his coma like meditation period. She called over Rukia who had been thinking things over since they had returned from seeing their classmate, Uryu.

"Ichigo." The female started getting the man's attention "When Senna and I were out today we encountered a very strange sight at the park."

"'Strange'? What do you mean by that?"

"We saw a Quincy." She informed in all seriousness, getting an interested look from Ichigo

"Are you sure? I thought they were all extinct."

"That's not the shocker Ichigo, this 'Quincy' guy you keep saying is actually one of my classmates. He's even capable of defeating hollows." interjected Senna, her face then fell as an epiphany hit her "Hey, did something happen between you Shinigami and the Quincy people?" she asked full of new found doubt, since people wouldn't violently attack other, especially those who help "Because he shot at me on sight when I tried to help him."

The two Shinigami bit their lips and cast a glance towards each other, before Ichigo sighed in resignation "Senna…I'm going to be honest with you so bear with me alright." Ichigo said concernedly, ready to drop a bomb shell on the woman "Shinigami according to history, well…we're the cause that quinces are nearly extinct."

"what do-?" her eyes looking at him for the answer before horrifying realization dawned after seeing the solemn looks on both Shinigami "No way…You, you murdered them!" she whispered

"Genocide to be precise." corrected Ichigo, not that the term felt any better "You see, when Shinigami kills a hollow they get purified by our Zanpaktou which is a good thing, but when a Quincy kills a hollow the soul is reduced to just reiatsu particles which is the equivalent of it being out right destroyed. So our ancestors hunted down to reduce the overall number of Quincys to save as many souls as possible."

"And that justifies it!" She yelled out to the pair making them cringe as they could understand her anger, but they like all Shinigami needed to look at the bigger picture, even if they had to step on the feelings of others

"We didn't say that." Rukia said moving in to save the situation, hoping she'd understand if she showed a personal reason for the actions of their ancestors "Senna look, there are times when tough calls have to be made. Sometimes the right path isn't the easiest. For instance Senna your dad, you love him very much right?"

"Yeah, of course." She said automatically, not even needing to stop and think about it

The girl took a step closer to Senna and grabbed her hand, to seem more empathetic and bring out the girl's more understanding side "If he were to turn into a hollow you could reunite with him in Soul Society if a Shinigami attended him. But if Quincy killed him you would never see him again. And when your soul reaches Soul Society there is a very good chance you could turn into a hollow yourself from the eternal grief of losing him. It wasn't all that uncommon back then according to the history books, in fact it was a very dark time for Soul Society."

Senna closed her eyes, imagining the pain and ache it must be like to turn into a hollow from never reuniting with the people who've loved you since the moment you could walk. She sadly nodded her head understanding their point not that she liked it.

"That's enough for now." Said Ichigo as he picked himself off the ground and stretched his muscles, knowing that being sad and mopey was never good for people, even if he practiced it sometimes "Let's call it in today. Nothing new has happened in our rescue, but we did learn we might have a potential enemy so let's keep our heads up, we still got three weeks to go."

The team turned and went down the roof top stairwell, eager to return home and rest for the night, and put this ugly stain on the Shinigami honor to rest.

* * *

Blackout2010: Well that brings an end to chapter 11.

Uryu: Hmm, I see you still try and portray me, as something of a dick, just like in canon in the beginning.

Senna: What makes you say that Uryu?

Ichigo: ahh...let's just say we had 'conflictions'.

Senna:?

Rukia: Don't bother, it's water under the bridge.


	12. Awful night near death

Blackout2010: Well, hello everyone to the next chapter of the story

Ichigo: Really? No joke.

Blackout2010:…well yeah really.

Rukia: Really?

Blackout2010: Yes, really!

Uryu: Are you sure?

Blackout2010: YES! Geez, I already learned that simply posting an acknowledgment is a very bad thing, and I won't do it again.

Uryu: whatever you say…

Blackout2010:…your all assholes.

Senna: But…

Blackout2010: No, that doesn't include you

Senna: (^u^)/

I don't own anything.

* * *

Ch.12 Awful night near death

It had been about three days since the incident with Uryu, and so far the team hadn't made any significant progress in being rescued or in figuring out the Quincy mystery as Uryu hadn't shown up for school since that day.

Today was Sunday which meant no school for Senna, who lazily turned the page in the magazine she was reading at the kitchen table since she had to stay nearby, cooped up inside the apartment along with the other two soul reapers in case of a hollow attack, despite the sunny weather outside.

Senna glanced over at Rukia who was busy devising a fool proof, emphasis on fool when she said it to Ichigo, plan to not only get rescued quicker but how to bring down the Quincy in case he tried to attack them. Right now she was working on the graphic designs of the battle plan, so it could be more easily understood and explained, though Ichigo still said it sucked which earned another whack to the back of his head as he was cooking dinner for the team.

"Now, I'm of consenting age to be forgetting you in a cabera some where downtown a burlesque may even ask my name (1)" Senna cell phone's ringtone went off as she picked it up to answer the phone "Hello?" She asked "Oh hey how have you been?" her excitement rising from hearing from her friend "Uhuh. No, not much. Really? Ok. Tonight? Sure I'll see you then!" conversed Senna getting Ichigo and Rukia's attention since she hardly ever made plans to go out.

Hanging up the phone, Senna jumped up from her chair "Guys guess what." She asked rhetorically

"What?" Rukia asked, wondering why she was in such a happy mood

"My good friend just called in and asked for my help for his show tonight!" she said excitedly, already mentally picking out her attire for the evening, so she could look stylish next to him on his adventure

"What show is this exactly?" Ichigo asked curiously since he had never been on a T.V. stage before and heard it was 'all the rage'

"Don Kannoji's wander spirit's channel!" she answered getting a deer in the headlights look from the guy, who honestly didn't expect something like that nor her elation on the subject "Oh you'll love it it's all about ghosts and spirit sightings. He's super popular!"

"And people buy that?" Ichigo asked skeptically

Senna huffed herself up at his attitude on the show "How can you be so cynical you're a ghost yourself!"

"It's not that I'm cynical it's just well, I heard most human follow the phrase 'Seeing is believing' and not everyone can see ghost like you can." Said Ichigo, trying to calm down the land lady, though he did recall that a lot of people here had higher spiritual energy than normal so maybe it would be easier for it to fly among Karakura, but maybe not everywhere else

"Fine, then you can come with me and Rukia-chan. And you'll see just how great Don Kannoji really is." The ribbon wearing girl said matter-of-factly, crossing her arms as she threw down the gauntlet at Ichigo

"I think we should go." said Rukia throwing in her two cents "It beats sitting in the house all day, plus I'm kind of interested in this little proposal AND since it's two to one vote we're going and that's final." Using the majority ruling that Ichigo had established earlier against him forcing his cooperation on this

'_I guess staying wound up won't do any good.'_ Ichigo sighed exhaustedly "Fine…whatever…" giving up on the endeavor and just going with the flow since the two stubborn women wouldn't budge once they made up their mind.

(That Night)

"Come on! Pick up the pace we don't want to be late!" instructed the eager Senna, who was dressed in a black evening shirt with a red short sleeved jacket on top and a pair of pants that had stripes of silver and black running down it vertically.

"We're coming we're coming!" grumbled Ichigo as he had been enduring for the past two hours the constant blabbering of how great Don Kannoji is, which annoyed him even more when Senna actually got Rukia into it, even going so far as to do this weird creepy ass laugh with their arms crossed, that reminded him of those laughing skeleton head's he heard people put out on Halloween.

Ichigo took a glance back at his powerless partner and remembered why he wasn't looking at her. She was wearing the traditional skirt from Senna's school but the black shirt she wore with it said 'The Spirits are always with you!' much to Ichigo's annoyance since he didn't want to be reminded of work when they were supposed to be relaxing, even if he did have to be in Shinigami attire with Zangetsu strapped to his back.

"Look its right there!" Senna pointed excitedly at a huge metal trailer parked right outside of an abandoned hospital, which had spot lights pointing at the entranceway of the Hospital and trailer entrance.

Slowly, well for Ichigo since the other two practically ran towards it on sight, got to the trailer and Senna knocked on it and rather girlishly squealed out "Don Kannoji! It's me Senna and I brought some friends!"

The metal door of the trailer opened inwardly, and thick smokish-fog started to pour out of it, suddenly several bright lights beamed on blinding the team. Then they saw the silhouette of a man with his arms stretched out to his side like he was some kind of rock star. He took about two steps forward so Ichigo and company could see him despite the blinding spot lights.

"SENNA! My number one apprentice it us most fortuitous that the spirits allowed you to accompany me this lovely night!" the dark bizarre looking man said to the girl

As Ichigo took a closer look the man was extremely tan almost black, he had on a thick customized jacket that had the kanji for spirit king across the front which was separated by the zipper, he wore some thick coke bottle shades which was probably the only reason he was able to see them. His knee ripped jeans was apparently supposed to make him hip for the younger viewers.

'_Great, another weirdo.'_ The strawberry thought rudely about this…whatever he was supposed to be

'_**What the fuck is that thing!'**_ his inner hollow asked in his typical manner when addressing people he barely knew and didn't have an interest in _**'Can I kill this guy? He looks like a gay lesbian that had a bad sex change!'**_

"It great to see you again Kannoji-Sensei!" the exuberant Senna said embracing the man in a hug. She then turned around with her hand still on the guys shoulder to introduce her new friends "Sensei, these are my friends Rukia."

The announced girl stepped forward and gave a curtsy bow "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kannoji-san."

The African American (A/N: I'm guessing) put his hand upon her head and ruffled her hair lightly "And I you. May the blessing of the spirits be upon you, young one."

"And the guy next to her is-"

"A bad spirit!" the man yelled pulling out his trusty spirit cane of justice, after seeing the frowning mug of Ichigo who now sported a tick mark on his head

"I'm one of the good guys." He said snidely, kind of wishing the guy was a fake in his ability to see spirits so he wouldn't be disturbed. "Just my luck." He whispered to himself

"No, you feel like a BAAAAD Spirit." He said dramatically getting concerned looks from the girls, while ignoring the previous statements made by the man

"Don Kannoji-san! That's our friend, you don't think…" said Rukia getting caught up in the mystique that was Don Kannoji

"Hmm. Yes. It is I'm afraid." The man nodded solemnly, pulling down his glasses so Rukia could see into his eyes, a look of sadness was held inside of them for the fate he would have to break to the young women "Your friend has been possessed by an evil spirit!"

'_I take my criticism back. I think he's talking about you.'_

'_**What! I'm people friendly…well…after their dead of course…'**_

"Girls. I want you to listen to me and run away should this spirit turn violent." Don said heroically, taking a step forward and gripping his cane firmly in both his hands, ready to smite the pulsating evil within the man

"Alright." The women said taking a few steps back to give the man some room, to perform an exorcism on their comrade.

Don Kannoji took in a quick inhalation of air "huuuuuahhhh!" he yelled out, his to Ichigo's understanding, barely acknowledgeable spiritual pressure rose just a fraction "Bad spirit be gone, leave this one alone! Return to him his youthful strength and might, All you spirits out there hear my plight. Let the spirit that haunts him see the righteous way, please get rid of the spirit today! Bad Spirit be gone! Bad Spirit!" He thrusted his cane at Ichigo "BEEEGOOONE!

Ichigo looked at the man skeptically, unable to believe this guy hasn't been locked up yet. While he did start to feel a bit lighter after the…performance he wasn't going to admit it lest he egg him on further.

"Oh, ahh t-thank-you Don Kannoji-san! I feel so much better." he said happily playing the part of the saved victim

"Oh thank-you for saving our friend Don Kannoji-san!" said Rukia as she glomped Ichigo, with a sickeningly sweet smile letting him know she was going to thoroughly enjoy this outing.

"Way to go Sensei! You saved another one!"

"(sigh) Yes, I have my dear Senna." He said happily pulling down his glasses to clean them, while he stared into the night sky "But there are far far more spirits in need of our help." He turned back to Senna, and placed his hand on her shoulder dramatically "Should I fall before my task is done, I leave it to you Senna Kurosaki to finish my work."

"Of-Of Course Sensei!" replied Senna, a waterfall of tears coming down her face for her master putting on such a noble and just crusade against the corruption that plagued the afterlife.

"Now, now my dear. Take heart. For today will not be that day as I have many friends with me to help support my never ending endeavor."

"(Sniff) oh,…okay." She answered, whipping away the tears still in her eyes with her sleeve

"Good!" he said merrily jumping back to his feet "Now let us advance into the hospital!"

The three soul reapers looked into the hospital and felt an energy signature inside of it. Ichigo looked back at Rukia, who nodded at Senna. "Excuse me, Don Kannoji-san. But we were wondering if Senna could change her cloths real quick as they aren't entirely suited to the hospital." lied Rukia

The man gave a firm nod as he continued looking at the building "Very well, but hurry back. The spirits will not resolve themselves."

Rukia and Senna ran back around the trailer, and quickly forced her out of her body and ditched it underneath the trailer so no one would mess with it, while Ichigo flash stepped back around the outside area to see if anyone or anything else was surrounding it before returning to the apartment to get any medical supplies for the 'trip'. When they had gathered all their gear for whatever was inside they walked back to the self-proclaimed spirit king, like nothing was wrong.

"Alright we're ready to go!" the soul reapered Senna hollered to her sensei, still maintaining her excitement even though they might be walking into a battle, so as not to alert or scare the man

Don Kannoji looked back at the assembled team eyeing the team of sharp looking individuals "Hmm, you look very lovely in that outfit Senna-chan. Is it some kind of school club thing? Because it also looks very professional" assessed the man, having never seen her wear those clothing before

"Kind of sorta. Anyway I wanted to ahh fit the role of a body guard for you. You know someone you can count on." The female Kurosaki half-lied to her sensei

"Hmm. That would be most welcomed, though I wish it will be I doing my best to protect you my number one pupil." He looked over to Rukia, who while outwardly looked the same had taken a small pill to help focus her spiritual power "Ms. Kuchiki was it? Could you by chance videotape our findings tonight?"

"Sure, I would love too." She answered with a sweet smile as she grabbed the bulky device, while she eyed it curiously having never seen of such a device.

"Excellent, now let us GOOO!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as he charged to the entrance way like a maniac

'_Why am I doing this?'_ Ichigo thought with a sweat drop, unable to believe that he had to be associated with that idiot

'_This so exciting!'_ Senna thought after seeing her Sensei's courageous charge forward

'_How does this thing work?' _Rukia thought as she turned the device on it's side and gripped the opening for the hand

(Inside Hospital)

"Excellent, we have infiltrated the ghost's territory to all those watching out there." informed Don Kannoji as he faced the camera. "Now we shall proceed further in an vanquish the spirits!" the man continued to narrate

So the Spirit team moved through the abandoned hallways, carefully since some parts of the building were structurally unsound not that it deterred the Spirit Whack from commenting on how evil spirits were trying to intimidate them to leave by making the shadows bigger or making some of the pipes in the ceiling creak or sputter from disuse.

As they continued through the hallways, the truly spiritually sensitive of the group felt the unknown signature move again this time much closer. It moved seemingly past them and stopped just ahead of the hallway they were in.

'_I hope whatever's moving around isn't hostile. I can't swing Zangetsu in here.'_ Ichigo noted concernedly, since a good horizontal or vertical slash would be impossible _'Maybe I could draw it though and thrust it, if I'm careful…'_

"Alright Children. We are going to advance forward as I have felt a disturbance of the energies around us. Something is waiting us ahead. Let us go forward for Justice!" the African American whispered vibrantly to the audience who was watching at home. He continued on ahead acting like the macho team leader that he apparently thought he was.

"Hey Senna" called Ichigo. The girl turned around to face the other Kurosaki, and nodded her head when he mouthed to be ready for anything.

As Don Kannoji opened the door, the Shinigami team kept their senses on full alert and slowly Senna reached for her weapon, while Ichigo and Rukia charged up a small kido spell. As they carefully walked inside the energy signature remained in place, Don Kannoji squinted his eyes trying to see through the darkness as he felt someone or something was in here with them.

Don Kannoji with an unusually serious face turned and nodded to the Shinigami's not seeing the kido spells only Senna's blade. "On three." He whispered quietly to the team.

"1…2…3!" He exclaimed jumping on top of a nearby table "Reveal yourself dark specter." Pointing his cane ahead towards a table turned on its side, while Ichigo and Rukia launched their kido spells at it destroying the obstruction.

"Oh! Oops. Guess I don't know my own strength. Hehe sorry." Don Kannoji said sheepishly, since he clearly didn't mean to destroy any property, and only wanted to draw the apparition out though he failed to realize it wasn't his strength that did the damage. "Hmm? Who that?" he questioned placing a hand against his forehead to peer better when he saw someone approaching them from the other side of the smoke.

As the person approached the team saw strands of blue hair bob with each step taken. The white shirt the person wore stuck out immediately in contrast to the surrounding darkness which explains why it was hidden behind the table. While there brown pants were illuminated by the blue light stretching from their hand.

"Uryu!" said Senna recognizing her fellow classmate

"Hmph. So we meet again soul reapers, and it seems you brought reinforcements." The boy said coolly, finally meeting the apparent leader of the rag tag Shinigami team, having figured out a long time ago that Senna was in no way shape or form a Shinigami, since he had never sensed that energy signature emit from her until recently.

"Wait! Is this the guy who attacked you?" Ichigo pointed out having remembered being told about a Quincy taking aim at Senna three days ago.

"I don't know what lies have been getting spread around, not that I'm surprised by Soul Society Shinigami, but for your information she just happen to be in the line of fire which she put herself voluntarily in as I was fine with dealing with the hollow by myself." He said condescendingly ruffling the feather's of Senna for her attempts at trying to 'help' him.

"Hey it's our job to help others."

"Really?" he said with evil intrigue as he glanced towards Don Kannoji "From what I can tell you've brought a man with barely any spiritual abilities to me, someone with great powers and not once did you think about sending him away for the concern of his safety? That sounds rather reckless." He then shrugged like he didn't care "But I suppose that all Soul Society Shinigami can do, endanger and condemn others to death despite their innocence."

Senna looked down and away from Uryu, as she couldn't argue since the Shinigami did commit Genocide against his people so she could understand his anger on that one. Rukia started to set the camera down so she could participate if a fight broke out.

"Look, Uryu. We're sorry for what happened to your people, but were not ones responsible. All we're, being Rukia and I, trying to do now is protect as many souls as we can while were down here."

"I see. Then how about a little challenge." He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small white cube about the size of a cell phone. Ichigo's and Rukia's eyes widened at seeing what was in the man's hand, while a sly smile graced his face "Oh so you recognize this? I'm sure you would it is hollow bait after all."

"Hollow Bait? Is that a fish?" Don Kannoji asked not able to follow the entire conversation at all, though he figured it must have been some kind of drug from it's appearance which made the boy in front of him a delinquent

"H-hollow Bait?" questioned Senna fearfully at what its name obviously implied _'ooooh no.'_

Uryu ignored them and continued speaking with Rukia and Ichigo "The challenge is this: if you can protect Don Kannoji and safely get him to the rooftop of this hospital, I promise to no longer interfere with you all provide you leave me be. "

"And if we lose?" asked Ichigo getting ready for the unavoidable challenge the Quincy was preparing

"I get to kill you Shinigami." He said simply getting a nervous look from Senna as she really didn't want to die. Which seemed to egg the boy on further "But I'll give you a handicap, I'll assist you in protecting Don Kannoji but if I kill more hollows then all three of you combined, again I kill you. What do you say? Not that you have a choice?"

"We accept." answered Ichigo, going over a few precautions with the games rules, knowing that they couldn't leave Don Kannoji alone to kill hollows but their limitations in close quarters was their disadvantage as Uryu could hit the enemy from the other side of the hallway if he so wished, though the fact he'd help protect Don Kannoji as well gave a small margin of error. _'Once Kannoji's on the roof, I can use my flash step unrestrained and get him out of here before dealing with Uryu.'_

"Good. We're currently on the first floor. That means we have two more floors left before we reach the top and the stairs are down the hallway opposite of the cafeteria, so back the way you came." informed the blue haired Quincy as he adjusted his glasses and resummoned his bow. "Let the hunt begin." And he crushed the small white tablet in his hand until dust remained.

"GGGGrrraaahhh!" the scream of a hollow pierced the silence in the abandoned hospital, and within a few more moments more monstrous roars and howls began to exude throughout the building, echoing down all of the hallways.

Senna whipped the sweat off her forehead that had started to build from realizing that they were in for one heck of a night as she had never heard that many hollows at once, she turned back and saw that Don Kannoji wasn't fairing any better as his knees were visibly shaking, he apparently was spiritually aware enough to have heard it too. "Hey d-don't worry Sensei. We'll keep you safe…" Senna said nervously with a forced smile to alleviate his anxiety, not that she believed it would help him since she didn't believe it herself.

Don Kannoji nodded nervously, while he may not know what's was really going on he knew for certain that this was NOT part of the show anymore. Ichigo put a hand on Don Kannoji's shoulder and gave a firm look to silently reassure him for all the good it did. "Alright, Senna since your blade is smaller and usable in these corridors you'll have to take point. Rukia, you back her up." He ordered using this brief moment to organize them all before things got complicated and people started getting hurt. "As for me, I'll stay close to Kannoji and keep an eye on the asshole who put us in this situation."

The team took their positions, with a bit of reluctance on Uryu's part as he didn't like being ordered around by a Shinigami of all things, and slowly began their dangerous trek through the not so abandoned hospital.

'_**Hey, King why don't you take the freak show through the front door and escape? It couldn't be that hard.'**_ asked Hichigo not fully understanding why he was going through all of this shit just to get out, when they would be passing by the front door on their way to the stairs anyway

'_Simple. If we go through the front door, we could get ambushed from above and the sides by the summoned hollows._' He mentally replied back to the specter all the while keeping his eyes peeled for any sudden movements in the shadows, the movements of the enemy _'besides even IF I got away with Don Kannoji and that's assuming the hollows don't chase after me. I'd have to leave an inexperienced Senna and powerless Rukia alone with a hoard of hungry hollows and Homicidal Quincy. At least if we get to the roof, we can hold our ground and escape easier with a flash step.'_

Ichigo glanced over to the side where Don Kannoji was walking cautiously, ready to run at a moment's notice, which didn't surprise Ichigo. Since they were surrounded by hollows in narrow corridors and trying to pinpoint where they were was useless since they could be above them or below maybe even…

Boom! The wall crumbled in as a pair of white arms shot through it trying to grab Don Kannoji and pull him into the waiting embrace of the hungry monster on the other side. Ichigo responded quickly and used his muscular arms to pull the struggling spirit detective from it's death grip while, the ever calm Quincy shot his arrows rapidly into the hole.

The hands retracted back inside, the pain being too much for the beast. Too bad for it Ichigo wasn't going to allow it to leave alive. He pushed Don Kannoji over to Senna and Rukia, who were keeping an eye out for anymore surprises while Uryu and Ichigo dealt with the wall attacker, and threw a kido spell inside of the crack barricade.

A horrible roar was heard from the other side then suddenly silence fell upon the group. Not feeling anything trying to bite his hand he retracted his arm and gave it a light shake to make sure it was still fine, seeing that it was he looked over at Senna who was shaking in fright by the unexpected attack.

"That's one for you, Shinigami." Uryu commented casually as he adjusted his glasses, also like Ichigo not entirely surprised that the hollows would try anything to eat them.

'_This guy's pretty callous. I just hope he doesn't betray us, if we win…or get out of here.'_

Forming back up, the team began walking much more alertly and avoiding hugging the walls in case one of them reached through again, though it was considerable more cramped with the five people closely together. Coming up to a four way intersection, Senna and Rukia separated to both sides of it, while Ichigo moved in front of Don Kannoji to protect him, while Uryu released his bow again ready to take aim, and even the score since he was behind.

As the female pair edged closer, Senna raised her weapon close to her chest while Rukia had her left hand which contained her spell back a bit so as not to let the light give away their position. When Senna peeked around the corner she hastily and silent moved back around into cover having seen one hollow down her pathway, the ribbon wearing Shinigami carefully lifted up one of her fingers up signaling to Rukia who nodded and looked down her way taking aim at the target.

"Hadou 31: Soukatsui!" she yelled launching the fire spell at the unsuspecting hollow who turned to face them once the war cry had been heard.

The spell hit the lizard looking hollow in the shoulder as it nimbly jerked its body to the side as it began to charge forward, it locked on hungrily on Rukia who was chanting up her next spell. As soon as it hit the corner, Senna swung her sword slashing the arm of the creature which reflexive jumped back not expecting an ambush.

The skirmish was abruptly ended when an energy arrow went flying in between Rukia and Senna and slammed into the mask of the creature destroying it. The two girls looked back and saw Uryu with his bow pointed in between the space between Ichigo's and Don Kannoji's head. "You two took too long, the point is mine. One to One."

The team turned back to continue down the corridor, not too thrilled that Uryu was treating this whole life or death thing like a game, when the building started to rattle and shake causing some of the dust to begin to fall from the windowsills. The tremor continued for another twenty or so seconds before the shaking stopped.

The team cautiously glanced around making sure nothing was going to be coming down on them since they were still in an abandoned and possibly structurally unsafe building. "Looks like it's passed. Let keep moving and get out of here." Said Ichigo wanting to get out of this spot even more after that little show

"Still that's a little odd" commented Senna as she turned back down the hallway they were following, keeping an eye out for trouble "we don't normally get earthquakes out here."

"Whatever it's fine." said Uryu, as he started to move forward in order to maintain his short distance behind Ichigo and Don Kannoji. The blue haired boy then abruptly stopped when Ichigo turned around facing him, his eyes narrowed. The orange haired man took a few menacing steps towards him, when Uryu drew his bow and pointed it directly at the man ready to fill him with arrows.

What surprised the Quincy was when Ichigo walked around him like a stranger would in a crowd of people. Uryu as well as everyone else turned around looking at Ichigo in confusion for his strange behavior. He kept walking just a few more feet before he stopped and turned back around to face them. His serious face broke away into a carefree smile. "I just thought I heard something." He said honestly throwing his arms out care freely, as he looked away from them and at the wall.

"Why didn't you just say that?" Uryu asked dryly, not amused that he actually felt threatened that the man would try and cut him down in the middle of things. "Don't try such a stup-"

He never got to finish as Ichigo quickly jumped over to the wall on his left and seemingly grabbed something, which the other couldn't see. The man threw whatever was being held in his hand down on the ground violently and gave it a swift kick, which shocked the others when the leg stopped in mid-air and a thud sound could be heard back down the way they came.

Not wasting a second Ichigo jumped on the invisible foe and started to beat it with his fists pounding away until the scream of a hollow was heard as a reptile-like creature appeared in front of all of them. "Just as I thought, a chameleon class hollow." He said aloud to the others, specifically to Uryu since it was about to jump him from behind. Ichigo brought his index finger to the center mask of the struggling creature "Byakurai!" he commanded as a white light shot from his digit and blew a small but noticeable hole through the hollow killing it and causing it to evaporate.

Get back up from his little tussle with the chameleon, Ichigo turned back to the group "Alright now we can keep moving." passing by Uryu without a second glance as he returned to his position next to Don Kannoji.

"Wait, Shinigami." Uryu called out stopping Ichigo who turned his head back to the archer "Why did you do that? You could have just let it get me." he asked analytically since it would make infinitely more sense to kill two birds with one stone by allowing the creature to kill him and then take it out.

"Simple." He turned away from him and back to the girls in front of him his eyes watching them to alert him to anything else slippery "It's my job to protect souls, all of them, regardless if they're assholes or not. Besides she'd yell at me if I let someone die so needlessly when I could have done otherwise, as unnecessary death is just as bad as failing a mission in her eyes."

He started to walk forward ignoring the looks of confusion from everyone for his words. He got in two more steps before the building once again started to rumble and shake, but this time much more violently. As the tremors grew worse and worse Ichigo made Don Kannoji kneel down to the ground in the fetal position while he used his arm to balance himself against the wall, Uryu was standing by himself despite the shaking, Rukia had fully hugged the wall determined to not lose her balance and Senna had fell down to the ground being caught unawares of the sudden tremor.

Crrakk…

Ichigo despite his shaking body looked backwards, as did Uryu who also heard the cracking sound behind them. While it was too dark to see what was cracking it was definitely something very close to their position, with each passing second the tremors got even worse and then suddenly stopped.

BOOM!

Something erupted from the floor about twenty or so feet behind Uryu. Ichigo called up a Shakkaho and launched it down the dark path and saw it fly down until it connected with something very large.

The large creature that the fire illuminated briefly was seemingly crawling on the floor but filled up to about waist height, it had on a insect-looking mask with golden eyes but what really stuck out was the giant teeth and large gaping mouth on the creature.

'_A giant centipede! In here!'_ Ichigo noted and took a quick glance at the length of the hallway. He yelled out to the others panic in his voice "Everybody run to the stairs. If that thing catches you it'll swallow you whole!"

Not wasting a second the Spirit team picked themselves up making a mad dash for the stair well hoping the creature wouldn't be able to follow them to the next floor, while the Giant creature let out a menacing roar and stampeded off chasing after it's meal ticket.

"Ichigo we got two hollows up ahead!" cried out Senna as her sword dangled at her side ready to deliver a horizontal swipe at the creatures

Ichigo quickly launched another spell at the 100 ft wall of death behind them "Attack them as you run by! But no matter what happens don't stop moving, try and cripple them so they can't move!" he looked back at the still on coming creature, as he put more effort into keeping a nice distance between him "Maybe this thing will find them more edible than us."

As the squad advanced towards the creatures, Senna sliced the chest of one of the rat looking hollows while Uryu shot into the other creatures legs as Rukia shot her Hadou into it's arm to prevent any counter attack. Senna's hollow disappeared the pain being too much for it to handle and it evaporated, allowing the group to run on that side of the hall avoiding the other creature.

The team kept running forward as hard as they could and didn't dare look back when they heard a very loud scream from behind them and the sound of something being crunched and grounded up, while the splashing of liquid more than likely blood splatter against the walls and floor.

The brief pause of silence was again filled with the noise on hundreds of insect like feet coming up from behind them.

"Look the door to the stairs!" Uryu pointed out, hoping the creature behind them would be too big to fit into such a narrow vertical spacing.

When Senna reached the door she tried to open it but to no avail, her eyes looked back at the group "It's jammed guys! Give me a hand!"

The panicking and desperate group all rushed over and began to push and hit the door trying to unhinge it while the rustling of feet got even closer. Uryu hearing the noise turned back around to the pitch black hallway "You guys focus on the door I'll slow it down with my arrows!" as he charged up his bow and began his assault aiming wildly down the path hoping to hit it's eyes or something sensitive and give them a chance to escape

'_Damn it! It won't budge.'_ Ichigo concluded fiercely as his specialized kick from the second division did little to budge it. He jumped away from the door and leaned over so he could pull out Zangetsu from his shoulder _'Then let's try harder!'_

Ichigo ran forward and performed a thrust forward, which knocked the metal door off it's hinges and crashed into the wall. "Everybody in!" he yelled out, as they all ran ahead of him to 'ascend from darkness' as soon as Ichigo's foot touched the metal of the stairs, he saw the creature finally emerge from the darkness and head straight for him. The blood of the previous meal on it's bone crushing mandibles.

Ichigo quickly ran up the first flight of stairs and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing the creature wouldn't be able to follow them in such a narrow shaft. He was only partially right.

The creature kept charging forward and broke through the wall that the unhinged door had been leaning against, creating a giant sized hole as it went skittering through it.

'_Fuuuuck. Why do I get the feeling this isn't over yet.'_ He thought as he ran the up to the second floor to meet the group. As he pushed open the door he saw that all of them weren't looking at him, happy to know he was still alive, but were instead looking directly out the window in front of them in fear. The Shinigami turned his head to the left and his jaw started to drop as he saw against the windows hundreds of insect like feet going across the glass in an upward arc and possible around the building.

'_**Persistent bitch isn't it!'**_

"Tell me…" Don Kannoji started his eyes still glued to the window watching the hazy blur move across it "can we exorcise this bad spirit before it reaches the city?"

"It's questionable at this point in time." answered Uryu, whose façade of aloofness was dropped "The bait usually attracts many small ones not one big one and some food for it." he turned back to the 'leader' "Ichigo, more than likely there won't be any more hollows here as we've killed about six or seven so far now we just need to deal with this creature."

"I know." replied Ichigo, as he was thinking on how to pull through this dangerous situation. "Well that creature will eat us if were directly in front of it as it charges forward, so we need to fight it in an area with a lot of room to move around in so we can keep out of it's striking distance."

"The roof…" whispered Senna already figuring out where this was going

Rukia nodded her head in agreement with her senior "You do have a point. At the roof top we can hopefully see it coming and avoid it when it passes by and because of it's size it wouldn't be able to turn readily, giving us the advantage."

"While this theory is all well and good, this is assuming that it doesn't have any form of counterattack or is inflexible as it looks." commented Uryu throwing his two cents into the battle plan, since he'd get roped into since he was distance attacker, and pretty responsible for what happened "Not to mention we'd have to leave Don Kannoji somewhere, since he'd be dead weight to us."

The spirit man 'Hmphed' because while he knew he was useless, the bespectacled boy didn't need to remind him of it.

"I can watch him while you guys deal with the creature." said Senna stepping up to guard duty, since her kido magic was probably weaker than Rukia's and she only had 10 days of very basic training and two hollow encounters under her belt.

"Alright if it's-" Ichigo started but suddenly stopped as he looked back out the window of the building. He took a few steps closer to it and peered out since the leg train had past.

"What are you-"

"Shh!" he hushed still looking into the distance at one of the buildings, particularly at the top of it. He strained his eyes further getting a better look, before a breath of air escaped him.

He saw it. He saw _'him'_. Ichigo's hand slammed into the wall an audible thump was heard to the others. _'So you finally show yourself, Grand Fisher!'_ he noted, not once forgetting the description of the creature who robbed him of his mother. Ichigo's face contorted to pure hate, as he knew he couldn't do anything to that creature, since it would mean abandoning not only his team to the creature but possibly Karakura as well, which would be completely intolerable.

"Is everything ok?" asked Senna worried, since she had never seen Ichigo lose his temper like that before

"It's nothing" he lied in a frigid tone, that sent a shiver up the group's spine "It's nothing at all." He turned back to the stairs and started walking to it "Uryu, Rukia let's go."

The two called looked at Ichigo warily, one for wondering if he would have to take him down should he turn on him the other not understanding what caused such a violent outburst like that, but they complied none-the-less heading up the stairs to deal with the bug problem. While Senna and Don Kannoji entered one of the nearby rooms to ambush any hollows that might still be lurking around.

(Roof top)

Ichigo kicked the door leading to the roof of off it's hinges, his rage still coursing through his body as he stalked out Zangetsu coming clean from it's spot now that it had enough space to do some damage.

Uryu and Rukia arrived a moment later, as they each charged up their weapons and took a place behind Ichigo in a small triangular formation, so as to cover each other's flanks.

The constant scratching, crunching and rumbling of feet and debris could be heard all around them. The teams eyes were darting around looking towards the edges of the building trying to see where the monster would come from but not a single one of them daring to get close to it lest they meet the same fate as the hollow from the hallway, because it popped up in front of them from it's hanging to the sides.

"Grroonnngggah!" the creature yelled the cry causing the team to wince from the sheer volume as it turned it's head unto the roof top, trying to locate it's prey that had barely escaped it's hungry jaws earlier

"There it is!" Ichigo yelled out as the strike team released a volley of kido magic and reishi arrows, at the behemoth.

The arrows and kido bursts hit the one of white plated side of the creature, doing very minimal damage to it, as the creature skirted on to the top of the building and charged forward it's teeth ready to sink into their delicious souls.

Do to being smaller and more agile than the creature, the team scattered away from the on-coming hollow as it continued going forward as ended up crawling back down the sides of the building once again hiding from sight, as it prepared to try again.

"It seems our attacks aren't strong enough to damage it from the sides" commented Rukia, since even if she was weakened the combination strike from Ichigo and Uryu should have at least phased it

"Then we'll have to take a risk and aim for it's head as it passes by" Ichigo said knowing that perhaps it's seemingly unarmored head would be more sensitive to their attacks "Uryu, you and Rukia are better at distance fighting then me, so you take aim while I distract it." he explained his basic but new plan, acting the part of decoy since he would be naturally faster than the other two because of the training from squad two.

Seeing the two nod he took a few more steps away from them to isolate himself and get the creatures attention, the assault team furthered the distance by jumping on top of the top of the roofs doorway and started searching with their eyes ready to take out the creature. Seeing that they were in position, the decoy started to make a lot of noise and yelled to get the creatures attention "Come on out! I'll blow you away in one hit!" he taunted at the hidden creature trying to goad it into resurfacing again.

Sure enough another loud roar was hear this time from the far right hand corner, as the creature rose on top of the building again, and started to charge towards Ichigo, who ran at it to continue making the monster stay focused forward. He then abruptly rolled away to the side, dodging the crushing jaws of the creature as it moved it's head to try and pick at him.

"Now!" he yelled to the heavy artillery, who unleashed another barrage of kido and arrows at the creature who had stopped to try and turn around to get Ichigo, but in advertently left it's self wide open to the attacks.

With the creature flinching from the attack Ichigo jumped on top of the armored monster's back and started swing his sword at the top side of finding it nowhere near as tough as the sides of it. As Ichigo kept hacking away from above the centipede, the creature started to shake violently to try and throw off it's rider. Ichigo stabbed Zangetsu into the creatures hide trying to anchor himself from the violently whipping hollow, as Rukia and Uryu launched another burst to damage the creature further.

The creature seeing it couldn't dislodge the Shinigami, charged forward off one of the edges to regroup from it's disastrous assault. The rider jumped off of the creature as it disappeared over the edge once again, and flash stepped back into the center of the roof top, ready to lure it back into the trap again.

The Shinigami-Quincy team's heads were moving to and forth trying to see where the creature would resurface next, all the while hearing the constant scratching of the insect's feet against the building's ancient cement and rusted metal.

"There it is to your right!" shouted Uryu alerting the others to the hollows location as he drew his bow another arrow ready to be fired.

The creature's head was poking over the guard rail as it observed them, it slowly moved it's head just past the guard rail and at the two-man team above the roof door. It's eyes narrowed slightly as it opened it's mouth and shot out a strange white substance towards Uryu, who got hit by it since they hadn't expected it to have a long range attack of it's own.

"Uggh. What is this stuff?" the struck man questioned, as he tried to brush off the stuff but only succeeded in getting his hand stuck. A horrified look came on his face as he realized that what this strange white substance was something akin to webbing that spiders used to catch prey. "Ichigo cut the strand now!" he cried out

The creature seeing it got it's target slowly started to back up down the side of the building, forcing Uryu from his perch and to crash onto the hard floor of the roof with a painful thud. Ichigo seeing that the giant insect hollow was trying to force Uryu into it's mouth via falling rushed over and hacked the connection away.

The sticky thread substance separated and the monsters head fell below the guard rail line from using too much force in reeling in nothing. Rukia jumped down from her spot and carefully used her fire Kidos to slowly burn the substance away as Ichigo was frantically keeping an eye out in case the creature tried to strike them again while they were at their weakest.

A few moments pause later and Uryu was finally free from his web binding, and he and Rukia were about to return to their position much more cognizant of the web shot. "Hey Shinigami." Uryu said with his back turned to Ichigo who was still focused on the battle with there still hidden opponent

"What is Uryu?" he answered quickly, trying to minimize their talking time since now was far from appropriate

"Thanks for watching my back." He said coldly, but gratefully. Since if not for him he'd be hollow bait himself. No pun intended.

Ichigo allowed his head to break away from his vigilant search of the enemy, and looked into the eyes of the spiritual archer, and nodded his head in silent understanding. Seeing Ichigo nod, Uryu jumped back to his spot and redrew his bow ready for some pay back against the creature who attempted to eat him.

The opportunity presented itself to the Quincy when the hollow resurfaced again eager to recatch it's lost prey. Uryu concentrating his spiritual power into his bow let fly a very powerful arrow straight into the creature's mouth causing it to sputter and chock from the attack, which was followed up by another barrage of spell from the other two Shinigami present.

The thoroughly damaged creature lowered itself unto the roof top floor and charged at Ichigo trying to kill at least one of the nuisances before it would retreat again. As the creature charged forward ready to eat the young man, Ichigo flash stepped high above it determined to send Zangetsu straight through the creature's skull.

As Ichigo came crashing down on top of the creature, it let out a piercing scream from the pain it felt. The giant centipede raised it's body with Ichigo still on top and started flailing back and forth once again trying to throw the young man off of it's body, and succeeding.

The now knocked off man came crashing down to the ground hard, momentarily stunned from the impact as he tried to roll over. The monster seeing it's chance lunged down to try and swallow the man to at last feed again.

Ichigo unable to dodge it started to charge up another kido spell to hopefully knock the creature back long enough to move away from it.

Ichigo was about half-way through the kido chant when a rectangular blood red aura appeared in front of him. Ichigo looked at it curiously as the millipede came crashing down on it, but miraculously couldn't break it even with all of it's might.

A low whistle caught the attention from the strike team, as they turned and saw the approaching form of the strange shop keeper Kisuke, with a katana in his hand. "You guys are out way past your bed times. Let me get rid of this guy for you." He said smiling knowing he'd be able secure them as his customers for life for this small act of kindness

The creature turned away from the crimson shield above Ichigo and lunged forward at Keisuke who was still maintaining his smile, despite the hulking monster rapidly approaching.

The man turned slightly and moved his blade underneath his left elbow in a stance looking like a vertical draw, as he gathered reiatsu into his right arm "Cry out, Benihime!" the Shinigami store manager said as he slashed with his sword and a red line came screaming from the sword and struck the monster in the center of it's body.

Ichigo's eyes widened in fear when he saw that the monster they had been fighting for so long was destroyed in one hit by the Shinigami supplier, he looked over at Rukia who was also surprised that the supplies man had that much strength, while Uryu didn't seem surprised by the action but more relieved that the battle was finally over.

'_Could this guy be…?'_ Ichigo thought suspiciously of Keisuke, while the guy was sheathing his sword. The power needed to beat down such a creature easily surpassing his own which meant one thing. This man was much stronger than he let on, which pointed to only one person, the traitor Kisuke Urahara.

Keisuke turned around and walked over to Ichigo and extended his hand out to help the fallen Shinigami, to which Ichigo warily accepted, while the two marksmen jumped down from their perch and started to walk over to their comrade.

"Sooo how exactly did something that big thing show up in this town?" the blonde man asked the group with a huge smile on his face

The two Shinigami looked over at Uryu, who sighed and began to explain the situation to the man, who looked very interested over the situation.

"So long story short it's your fault?" he asked as he hid his grin behind his paper fan

"…yes grand uncle." The blue haired boy answered, getting unexpected stares from the two Shinigami who didn't even think that those two were related.

"Well, I'm going to have charge you for the bait." He said happy to get some money from his stingy grand-nephew

BAM! Uryu's clenched fist hit the top of the greedy money-makers head

"But we're close so I'll give you a discount" he amended with his grin remaining intact. The man then turned over to the other two Shinigami "As for you two I would like to say thanks for not only saving him but also minimizing damage to the city. You and the two below did a good job today."

"Even though Don Kannoji was dead weight the entire night he still gets praise?" Uryu mumbled to himself from behind the blonde man in green

"Why don't you guys come back to my place and I'll see if I can get you some money to pay for your job since this was a rather high end deal that needed to stay low."

"Well if your offering of course then." replied Rukia easily being bought over since with the money they could get some much needed supplies. She never noticed the contemplating look on Ichigo's face and his eerie silence over the length of the conversation.

"Great." the man said, nodding his head in approval. His eyes then shifted over to Ichigo who was looking back at him "Say why don't you guys go on ahead. I'm just gonna make sure that there isn't any other massive hollows running around."

"Let me help you with that Kisuke." responded Ichigo, seeing an opportunity to finally get some answers "Rukia why don't you get Senna and Kannoji and meet up with us back at his shop."

Following the two's words the rest of the team went back down the stairwell, eager to pick up the other two before getting a much needed nights rest. When the door to the roof top closed behind Uryu, Ichigo turned a hard eye back at his 'savior'.

"Who are you exactly? I want your real name Keisuke." He demanded of the man, though he had pretty much figured out if not have a good idea of his identity since that nagging feeling he had ever had around the man flared up again.

The blond supplier tilted his head considering the request "Nope." He said simply "Way I see it you owe me." When Ichigo gave a dangerous glare at the man he elaborated further "Well you see, I not only saved you but I also got rid of that beast just a few moments ago. That puts two points in my corner while you have only one which was saving my nephew."

Ichigo gritted his teeth in frustration, knowing he was too weak from all the running around and fighting to take on this guy and beat the answers out of him, not that really expected to be able to since the guy took the massive beast out in one hit, the boast he failed to live up to, and was a former captain if he was right.

"Sooo, we'll just put this as an I.O.U for now Mr. Kurosaki, which I do intend to cash-in." the man answered smugly as he placed his hand on the boy's shoulder

Ichigo's eyes went over to the hand on his shoulder before they returned to the owner's face "What's your game exactly? You left Soul Society and deal in their goods to Shinigami, why?"

"I'm just an honest business man that's all"

"By 'honest' do you mean sell your goods to people and then send out your nephew to go kill them afterward?" he accused not so lightly pushing the hand off him with the back of his hand

"Oooh! Now that's an idea that never occurred to me, perhaps I might just try that." The man said slyly, getting a sneer from the teenager "But in all seriousness no. You see Uryu is just a loving grand-nephew, and ever since Shinigami from Soul Society have been showing up at my door step he's been…a bit more guarded when it comes to my customers and acquaintances." He then tilted his hat down over his eyes "besides killing off customers is bad for business."

Ichigo could tell that this man wasn't lying, and was being perfectly honest with him…for now it seemed "One final question then"

"And that would be?"

"Keisuke Urahara…" he assumed coldly of the man's name not that he denied it "where…where is Yoruichi?" he asked, knowing that _'she'_ left with him, and if he was nearby that means _'she'_ couldn't be too far off

The man raised his eye brow at the question and then started to walk away from his accuser like he was getting away with murder. When he got to the roof top door he called out his answer to the question that was burning inside the young Shinigami "Yoruichi is at my place."

The youth's blood ran cold for few seconds, his mind repeating the words over and over again. _'Does this mean…?'_ he thoughts as his arms started to shake with excitement, a wide grin slowly broke across his face at the priceless information just released to him, his previous exhaustion forgotten with this surge of inexplicable energy from locating _'Her'_

'_I found you Yoruichi, I'll take you out for Shaolin, and then your next Grand Fisher'_ the carrot top Shinigami thought as he followed the shop owner down, knowing soon everything would be revealed to him

(Elsewhere)

"Sorry to say Aizen, but a bit of bad news. You know the 1/10th limiter, we added on to the already reduced kid, well it seems to have been destroyed and reset back to 1/5th again, I checked myself no one tampered with it and for some reason I can't change it back." reported in the third Taicho Gin Ichimaru as the pair walked through the Seireitei

The calm bespectacled man beside the ever grinning Gin, let out a small contented sigh "That's fine. I had hoped Plan C would have worked, but that's why we have plan D on standby and Plan E in reserve. So it makes little difference in the end."

* * *

(1) Their part of the lyrics for Panic at the Disco's 'But it's better if you do'.

* * *

Blackout2010: So end chapter 12, I hope you enjoyed it

Ichigo: I thought you said Don Kannoji wouldn't show up!

Blackout2010: When did I say this, I did mention him back in chapter 1 you know.

Don: So this is the wonderous box that connects the world to us, fuu fuu fuu, I shall now show everyone that the spirits are always with us!

Blackout2010: Yeah…you do that.

Ichigo: (I wonder if Shaolin has to deal with people like this)

Omeada: achoo!


	13. Footsteps of a traitor

Author's acknowledgement to the unknown reviewers:

To unknown reviewer known only as 'AfroThunda'

…awesome name…

I mean thanks for the comments. I'm glad you like the story, though if I'm close or out of character I don't think I'll ever know. Working on chap. 15 so she MIGHT be making an appearance in 17/18 maybe?

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Blackout2010: To the thousands

Everyone else: And thousands! [haven't hit a million yet]

Blackout2010: of you out there: Thank-you for reading!

Ichigo: I thought you said Don Kannoji wouldn't show up.

Blackout2010: I don't recall saying that…oh wait. (ahem) For those of you out their this actually chapter 13, so go back one to read the real chapter 12.

Senna: What do you mean?

Blackout2010: I'm glad you asked Senna-san, you see when I did chapter replace with the real chapter 12 I didn't send an email out alerting people so someone out there probably hasn't read it yet. I don't know gotta be safe and spoiler free.

Rukia: Now that you've gotten that out of that out of the way on with the plot.

Blackout2010: On with the plot!

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Ch. 13 Footsteps of a traitor and the sting of betrayal

(Senna)

After picking up her body from under the trailer with Rukia they walked Don Kannoji behind an alleyway and used the memory replacement feature that Rukia's hollow alert had installed in it. They knew it would be for the best since Don Kannoji had practically been bawling his eyes out from the event, but for more importantly Rukia having put the camera down back in the mess hall and being unable to go and get it since that according to him would have given him the academy award.

After the memory replacement Senna and Rukia dragged the unconscious form of Don Kannoji back to his trailer and placed him down on the couch. Senna deciding to further make things more believable went to Don Kannoji's calendar and wrote the words canceled on today's show and wrote call Senna on the next available date, which was in about three day, for another scheduled showing to help in the lies fabrication. Seeing that their task was done, the two women exited the trailer allowing the sleeping man to his rest.

"Alright, let's hurry to Keisuke's shop and collect our pay." Rukia said, feeling more like a bounty hunter with each second. Then again in her eyes they certainly earned it after all of that.

The two girl's left to the shop when they caught up with Uryu who was also on route to the shop, though he coldly refused to walk with them back to the shop, the girls however did manage to convince him to at least walk a few feet ahead of him so they could act like strangers going the same way.

As they arrived back at the shop, Uryu walked up to the door before returning his gaze back at them before reluctantly invited them inside so as to wait for the return of Ichigo and his uncle. The girls entered inside following the man back to the room with the circular table and sat down at the table, while he walked into the kitchen and started to make some hot chocolate for them to drink in the meantime.

"Hey, Uryu…" Senna called from the table to the youth in the kitchen, in an attempt to strike up a conversation now that they weren't at each other's throats anymore "I…ahh wanted to ask you…ummm how long have you been able to-

"See spirits?" the navy haired boy roughly guessed, as he poured some milk into the drinks he was making, his eyes still remaining on his task "Always have."

"I get that, but I wanted to know was if you could see spirits then-

"How come I never told you specifically?" he interrupted again, turning back around to face the girls "Simple. Unlike you Mrs. Kurosaki, who blatantly stated on her first day of school you could see spirits I prefer to only say things when they are moderately relevant and don't make me look like an idiot." He said condescendingly, as he walked over to the table and handed both the girls a drink

Senna huffed up in annoyance by her classmate's attitude but didn't say anything instead drinking her hot chocolate, letting the drink wash down the unsavory word she might throw out. Rukia took a quick sip and spoke up next "Tell me Ishida-san, why you were hanging around that abandoned hospital tonight."

The boy's eyes moved over to the other dark haired girl "You make it sound as if I'm some kind of delinquent. But if it will keep you off my back, I was using the abandoned hospital as my shooting range." When the girls narrowed their eyes in disbelief, he sighed and explained "The long dark corridors of the hospital provide a good unobstructed target zone for myself, in addition the place also provides for me a more life-like simulation of sudden hollow attacks. Since we live in the city there are times when attacks can come from anywhere, I was merely preparing myself should something like that befall me as I stated with my grand-uncle."

Uryu took a quick sip of his own drink and turned an eye to Senna "Now that I've answered your question it's fair that you answer mine. Senna while I know of your spiritual awareness I find it highly unlikely that you've been a soul reaper this entire time, which leads me to ask when you had attained these powers."

The girl lowered her head meekly "A little over a week ago…maybe ten days at most"

'_I thought as much.'_ Uryu lazily looked over at Rukia "And how many of you are there running around? It couldn't just be you two correct."

The silence gaze the pair gave the Quincy was all the answer he needed. Uryu sighed as he went into contemplation _'I don't get it. There should be more Soul Reapers running around the city. Sending only two is completely irresponsible as they can't watch the entire city by themselves, there must be something more their hiding.'_

Uryu was about to ask them his question when the door to the living room opened and Ichigo and Kisuke walked in, former behind the latter. "Well, it's nice to see that even if you don't like Shinigami grand nephew you can still treat the ladies right." The blonde shopkeeper exclaimed jovially at his anti-Shinigami nephew

Uryu pushed his glasses up as he then took a quick swig of his hot chocolate "They aren't a threat to me at all, so why shouldn't I be hospitable?" he stated logically ignoring the death glare he was getting for his rude behavior "Besides they are your guests."

"Yes, yes, always to the point. Rukia-san may I please have your hollow alert so I can put your money into it while I take your boss to the back."

"Here." The small girl handed over the pager to the man, who started to press a few buttons trying to bring up the payment/bank balance that was specifically built into the device. A few more beeps and alerts and the blonde man said he'd be back momentarily and walked out the room with Ichigo stalking behind him; unknown to the rest of them minus Kisuke that Zangetsu was ready to be quick drawn.

(Ichigo and Kisuke)

After exiting the dining/living room, the pair walked silently through the dark shops hallways. Ichigo kept an eagle eye on the man who betrayed Soul Society in case he tried to make a break for it.

The ex-Shinigami glanced back to his 'watcher' and sighed "You don't have to be so uptight. I'm usually a man of my word, so you don't have to worry about me cheating you out of some pay…usually."

"It's not the money, it's the girl." Ichigo clarified as he examined the surroundings around him to make sure he wasn't leading him to a trap of some kind

Kisuke stopped walking and opened the door to his right and proceeded through it, Ichigo close behind him "So what may I ask has she done to you?" he questioned, trying to remember if Yoruichi-chan had ever mentioned a tall strawberry blonde man with a cleaver-like sword as long as his body "You seem to be a strapping young man did something happen?"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, noticing that Kisuke was trying to pry information out of him. "My reasons are my own." He quickly denied the man, his very existence meaning nothing in comparison to _'her'_

The man having been denied started to laugh up a storm from the vibrancy in the guy's answer "Hahaha! I bet your one of her ex-boyfriends that she left behind when she got bored aren't you!" he joked

"Of course not!" the strawberry shot back, unable to believe how joking this guy could be.

They started to proceed down some stairwell and ended up in what Ichigo assumed was the back office, where it seemed most store managers would put the safe or money deposit in. The manager walked behind the desk Hollow Alert in hand and pulled open one of the many drawers and got a strange device in another hand. Keisuke started to press a few button and tossed the Hollow alert back at Ichigo.

"There you can tell Rukia-san, that the money has been transferred without a problem." He explained to the Shinigami who put it away for the moment "However since store hours are closed right now, you'll have to come back another day if you want any supplies."

"Stop stalling Keisuke." grunted out Ichigo, his temper starting to flare up in agitation. Keisuke sighed and muttered about hot-headed ex-boyfriends as he got up from his comfy chair and walked back up the stairs. They proceeded through the shop again and went up to the second floor and arrived at another door.

"Ok, Kurosaki-san this is where the person you seek is." The man said emphasizing the word seek, in such a way so it sounded perverted, which annoyed the already agitated Ichigo further.

Ichigo pushed open the door and flipped the light switch, when he expected to see the woman sleeping on the bed at this time of night; he was surprised to see that the room was empty and devoid of life. On the small table in the center of the room was a small sheet of paper laying face down, Ichigo walked over to it hopeful that it had some clue as to the location of _'her'_

_Went out sightseeing no idea when I'll be back. Later_

_Yoruichi_

_P.S. If anyone touches the Tuna again…_

Ichigo eyes hardened at the note that had a paw print mark on the bottom left hand corner in almost a 'this message is approved' fashion. _'So I missed 'her'.'_ He angrily thought to himself. After stopping to think for a moment he shook his head _'No. This is good news, now that I have her location; once I get back I can relay the information to Soul Society that I found the two traitors. They'll be locked up in maggot's nest for the time being and we'll be able to finally get rid of a huge threat to Soul Society, because from what Shaolin told me Keisuke Urahara was always a thinker and ex-captain of twelve.'_

Thought man, walked over behind Ichigo and read over the paper in his hand "hmm. So you missed her too bad. She can sometimes be gone for days on end. I guess you'll have to try again later."

Ichigo turned his head to look at the man behind him, his gaze hardening again. "Hey don't look at me; I didn't know she was gone either." The man said pleading his innocence on the knowledge of her outing, when he was away fighting the Centipede hollow that was trying to eat the group of Shinigami his nephew was with

"Fine. Let's go back before they begin to worry" the man said with a sigh as he pocketed the letter, as proof for his claim when he returned back home

Walking back outside the room, they went back down the stairs and returned to the dining room area where the three were deep in conversation. Well Uryu was just listening for the most part throwing in the occasional nod of the head, while Senna and Rukia did most of the talking. "Well what do you know, just a little while ago you were at each other's throats again and now you're talking like your best friends." A wide grin soon broke across the face of Kisuke "or maybe they're falling for the Urahara family charm, hehehe."

Uryu lazily moved his eyes back to his uncle from his slouched position over the table "Keep telling yourself that Uncle. Did you fulfill your promise so that they can leave now?"

"Yes, yes." The man answered, pointing to the scowling face of Ichigo who had pulled out the hollow alert and handed it back to Rukia for safe keeping.

"Good, since I stayed up with them you can walk them out, as I am tired." The Quincy said decisively as he got up from his chair to exit the room. Once he was at the doorway he turned back to the Shinigami's and his classmate "By the way even though I could have handled myself tonight, your assistance" saying the word with much disdain "was greatly appreciated." And promptly left the room, wanting nothing more to do with them since he had promised to stay out of their way if they won the hollow contest in the hospital to which they did.

Seeing that his Nephew was going to go to bed, the shop keeper decided to walk them out. The two girls finished their drinks before joining the third member of their team on route to the exit. As they walked back the mood between the men was rather awkward since they both knew that Kisuke was the traitor of Soul Society but couldn't do anything since in Ichigo's case he wouldn't be able to beat him straight up, while Kisuke would lose customers and would end up killing the human Senna, which he wouldn't do since she was a just a victim of circumstances.

Sliding the front door open the team walked out of the shop "Oh, just wanted to let you guys know." Kisuke said as he pushed his hat back so they could see his eyes "Tomorrow is golden week (1) so we won't be open for a day or two, so I hope that doesn't inconvenience you guys."

Ichigo turned back to face the man, a cold look on his face, while his voice held hostility in it "It depends, will you and the shop still be here when it reopens?"

'_Wow, someone doesn't like me…'_ the blond thought having heard the subtle accusation of the man "Yes, I'm very loyal to my customers. I'll be open and here waiting for you."

Seeing that his apprehension was confirmed Ichigo turned back around and stalked off, his thoughts drifting back to Grand Fisher.

"Ahh, thanks for everything Kisuke-san." said Senna, trying to be the respectful one of the group, while she pondered why Ichigo was so upset. _'Did something happen between them?'_

The man waved his hand "Not a problem. Remember: 'The Urahara Shoten is the place you'll always be goin' once you've shopped with us!" giving his shops slogan/advertisement to the girls, to which they bowed before taking off following the strawberry-orange Shinigami.

After catching up with Ichigo who remained very quiet during the trip back the girls decided to find out what was bugging the man since he was never that hostile to anything. "So…umm Ichigo." Senna started getting the man's brief attention "You feeling ok? You've been acting…weird? For a while now…"

The man turned his eyes away from her and back to the dark streets in front of him as he slowly drifted back to Grand Fisher, knowing that he may have just missed his only opportunity in killing the monster, which caused him to bare his teeth in anger "It's nothing." He barked out, causing the girl to flinch from being snapped at so quickly.

"Look Ichigo she's only worried about you! You don't have to cop an attitude." berated Rukia

Ichigo looked back over to his partner and sighed, knowing he shouldn't take out his frustration on Senna. His thoughts then drifted back to his Mother Masaki, and he frowned knowing she would probably have called him out on it too. "Sorry Senna." He apologized in a low tone

"It's ok, I probably shouldn't have put you on the spot like that." answered the girl, feeling a bit awkward over the situation. '_Does it always feel like this after surviving a near death experience?'_ she mentally asked herself

"Senna I was wondering if you could tell me something."

"And what's that Ichigo."

"Tell me do you have a nearby cemetery?" he asked the local born woman, who gave an odd look at the man's request "There's someone I want to pay my respects too, since I haven't done it in a while."

"It's not nearby but…we could visit it tomorrow since we'd have to take the bus north out of town and it's not running at this hour."

"That'd be nice." The Shinigami replied with a bitter sweet smile on his face, which Rukia saw since he had turned away from Senna.

'_I wonder what's bothering you.'_ The powerless Shinigami pondered, since Shinigami hardly visited graveyards, which meant it must have been someone very important to him

(Soul Society: Soifon)

'_Geez, another meeting? We already had one earlier today. '_ The female captain of two huffed to herself in annoyance while walking towards the Taicho's meeting. She didn't have anything against the meeting being called to order since it was part of her job to attend the affairs, it's just she had only now figured out what to give Ichigo on their anniversary, and didn't want to forget it. "I wonder what this is about though." She muttered to herself

"Ah, it is good to see you, Soifon-Taicho." The voice of Retsu Unohana called out to the strolling woman as she emerged from one of the many maze-like corridors of the Seireitei, also on route to the Taicho's meeting

"The pleasure is mine Unohana-Taicho." The smaller woman, corrected as she slowed down so the woman could walk with her "Tell me do you by chance know what this sudden meeting is about?" she asked her senior Taicho

"Unfortunately no, Soifon-Taicho. I only just received the hell butterfly's message mere moments ago. Though if I had to speculate it must be for something rather important if it is enough to warrant the Taicho's to congregate once again." The coil haired Taicho replied to her junior, who merely folded her arms across her chest as she started to return her gaze back to the squad one barracks just up ahead and let out an audible 'hmm'. "Not to change the subject so readily, but may I inquire as to how things have been since the departure of Kurosaki-san?" asked Unohana

Soifon let out a sigh of annoyance as she placed her hand over her forehead to fight off the oncoming headache having remembered how things had changed a bit since his departure back into the human world "I suppose it is quieter in some regards, since I don't have to hear Omeada's and Ichigo's constant bickering back and forth, which only recently went to very new heights." She said venomously having remembered that infernal book, the abominable fat ass wrote, which was still in her custody.

Hearing the bitterness in the young Captain voice, the healer decide to derail the line of questioning slowly "As a fellow Taicho, I do feel that you should intervene lest unfortunate…consequences occur."

"Hmph. You don't have to tell me that Unohana-Taicho. I've been _training_ fuka-taicho Omeada." The raven haired girl explained, feeling delight having remembered their constant sparring after practice, since he wanted her attention so badly now he got it "and given him a healthy dose of reality by letting him into the maggot's nest with the inmates for a few days, toooo" she extended looking for an appropriate way to justify it "quicken his reaction time."

"I will be sure to have a bed ready for him then when he finishes…" The serene woman informed the girl, who seemed to be relishing whatever may have befallen the man during his new found training regiment

"A coffin will suffice, Unohana-Taicho. I'll send Subaru over later for the exact measurements needed." The girl replied as she opened the door and they entered into the Taicho's meeting hall, ending the conversation between them as they shifted back to formal business mode.

"Squad two Captain, and current leader of the Stealth and Punishment force: Soifon reporting in." the woman announced, as she bowed to the Sou-Taicho, who was standing in his spot at the end of the hallway.

"Captain of Squad four: Retsu Unohana also reporting in." said the taller woman with her gentle smile firmly in place, also bowing to the serious looking head captain

"I understand, take your places Taicho's." the Sou-Taicho answered in a very hard voice, which told the women the gravity of the situation. Quickly the woman went between the line of semi already assembled Taicho's and stopped and stepped back into their place amongst the lines beside each other.

A few moments later the handsome Taicho of six, Byakuya Kuchiki arrived with the battle loving Taicho of eleven, Kenpachi Zaraki, closely in tow so he wouldn't get lost by his adoptive daughter Yachiru's poor directional skills which made the stoic captain wonder why he would follow the directive of a child after the continuously same results proven through much trial and error.

The Sou-Taicho, seeing that everyone was present with the inclusion of Jushiro Ukitake, banged his cane against the wood ready to address the latest development that he found only this afternoon. "Taicho's I have convened this meeting on a very urgent matter that was brought up anonymously to me earlier this evening."

"What pray tell could be so important that you had to drag us from our offices and duties for a silly little meeting that could have been done by hell butterfly!" demanded the demented Taicho of twelve Mayuri Kurotsuchi, hating every minute that the longer this blasted meeting lasted the more it cut into his important research.

"I do apologize for it cutting into your busy schedules, but I bear grave news." The old man apologized, keeping order within the room "It has recently come to my attention that Soul Society has traitors and usurpers among them."

This got everyone's attention as they all immediately shifted their attention from the person in front of them to the Sou-Taicho listening intently to every word he was about to speak, as Usurpers in Soul Society would threaten the very balance in the afterlife and needed to be eliminated as soon as possible.

"Sou-Taicho, allow me to send a squad to find and destroy the fools who threaten us." requested Soifon, her mind already picking out the best team for the job.

"It is not that easy, Soifon-Taicho" the aged man spoke up to the young upstart, he let out a sigh as he got ready to drop a very big bomb unto the children before him "as our enemy is none other than Masaki Kurosaki herself."

"That cannot be!" immediately yelled Unohana as she broke from her spot in the line, refusing to believe for a second that her Teacher was a traitor to anyone.

"I must agree with Unohana-Taicho, Sou-Taicho. Ichigo Kurosaki had visited me nearly a year ago and he was genuinely grief stricken over the loss, I sensed it inside his soul." Commented Kaname Tosen, getting a small smile from Unohana that someone was being sensible

"Let me finish!" the old man roared over the crowd releasing his spiritual pressure to prevent any further out bursts "I will show you the inconsistencies pointed out to me." Seeing that the other's were holding their tongues he continued "According to the events of her death, she was supposedly killed by a SINGLE hollow, known only as this 'Grand Fisher', whom we have very minimal data on, which leads me to wonder why did it stop? If it could defeat Masaki why did it not consume everyone else within that district? Why is it that we were unable to sense the struggle occurring between them?" he seemingly questioned the Taicho's who all lowered their heads in contemplation, to question themselves and figure out a reasonable answer "I have one answer so far that leads to another and another. The reason I believe we couldn't sense her was perhaps because of the red gem that you had found earlier that year, Soifon-Taicho."

Soifon looked down at the ground after the statement, as she tried to remember the incident "Oh. Yes I do remember that Gem." The woman recalled having dislodged it herself back in February of last year "But I thought it was destroyed on your orders Sou-Taicho."

"Yes, I did order it however; it was stolen a few months back. I would have authorized a full scale investigation but I decided against it, since the only ones who would know it's use would be Mayuri Kurotsuchi, You Soifon-Taicho, Third Seats Taiga and Kujo, and lastly recently fourth seat Kurosaki all of whom are loyal…or so I thought which leads me to suspect one of you might be the culprit since you would know what it looks like and what it does."

"That is absurd Sou-Taicho, none of my men or myself had anything to do with the repossession of the object!" objected Soifon, refusing to allow the finger of blame to be pointed at her friends, when she knew they were innocent

"I said let me finish!" the man demanded again releasing a bit of his spiritual pressure directly on the woman causing her to lean over a bit from the strength of it, any more and it would have sent the woman to her knees "The reason I suspect your group of individuals is based on these facts. One, I have been overseeing all of squad twelve's activities since the incident, so I know for certain that Kurotsuchi-Taicho as well as all his subordinates are not responsible. Two, Hitsuguaya-Taicho and Matsumoto-Fuka-Taicho could not be the culprits even thought they were present on the grounds that you had allegedly removed the device before they arrived meaning they couldn't have known what was occurring inside. The third reason I suspect your group, is because Ichigo Kurosaki, is the son of Masaki Kurosaki, who was an ex-Taicho and the only one not inside the Seireitei to be able to enter and exit as she pleases, so theoretically given her skills she could walk into the twelfth and take the gem back after the incident, if this was premeditated."

"Pardon, my interruption Sou-Taicho" The captain of fifth division piped up, with a contemplative look on his face "But there is something in all of this that bothers me."

"And that would be?"

"If Masaki Kurosaki was an ex-Taicho, why was she allowed to retire to Rukongai?" he asked getting a mix of suspicious and curious glances

"What are you sayin' Aizen-Taicho? You almost make it sound like it's something sinister…" Gin commented almost unconcernedly, his normal grinning face turned into a thoughtful look of wonderment

"When I was at the academy, I always wanted to be a Taicho, so I made sure to always read up on the duties and mentality needed to become one. What I had learned in my studies was that not a single Taicho in history has been able to 'retire', any previous Taicho's minus the ones who went missing during the incident involving Kisuke Urahara have either gone to the royal guard in service to the Spirit King, or have been put into the maggot's nest. So I do find the fact that Masaki-san was just let go without so much as having a spy placed nearby her to monitor her a bit strange even more so since it was done without the approval of the central forty six." The bespectacled man explained to the congregation, his words casting certain doubts about the dubbed 'Miracle Worker' "And then there is the fact of the sword marks that line the hallways and walls of the house Masaki lived in."

"What is so strange about these slash marks Aizen-Taicho?" questioned the masked Taicho of seventh division, Sajin Komamura "In a fight of survival, one would use anything necessary to stay alive."

"Yes, I know, Komamura-Taicho, however it clearly stated in the text books about previous Taicho's that Masaki Kurosaki's Zanpaktou was NOT a combat type but rather a healing type. As I'm sure Unohana-Taicho could vouch for." The brown haired man said, casting his gaze over at Unohana who nodded her head and said that the statement was true "Which means…"

"Are you implying that the blade strokes didn't come from her Aizen-Taicho?" interrupted Byakuya slowly sifting through all of this information "But if not her then whom?"

"Perhaps an accomplice of sorts. While I hate to say this I've seen Mr. Kurosaki's Zanpaktou and it is clearly capable of cutting, if they were truly working together the incident is possible. After all no body was found of either Grand Fisher or Masaki Kurosaki, only evidence that matches the description of Grand Fisher. Then there is the matter of escaping, if Grand Fisher had gotten away why didn't we feel it as it left the vicinity? Surely whatever that red gem does couldn't affect all of Rukongai. So this leads me to question as well if Masaki is 'dead' or actually trying to over throw the Soul Society as Sou-Taicho Yamamoto is saying."

"This is madness." retorted a frowning Unohana, unable to believe that they were trying to paint her Sensei and her son as a conspiracist or usurpers for the very place they had both defended.

"I have to agree with Unohana-Taicho on this one. That doesn't seem like Masaki-san at all…" Said Kyoraku, a suspicious look gracing his rugged face, as he eyed the room, his eyes looking into the face of all the Taicho's seeing looks ranging from suspicion, sadness, to anger or neutrality.

"There is perhaps always the possibility that she never was who she said." The deep voice of Sajin bellowed out from under his mask, knowing first hand that people could be like two very different people, showing a certain face to the public and one in private.

The room soon erupted into a flood of arguments, with each Taicho casting their opinions and giving their theories. The room fell silent when the meeting doors opened and in entered the fuka-taicho of Sou-Taicho Yamamoto, Chojiro Sasakibe.

The man dropped down to one knee and bowed his head to all of his superiors "A thousand apologizes my various Taicho's for interrupting your important meeting, however I have found very startling evidence at the crime scene, left by our anonymous person." He quickly dug into his jacket and pulled out a black tape recording device "I found it left in Masaki-sama's room, when I investigated the premise as you ordered Sou-Taicho."

Before anyone could move Soifon had flash stepped over to the man and roughly grabbed it from his hand, throwing a cold look to the man letting him know to get out, which he got the hint and bowed before quickly exiting. _'I trust you Masaki-sama, please don't fail me.'_ the girl prayed, as she closed her eyes and pressed the play button located at the top

A small static sound was heard for a second before it finally kicked on. Everyone's eyes opened when they heard the undeniable voice of Masaki speak up "Look, I know things may seem great but it's not. Soul Society isn't what it seems, it has become corrupt and weak from the fact that they would ostracize those that are different, they shunned the work of Kisuke Urahara and his break through work in finally eliminating the hollows by crossing the barrier."

"Shh! You shouldn't say such things out loud mother!" a male voice called out, which made some of the Taicho's in the room release an audible gasp of air and caused Unohana, Hitsuguaya and Soifon's blood to run cold, as they were the most familiar with that voice. "You never know who might be listening."

"It is only the truth Ichigo." The woman shot back, before a sigh was heard from the recording "I just want to make the world better by starting anew but we can't do that, unless we do something about the way things are currently run."

"What exactly do you have in mind?"

"It is extreme but perhaps necessary, we need to kill the Spirit King." answered the voice of Masaki, confirming to the assembled mass the truth of her and Ichigo's betrayal. "But how exactly are we to do it?"

A pause of silence soon fell over the recording…which made the Taicho's in the room believe that he was trying to think up an answer for her question.

"A force transfer of power." The voice of Ichigo answered, which got interested and hateful looks from the Taicho's "I have a friend who once taught me how to transfer our powers to humans, we could get a few people together and they could transfer it to humans. The human can remain in the human world while the Shinigami return and re-gather their strength and maybe we can eventually have enough man power to fulfill the plan."

'_No…this can't be real…'_ thought the unseen teary eyed captain of two, her heart once again stabbed by the sting of betrayal by not only a friend but also her lover, whose dark shadow extended back to _'Her'_

'_Sensei isn't like this at all…she wouldn't…would she?'_ questioned the fourth division captain, her resolve starting to crumble after hearing such damning information about her sensei

'_Unohana…'_ worried the sick form of Jushiro Ukitake, who was deeply depressed that one of their own would do such a thing, especially someone who had been such a role model for others

Softly Aizen walked over to Soifon and took the device out of her hand and pressed the stop button on it, not wanting to hear anymore. He turned back around, with a sad frown on his face as he gazed at the others who were either angry that someone thought to over throw Soul Society, sad at finding out the kindest woman in existence wasn't what she really was, or contemplative over all the detail and figuring out what to make of this development. "(Ahem) I…propose that we send a team to the real world quickly. To…at least try and disprove such claims, maybe this anonymous person was setting this whole thing up as a hoax." He proposed, his frown mixed with hints of disgust over all of this

"I will leave immediately." Said Byakuya answering the call to duty, in bringing down these traitors who he feared may include his sister Rukia, if she was indeed his friend and possible accomplice.

"Agreed you will leave tomorrow morning, so as to prepare a special limiter on you, so you can fight at half strength to bring down these traitors should they encounter you, however verify the situation first before making any actions. We don't need innocent men and women condemned." Said Yamamoto banging his cane against the wooden floor, ending the meeting before it could lead to anymore dissention within the order of Seireitei or possible violence from heated tempers from the bitterness of knowing one of the oldest and most respected of Taicho's was undermining Soul Society law. After being dismissed the Taicho's left the room some opting to use the door, while others choose to flash step away from the room as fast as possible.

(Aizen and Gin)

The pair appeared out of flash step a few miles away from the building, and looked at each other. Their once depressive faces turning back into a look of smugness.

"That was quite a bit of acting with Kyoka Suigetsu, Aizen-Taicho." The silver haired man said, his grinning face growing so much more wider, now that things were getting so much more interesting to him.

"Those fools, can't stop me now. They fall for such a fleeting distraction so quickly, and they unknowingly cut their own throats by getting rid of the only one to escape Kyoka Suigetsu who had a chance to oppose me." replied Aizen as he walked back to his office to prepare for his ascension to god-hood, knowing plan C sending a captain to dispose of Ichigo would be transgressed without flaw.

(Unohana)

"Something is completely off." muttered one unhappy Unohana after she exited the room, and started her journey back to the fourth division "I know exactly how Sensei was, she believed that by working together were people able to come to a better world, not some radical extremist. There must be something more that I'm missing." The woman sighed as she crossed her arms over her ample chest, adamantly refusing to believe that recording of data _'Perhaps I should see how Soifon-Taicho is taking this, probably badly considering her trust issues'_

The healer stopped her walking and changed direction to go see how the other female Taicho was taking this event.

(Soifon)

Coming out of her flash step, Soifon landed on one of the nearby buildings close to the squad two barracks. Her eyes were welling up with barely restrained tears from anger at knowing that she had allowed herself to be fooled once again by someone else who claimed to never wish to hurt her, sadness that knowing the one time she put her heart into something it yielded these results again, and shame…shame for having fallen in love with a traitor and meant it.

_I promise you, that when I come back, you'll be in for the surprise of a lifetime._

Her eyes glazed her with hate, as her fist smashed into the wall of the building. _'How could I have missed that? His request to have no spies on him, all his of his ambiguous words, bringing his mother to my division…getting close to me. It all meant nothing.'_ She slammed her hand back into the crack she made again

"Damn you Kurosaki…damn you to hell." The woman cursed to the man who was once her 'Yojimbo'. The woman flash stepped inside her office, and let loose her spiritual pressure to call Shinjiro and Subaru to her side as she took her chair behind the desk. Within moments a sweaty and tired from training Shinjiro and calm Subaru appeared before the enraged woman, both of them curious and puzzled as to why their sister would use the distress call when she wasn't in danger and why she looked so angry.

"What is the matter, Shaolin?" questioned the female spy, wanting to get right to the heart of the matter, since it was already established the distress signal was not for on the whim use

"We have a new threat to Soul Society." Spoke the captain, her voice quivering while her eyes hardened to fight against releasing the tears behind them

"What's wrong sister." demanded Shinjiro, as he saw shades of her falling back to when '_she'_ had left them behind, quickly taking one of the chairs in front of her while his beloved took the other

"Ichigo Kurosaki…has betrayed Soul Society and plans to kill the Spirit King."

"What!" the two third seat shouted as they rose from their chairs, the disbelief resounding in volumes in their voices at such an unreal claim.

"It is true I heard with my own ears."

Shinjiro looked at his wife who looked back at him clearly not seeing how this came about "Are you kidding me?" he questioned turning back to face the Taicho "You think he would do such a thing? I mean it's Ichigo we're talking about! He's one of loyalist men I've ever met!"

Shaolin shook her head in a no "Apparently it was all a lie. Originally orchestrated by Masaki Kurosaki herself."

Subaru pulled down her face mask and gave a questioning look at Shaolin "I…don't think that they would do such a thing. I have a rather accurate profile about Ichigo and he doesn't strike me as a traitor in fact he would actively take the blame for others in incidents that occur, and while I may not have one about Masaki-san, she seemed like an open and welcoming person. Actually you would know yourself having met the two for a good year surely you wouldn't believe such a claim!"

Shaolin lowered her head as her eye lids dropped about halfway, her mind taking a moment to calm herself down and re-evaluate everything. She started to go over everything that happened and the accusations made against them and she started to rethink on everything that she had done with Ichigo. Slowly things started to build before her on the one hand was all the things damaging that said he was a traitor but on the opposite side, she remembered all the memories of the times they had laughed, fought, cried, kissed with each other, all the virtues and good qualities he possessed and showed her on his stay with her, and in the center was the dark shadow casted from 'her' slowly trying to bind the two together, to bridge the gap of being a traitor.

"I don't know what to think." The captain admitted, trying to slow herself down before she made such a sudden jump to conclusion. Her mind drifted back to what Aizen had said about sending Byakuya down to verify if the situation was truly what it was.

"Well…typically sis, when someone tries to use people, they do try to get along with them." Answered Shinjiro, hoping to shed some light on the situation "but they only try to keep it professional, not get intimate with the betrayed. See if you get too close to someone then it gets harder to betray the person as you have loyalty to them."

The girl behind the desk lifted her head up a bit silently listening to Shinjiro's words, as the man continued "So one of the things that people do when they have to do it regardless of their feelings, is that usually but not always they ask the person to either come with them or they tell them to avoid being in certain places or events, so as to lessen the pain."

"So what you're saying is that something isn't entirely right?" the twin banded woman questioned as she interlocked her fingers and rested her head above the intertwined hands, her mind working out different scenarios as she slowly started to have faith returned back into 'Yojimbo'

"Well…it's more like it seems weird" interjected Shinjiro. Whose face suddenly lit up having remembered the thing she pointed out to him by reading something on pure fluke "Hey Subaru tell her about that thing you saw."

"Ahh, thank-you for that Shin." The reminded girl thanked, who turned to look back at the other female officer "I also noticed that in the various reports from Ichigo recently that had a small inconsistencies, which were small and easy to miss"

"Inconsistencies?" Soifon repeated, the word slowly turning this crazy situation into perhaps something more

The female third seat nodded her head in affirmation "Correct, in one of the reports I had read on your desk the stating of the name of who had filed the report had the words 'Ichigo Kurosaki' on it not 'Yojimbo' his squad two codename."

Shaolin narrowed her eyes for a few reasons: one of which the field reports were for Taicho's eyes only and she would need a reason as to why Subaru had read it. And the second was the report that the woman mentioned. "Before we continue on, Subaru: I will need you to tell me the reason why you were reading the report that only I am allowed to read."

"Ahh, well you see when I had come to deliver some more reports when you weren't in the office; I walked over to place them on the desk when I saw Ichigo's name at the top of the paper. I had thought it was a love letter of some kind since it's standard procedure to use your codename for reports, so when I read it to hang over your head later" at this point Soifon had to pinch the bridge of her nose to stave off the headache from her sister's antics "I soon learned it was a field report. I then checked all of them and every single field report of recent all say the same thing 'Ichigo' not 'Yojimbo'. I had thought you allowed it given your relationship but perhaps you over looked since you were no doubt thinking about him when you were trying to get him an anniversary gift."

The captain leaned down to the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out the most recent report and saw it indeed said Ichigo at the top, she then tossed it to the side and pulled up the next one again Ichigo _'Ichigo…Ichigo…Ichigo. Ichigo. Ichigo!'_ she read flipping through the paper.

The woman dropped the reports back down against the desk before leaning back into her chair brain storming all of this information. Her mind working over why she herself hadn't spotted such an inconsistency earlier, since while he was no stickler for the rules unlike her, he did follow the ones that applied for the greater good. Which further begged to question if the man was as guilty as he seemed or was something going on around him.

"Tell me how was this information discovered and what are they going to do about the situation?" asked Subaru knowing that Shaolin was definitely listening to reason now, and was beginning to question the strangeness of it, since if he was in a rush to not put his codename, than why didn't he just use his communicator. While it was true that he didn't have access to the screen room as the code was changed he still had that handy.

"The person's name was never said nor do we know if the person is giving good information or not. As for the situation itself, Sou-Taicho Yamamoto has seen fit to dispatch Taicho of sixth division Byakuya Kuchiki to eliminate the possible threat."

Subaru, after crossing her arms and processing the information on the: who, how, and what, spoke up interrupting the woman "I don't think things are all that bad than. Byakuya Kuchiki-Taicho is a calm man who wouldn't make such rash decisions, if they had sent in Kurotsuchi-Taicho or Zaraki-Taicho; I would be immediately afraid and ask that perhaps they send you in. Hmm, now that I think about it I do believe one Rukia Kuchiki is with Ichigo, so assuming the name isn't as common as I think that would make the two related somehow, which would increase the hesitance of Byakuya in making sudden decisions."

Knock, knock, knock. The gentle hitting of the door leading into the Taicho's office alerted the group of Shinigami that they had an unexpected guest.

"It is a private meeting, leave at once." barked out Soifon, not wanting to be interrupted by some pathetic grunt trying to deliver some paper work to her.

"Soifon-Taicho, it's me." Spoke the voice of Retsu Unohana from the other side

"Forgive my rudeness, please enter Unohana-Taicho." The woman corrected, since having someone else discuss this might help in figuring out this disastrous scenario.

The door opened, and Unohana walked in, while Shinjiro got up from his chair and gave it to Unohana, who thanked him for his kind gesture. The healer turned her attention to Soifon, who had a poker face on, though she could tell there was some kind of internal conflict going on inside the young woman. "Are you alright, Soifon-Taicho?"

The woman sighed as she nodded her head "For the moment, I was discussing things over with Shinjiro and Subaru, and perhaps I'm getting a bit ahead of myself over such a thing. I've decided to wait until Kuchiki-Taicho returns with his evaluation of the situation before flying off the handle again. I have faith in Ichigo, like you have with Masaki-san."

Unohana's eyes softened significantly at the mentioning of her sensei's name "It is good to know that. Rest assured, this is perhaps a big misunderstanding or a hoax like Aizen-Taicho had said, things will start to look up soon."

"Umm, me and Su, we'll just step out then if that's ok. So you guys can have some privacy." The male third seat offered which was met with a nod from Shaolin's head.

The pair quietly exited the room, and closed the door while the Taicho's inside began to talk more privately of the strange inconsistencies that had recently come up. As Shinjiro and Subaru walked down the hallway, Shin spoke "Subaru."

"Yes, I know." She replied, her mind already knowing what he was going to say "We shouldn't jump to any conclusions as well, it was a good thing we were able to make most of that up on the fly." She shook her head guilty for deceiving her sister in all but blood "I don't think Shaolin could have taken it."

"Agreed. But I think we should get the whole story from Ichigo first." stated the Samurai, as he crossed his arms with a frown on his face for this sticky situation "Kohai would never lie to us."

The pair continued walking down the hallway, unaware of the events that would soon unfold to their good friend.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

1. I really don't know when Golden Week actually happens I just know of it

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Blackout2010: And so ends chapter 13

Soifon: Can Kyoka Suigetsu really do that?

Blackout2010: Well...it does say absolute hypnosis so I'm guessing it would work on a recording device against those already hypnotised

Ichigo: First time we see Lin-chan this whole arc and then this happens

Shinjiro: Relax it could be worse

Subaru:...it does...get worse Shin-kun...

Shinjiro:...sorry Kohai

Rukia/Senna/Don Kannoji: Till then may the spirits always be with you! Wahahaha!


	14. Pride before a fall: The ghost of you

Author's acknowledgement to the unknown reviewers:

To AfroThunda-san

Ok, I don't know who lied to you, but I DID and still DO think your name is pretty damn cool, and whenever I say it out loud, it brings a smirk to my face (perhaps my odd humor taking effect). I do admit, I am a little jealous that I didn't think of something like that, oh well can't be helped.

Now for the actual review, I'm glad you find them humorous and hope you continue to enjoy then as YMMV. And hopefully you continue like the twists and turns, as I hopefully keep cracking them out.

To f (hey gotta be fair to everyone regardless)

Well…Ichigo got his ass kicked by a captain who was in her element…so it was inevitable [though you should know this already]. As for being my own self insert? no. If anything I'd probably be more like ahh…Hanataro or something not Ichigo. I also don't get it with people agreeing with other reviewers, do they read the reviews first and then review themselves (doesn't that spoil a story?). As for Subaru well honestly, Subaru's gender is never truly revealed (yeah you could google search it later), since in the Japanese they use –san which mean Mr/s. and Subaru talks in third person (not lying), so s/he doesn't use 'I' which would specify. So it's left up to interpretation. But anyway it what matters on the inside not the outside. And if you disagree, then we have a token gay couple in the fic. Again to each his own since, we're all looking for happiness.

To fg (probably same person but hey duty is duty)

As I told AfroThunda-san, your mileage may vary (YMMV) besides I'm not above making myself or just about anyone else for that matter look like an idiot for a good laugh/chuckle. As for my 'precious Sakura wars character' well…they're not mine so if you did hit the review button (which you did) you would have seen that so…forgive me for saying but your kind of an idiot. As for bringing nothing to the plot, well…you only read chapter 1 maybe 2…plot really didn't start yet so…

Any way they're more important later on in the story. As for filled with better people. My question is who exactly? An actual OC? since nobody else even know the first thing about Soifon, and those that do can't help at the moment IE Yoruichi, Kisuke, ect.

To LOLLO

Well…I hope that you're already laughing going by your name, but if not then I suggest laugh, as it is my job to entertain you. If you're crying well…it's kind self inflicted (sorry to sound like an ass). I mean since my work is abysmal and you choose to read it, that makes me infer that you couldn't afford a book from Barnes and Nobles or something and you had to resort to something free, which last I checked this is, meaning it's (the fic) probably 'average' at best and maybe 'subpar' borderline 'so-so' on the constant/worst. But hey I choose to believe the best in people so, I'm going with your enjoying yourself with a good chuckle (which was one of the intentions). And if you do choose to review again maybe you could recommend me to one of your stories, since you've got a sharp eye and I'm willing to learn.

Damn I sound like an asshole. I'm just speaking regularly here oh well. Unto the prefic banter I guess.

* * *

Ichigo: Greetings, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki and on behalf of all Soul Society, I'd like to thank-you for showing an interest in your afterlife. You see here at Soul Society we need hard working individuals like you to protect everyone!

Omeada: (snore) zzz…whewww…(snore)

Ichigo: There are great benefits like meeting friendly people.

Kenpachi: Your strong huh? Let's test it out…in a fight to the death. Hyyaah!

Ichigo: Flexible working hours.

Soifon: You have two hours to finish your training regiment or you'll be telling your excuses for failing to Suzumebachi personally!

Ichigo: Feeling welcome in the community.

Mayuri: I am Taicho of twelve Mayuri Kurotsuchi, and as of today you are all my research subjects, if there are any protests please step forward and be eliminated.

Ichigo: Tons of promotion advancements.

Renji: So to become a captain, I have to kill the Taicho in front of 200 hundred people huh?

Ichigo: No, discrimination from where you're from or previous history?

Yamamoto: So you're a thief from Rukongai, that broke into Soul Society and have been working with us ever since?

Subaru: Correct Yamamoto-Sou-Taicho.

Yamamoto:…Guards!

Ichigo: You also get to travel and see all over the world

(meanwhile Saraha desert)

Shinjiro: ahh…where the hell am I exactly?

(back on stage)

Ichigo: So come one come all, and remember we need YOU!

Senna: Can I..quit now?

Ichigo: No. So Blackout when do I get paid?

Blackout2010: It's a volunteer service announcement so…you don't.

Ichigo:…worst commercial ever…

Aizen: The Soul society training DVD is now available for $2.99 each buy now before they sell out

* * *

Ch. 14 Pride before a fall: the ghost of you

(Human world: Ichigo)

The light from the rising sun penetrated the room that Ichigo was staying in via window, his eyes slowly opening to greet the new day in their still despondent situation. Pulling the blankets off of him, he lowered his feet to the ground and got up from the bed so he could stretch his muscles. As he moved his arm in a circular motion to help relax himself he heard the shower from the bathroom cut off meaning the girls were done using it, and it was ok for him to enter. Grabbing his hakama, and Zanpaktou out of habit, he walked by the towel clad girl his own towel in hand and entered into the restroom to ready himself for their trip to the cemetery, so he could pay his respects.

(Senna and Rukia)

The girls walked back into Senna's room to change cloths as Ichigo entered to use the shower for himself. Once the door had closed the women dropped their towels and walked over to Senna's drawer to pick up their clothes for the outing.

"Hey Rukia-chan." Asked the nude for of Senna, as she pulled up the drawer for her panties that she had to share with the female Shinigami "You and Ichigo are supposed to be partners right?" tossing a pair 'chappy' panties to the girl

"Yeah what about it?" asked Rukia grabbing the pair from mid-air and started to dress herself as, a smaller training bra was also tossed her way from the land lady, since she was a C cup while Rukia was a A bordering B.

"Well it's just that." Senna started as she threw her bra on "why would, could you help me with this real quick?" she asked of the girl and gave a quick thanks when Rukia hooked the back part together "Why would Ichigo want to go visit a cemetery of all things. I mean I know he almost never smiles but I never figured him to be a depressive kind of guy. So what's the deal?"

"I really don't know Senna." answered Rukia as she pulled up the light blue skirt up "I've never actually meet Ichigo before this mission, so I don't know why he would personally want to go to the cemetery of all things." Her mind drifting back to her deceased mentor and friend Kaien for a moment "Perhaps, he wants to honor someone. That would be my guess."

The somberness in Rukia's voice stood out to Senna who had just finished pulling her white Hollister shirt over her shoulder which stretched the length of her body and fell down to her waist complementing her knee waist skirt. "Is something wrong Rukia?"

"N-no." she nodded her head, as a small forced smile crept onto her face "I was just thinking about an old friend of mine." She then put on her shirt and once it was over her head continued speaking "Anyway, we'd best not take too long as a hollow could still show up in Karakura while we are away."

"Oh don't worry about that, you see it's only about an hour away by bus. I would have just let us go as Shinigami but I'm not entire sure the way to get there because I don't really visit places like that, anyway I think we could use the rest especially after that brutal night at the hospital. (Yawn) In fact I'm still a little tired." said Senna, wiping the sleepies out of her eyes with her hand, before turning to exit the room

Watching Senna leave Rukia looked back at the mirror and stared at herself in the mirror bitterly, her bringing up of her friend and the constant look alike being around her taking it's toll on her nerves. _'No'_ she harshly shook her head _'It is not my fault. Kaien said he didn't blame me.'_ She repeated to herself to try and work the positive mental attitude her friend had constantly tried to drill into her head

"Hey Rukia, you want some cereal?" asked Senna from what Rukia assumed was the kitchen, dragging the woman out of her mental bout within herself.

"Yes, please." She shouted back, while she glanced back at the mirror again and nodded her head in determination, before turning away from the mirror and exiting the room, closing the door behind her persons.

"Morning Rukia." called Ichigo from the table to his partner, fully dressed and already eating his food which consisted of bacon and eggs, a far welcome break from his usual apple and toast that was only available in the wee hours of the early morning back in squad two.

"Good morning, Ichigo." She replied back half-heartedly, as she sat down her mind still thinking about Kaien since she was sitting in front of the palette swapped doppelganger, unknowingly ignoring the bowl of lucky charms that Senna had placed in front of her.

The small meal passed by in silence, no one making much small talk either from being too tired from having been up so late the night before or stewing in their own thoughts either of the situation the team as a whole had been in or what they would be doing later. When the last scrap of food was finished Senna, took the plates and put it in the dishwasher for it to clean since no one really knew when they would be back at the house.

Grabbing their gear for their outing, the team left the house and wandered through the somewhat crowded streets of Karakura like normal people, though Ichigo was jumping from street lamp to street lamp since his circumstances allowed him too. As the continued their stroll through town, Senna led them to a giant building with an open area and many benches lining it.

"Alright we're here at the bus station." announced the Shinigami's tour guide, as they approached the counter to buy three tickets

"Why is it called a bus station?" questioned Rukia, taking this very rare moment to indulge her curiosity of the human world

"Well, you see Rukia. It's called a bus station because Buses, the vehicle were about to take, come and stop here when they are not on duty, which is their resting station, and so they we call it the bus station." explained Senna, as she started to search through her purse for some money to pay, as she approached the counter. "Hi miss. Can we get three tickets for 82 bus?"

The man behind the counter looked at the woman, before his eyes scanned around and not seeing a third person "Excuse me ma'am but don't you mean two?" he asked since he didn't want to over-charge.

"Oh, ahh right." The woman 'corrected' with a dumb smile having remembered that not everyone could see Ichigo as well as she could "then ahh two tickets please."

"of course ma'am, that'll be 250 yen." The man ringed up, and handed over the tickets when the girl payed. As the ribbon wearing girl, handed the ticket to Rukia, the Shinigami whispered quietly into her ear "Your slipping Senna."

"I know, I know." She whispered back as she turned around to face the third member of their group, who was staring off down the terminal watching some of the people board the bus. His scowl seemed to grow when he saw a woman holding the hand of a small kid board unto the bus, the boy's balloon hitting the ceiling before dragging inside.

"Hey, you ok?" asked Senna, as she waved her hand in front of his face to get his attention back on her.

"Huh?" he uttered, his trance broken by the girl, who sighed from his serious lapse in attention

"We've got to get on the bus, Ichigo." Rukia informed to her dazed commander "Unfortunately, you're going to have to ride on the roof top since it's going to be a full ride. And your Zanpaktou, Zangetsu we'll be too much in the way."

"Fine. Whatever." He said uncaringly, as he turned around and jumped on top of the bus they had to take.

'_Sheesh, what's eating him.'_ The girls' thought as they boarded the bus on route to the destination, the moody man wanted to go to. The girls walked to the back of the bus and took a seat, as people began to fill up the inside trying to find a seat or just standing holding unto the hand railing. Soon the public transportation driver, enter the bus and turned it on and left to take the passenger's to the north part of town.

After an hour of sitting on the bus, the announcer called up the Team's stop, to which Senna said aloud that 'they were sure glad to be able to pay their respect to their dearly departed grandmother', letting Ichigo who was lying down on his back know that they were getting off. As the bus pulled to a stop, the girl's got off while Ichigo dropped down from his rooftop perch.

"The white flower fields." whispered Senna, reading the name of the place off the sign just a few feet from the stone path leading up the hill to the cemetery grounds. "Looks like we're here." She turned back around and saw that Ichigo was gone.

When Senna started looking around in search of someone, Rukia finally took notice of the absence of their team mate. After not spotting him in the nearby crowd of people, Rukia made the conclusion he obviously went ahead of them, so they shouldn't waste their time looking.

The girl's started to walk up the long spiraling stone path up the hill, having a small conversation about Ichigo's odd behavior this entire trip. As they reached the top of the hill, their eyes saw an unabridged sight of a sea of white stoned graves, with a small shrine at the far end, and the person they saw kneeling down in front of it was the very man who vanished from them earlier.

Rukia bit her lip, seeing the devoutly praying form of Ichigo at the shrine, knowing that perhaps he had come to offer or receive penance which would explain his moody nature. _'Today must have been the day someone important died…'_ she seemingly answered the unasked question of their being here, her eyes turning away from the man reminded of Kaien "Senna could you excuse me for a moment. I…I wish to be alone."

The red ribboned girl turned to her friend and gave a short, quiet 'ok' at seeing the sorrowful look the woman had, who turned to the right and started walking down another path into the woods. Once she disappeared the girl looked back over at Ichigo, and started trudging down the hill to go speak with him.

(Ichigo)

"Hey, mom. It's me, Ichigo." The solemn man spoke up from his silent reflecting, his eyes still on the shrine as he hoped maybe his words might reach her where ever she might be, once the soul passes on even after the afterlife. "It's been a while since we last spoke." A bitter smile slowly emerged unto his face, while his eyes glazed over with deep seated emotion "almost a year actually. I've been doing well for myself, I still have that dumb habit of bringing my clothes with me into the bathroom when I'm taking a shower." He tried to joke then a steady pause of silence fell over him as he tried to think of what else to say, though he knew he would never get a reply back

"Shaolin, misses you. Oh, right you probably didn't know her name, but Soifon's real name is really Shaolin. We've…we've been dating for close to a year now, and…" his voice trailed off as he worked up his courage "I think, I'm really in love with her mom. I actually went out and bought a ring, when I asked Subaru to leave me alone for a bit. I wanted to tell you that for first time in a really long time, I'm actually happy for the way things are going with my life, and that I really miss you." He dropped his head back down, as his tears started to flow from his eyes "I know I probably never got to say this enough but I love you mom. You were…you were my hero, I…I wanted to be just like you. I…hope you are at peace with yourself, and that I can be son worth being proud of." He finished as he dropped his head back down in penance, while tears flowed from his eyes unhindered, the son of the recently departed mother made no attempts to inform her of his ideas of destroying her murderer as he felt ashamed. Ashamed at letting his mother possibly see his hunger for vengeance, the one thing she abhorred over all else, since she always instructed for him to forgive others and let the past remain as such.

Hearing approaching footsteps, Ichigo lazily turned his head around not bothering to try and hide his sadness to the arriving person. His eyes locked unto the form of Senna Kurosaki, who had a look extreme concern since she had not once heard of a Shinigami being able to cry, or having once thought of the pillar of strength that Ichigo passed himself off as breaking down in tears over something.

"Are you alright?" she asked gingerly, not wanting to make the situation any worse than it needed to be.

The man turned around fully, as he rose up from his knees wiping away his tears with his Hakama "I was just…talking to someone very important to me, Senna-san." He said hoarsely, a pained frown on his face

"…" the girl bit her lip. Then immediately took a step forward and grabbed his hand comfortingly "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, believing maybe if he shared it might not be as hard to bear

The orange haired Soul reaper looked into the eyes of the girl briefly before letting go of her hand. He started to mull the idea over, and nodded his head when he came to a conclusion, since if he tried to keep this inside than both Zangetsu's would start to complain about the gathering clouds and oncoming storm. He walked over and leaned against a big tombstone and started to tell Senna about who he was praying to, and a little bit about himself, going over some of his early childhood memories with Unohana-san, outings with his mother Masaki, mentioning some of his friends in Squad two his recent division, a brief mentioning of his girlfriend Shaolin, and the death of his mother. The human girl remained surprisingly quiet the whole time, Ichigo figured out of modest courtesy but also a genuine interest and concern for his well being.

"That's so sad." said Senna feeling slightly abashed about saying something so cliché about such an event, though she did feel at least a little bit closer to her friend. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll make it home and make this Masaki-san proud. You're a great guy, a little moody and don't smile too much." She joked, getting an amused 'hmph' from the man who crossed his arms "But a good guy all the same."

"Thanks Senna." He mumbled back, as his eyes looked down the dirt path leading back up to the hill, his eyes spying Rukia who was making her way towards them. "I guess we better head back." Said the man, as he tilted his head upward to the heaven, mentally noting that it looked like it was going to rain, since the sun had gotten covered by the dingy gray clouds over head

"I guess…"

"Are you done Ichigo?" asked Rukia who had just finished making some peace of her own

Ichigo nodded his head "Yeah lets-" he abruptly stopped as he sensed something. Ichigo turned around his eyes scanning the field and nearby forest, for the being he had sensed

"What's wrong-" Rukia asked, but the blaring of her hollow alert cut her off as her hand dived into her pocket and pulled out the device. Flipping it open she looked over the data "We have a hollow, here nearby. It's 500 yds to the west going into the forest."

"Rukia, reaperfy Senna, I'll lure the creature to us. So we can ambush it." commanded Ichigo, the pressure seemingly familiar to him. When Rukia started to pull out her glove Ichigo, flash stepped into the forest in pursuit of the hollow.

Hitting the dirt of the forest floor, Ichigo started sprinting in the direction he sensed the hollow, pulling Zangetsu from it's cloth to avoid being taken by surprise from the creature up ahead. Continuing through the forest he came upon a giant clearing, and saw the creature huddled over another hollow eating it. Ichigo's eyes widened in recognition of the creature, the shaggy brown fur, the strange antenna appendage sticking from it's head, the clawed feet, and when it turned it's head to face him, the evil grinning face of the only hollow that ever infuriated him.

"Grand Fisher!" roared Ichigo, his blood boiling over from encountering him on these hallowed grounds

The hamster looking hollow stopped eating, and turned around fully. Tilting it's head in curiosity, as it examined Ichigo "Haven't I met you before?" the creature taunted as it saw the orange hair of the man and was instantly reminded of that woman, that very very tasty woman he had consumed a loooong time ago. "Oh wait I remember you, you must be the son of that bitch, my creators told me about."

In an instant Ichigo disappeared and reappeaered above the creature Zangetsu, coming down from on high ready to cleave this demon in half. The gerbil-like hollow whipped it's head around it's angler tail swinging and colliding into the blade knocking the man back from his jumping strike.

The creature than started to charge forward as the man came kneeling back down to the ground, ready to devour him with it's powerful jaws. Seeing it race forward at him, Ichigo quick brought himself into a standing position and charged forward to collide with the monster again, his adrenaline pumping through his veins at a million miles a minutes. The erupting noise of metal grinding against hardened teeth exploded as the two combatants pressed against each other, Ichigo Zanpaktou caught inside the teeth of Grand fisher. "What do you mean by your creators!" he demanded of the creature in their dead lock, hoping to also uncover anyone else that was directly involved with the death of his mother, and bring down his anger upon them.

Grand Fisher jerked it's head to the side forcing Ichigo along with him before violently throwing his head back around slamming Ichigo into one of the nearby trees, stunning the man, while the creature pointed it's antenna like appendage at the man, who was getting back up.

A red unholy light started to build around the once flailing extension, but now it grew more concentrated more focused on the man like the stinger of a scorpion ready to impale it's prey. Ichigo's eyes widened at the move the creature was about to perform _'Impossible only a menos can do that!'_

Impossible it wasn't however, as the creature let out a thunderous roar as it launched the cero at the Shinigami, who narrowly dodged it by flash stepping away. The red ball of energy smashed into the tree line and kept going scorching everything in it's path before stopping, all it's reishi expended.

"Damn, I wanted my Shinigami soul fried, but your still raw." The hollow bellowed out to it's nemesis, who raised his sword again ready to fight.

Ichigo deftly moved his Zanpaktou away so it looked like a strike, but let his left hand leave the handle and pointed it at the hollow "Hadou 31: Sokkatsui!" he yelled releasing his spell at point blank range, burning the creatures face and hairy body, as it raised itself off the ground to try and suppress the pain pulsating inside of it.

Ichigo's eyes slowly started to fill with a faint blue light from his spiritual pressure maxing out under the tense battle, he swung his Zanpaktou slashing the creature's side and sending it skidding across the dirt trail, he was about to run up to and follow up the slash but the creature jumped as it reached the end of it's skid and headed off into the forest back to where Senna and Rukia were.

'_Oh no you don't!'_ the man shouted instinctively in his mind, as his body chased after the creature through the wood, his eyes keep trace of the monster as he jumped from the tree branches keeping the advantage of elevation. Once Ichigo felt he was close enough he started launching Kido spell at the retreating creature to further damage it, after the third Shakkaho spell, the hollow creature started slamming into some of the trees knocking them over and making Ichigo fall down to the ground with a roll, as his next landing spot had been taken out.

The murderous hollow, quickly grabbed a fallen tree with it's angle pole and launched it at the reaper, who instinctively ducked down but left himself wide open to the creatures clawed feet. The claws scratched the chest of the man, ripping of a part of his Hakama and drawing blood from his pierced torso.

Suppressing the pain that was shooting through him, Ichigo concentrated his reiatsu into his fist and launched it straight into grand fisher's mask, causing the creature to falter backwards from the sheer force behind the attack, while he used the brief reprieve to pull himself into a better more stable stance. "Answer my question hollow!" the man demanded again, his spiritual pressure flaring again

"Why your fellow Soul Reaper friends…" the creature sneered, wanting to piss the man off more and have him get thrown off his game, so he could devour his succulent soul even quicker.

"Ichigo!" yelled Senna arriving on the scene with Rukia, the pair growing worried over how long it was taking the fourth seat to return back to them, having followed the noise of combat to this location "We're here to help!"

"Stay back!" the man yelled out angrily "This is my fight! Don't interfere!"

"W-what!" the stunned Senna uttered not believing that he was telling her not to get involved. Rukia looked at Ichigo intently the image of her friend Kaien flashing in her mind and his calls of no interfering and the words of her captain Ukitake informing her about a battle of pride instead a battle of survival. Seeing Senna move to give her assistance, Rukia threw herself in front of the human-shinigami her arms extended out to prevent her from going around

"Senna, stop." She commanded

"Have you lost your mind! We need to help him!"

The Shinigami shook her head in disapproval, noting the irony of the situation "Look at him Senna." The woman instructed to the younger girl. Senna moved her gaze from Rukia over to the battle between Ichigo and the hollow, watching the man narrowly dodge another vicious strike, while retaliating with another sweep of Zangetsu a faint white light starting to rise around the blade. "You might be too young to understand Senna, but Ichigo isn't fighting to stay alive or do his job like his normal behavior" said Rukia turning to face the battle as well, the determination of finishing this fight exuding off his person in waves "I don't know why but this battle, this hollow means so much more to him. He's taking blows that he normally wouldn't just for the chance to counter attack. He wants to end this hollow. Let him have his request, as this seems to be something personal."

The ribbon wearing girl opened her mouth to speak up, but after seeing Rukia give her a hard look she closed it, and lowered her sword back against the ground. Not entirely putting it away as she would interfere only if things were dire, though she couldn't entire understand the reasoning of the shinigami's

'_What good is pride if he's dead?'_ she thought turning her gaze back to the battle

(Ichigo and Grand Fisher)

'_Come on die damn it!'_ the man thought snidely as he pushed Grand Fisher with enough force to send him through a large boulder nearby. The man was looking worse for wear his upper part of his Hakama was all but torn away, revealing the blood going down his face and chest from the numerous cuts he had received; his breathing had become much heavier. _'Stupid limiter won't respond either. Damn it why does all this shit have to happen now!' _his eyes darting back at the limiter he had tried to remover earlier in the fight, but to no avail.

Figuring the hollow couldn't possibly take much more punishment, Ichigo started charging forward to try and finish the hollow who was only now pushing itself back up off the ground when a strange word echoed in his mind _'sho…'_ He heard but paid it no mind, too focused on trying to destroy his mother's murderer to allow any kind of distraction slow him down now that he was winning.

Or so he hoped.

Grand fisher, seeing the youth charge at him again with a white light slowly covering his blade decided to employ one last desperate gambit. He launched his antenna in front of the man to obscure his path, but as it slowly flung over the red ball shape at the end started to change and transform into something else.

Ichigo stopped his charge and lifted his guard up wary of whatever trick the creature was about to perform. His eyes soon started to widen in shock and horror, when the ball slowly expanded into a more humanoid shape, the strange being soon grew long orange hair, two mounds of flesh started to extend outwards on the chest, four limbs emerged two up top that sepeated at the end into five small digits, while the bottom two did the same though much shorter in distance. A white cloak came from behind and draped around the creature, which hung it's head down it's face obscured by the mess of long hair.

"What the fuck…?" Ichigo muttered having never seen a move like that before in his entire career as a Shinigami. Rukia was also looking on in disbelief that this creature had some kind of cloning ability, while Senna's sword arm had started shaking while her other hand was over her open mouth a gasped at the grotesque display.

Grand Fisher smirked seeing that his nemesis was distracted like so many other victims who had fallen prey to that, and was busy working up his energy to open a small rift for him to retreat back to Hueco Mundo, since the youth was too strong for him at the moment _'Just a little more, a few more seconds…hehe'_

The strange human thing, jerked it's head up suddenly and stared into the face of Ichigo, who unknowingly dropped his guard, Zangetsu's bladed edge lowering down and touching the earth. "M-mother! H-how…?" he questioned in a hushed whisper, that was just loud enough for Senna and Rukia to overhear from where they were standing, a total of ten feet away from the whole conflict. His body taking a slow shaky step back in disbelief

'_Mother? Does this mean? Has that hollow…'_

'_No way. That's Ichigo's mom, the one he told me about, Masaki-san! But I thought she was dead!'_

The woman, tilted her head to the side a sweet smile on her face as she stepped forward her arms at her side to embrace her son "Ichigo, it's been so long. How have you been?" she asked in her usual tender voice wanting to know how her baby boy was doing since the last time she saw him. The woman stopped her advance a few feet away from him, and eyed him curiously "Have you gotten a bit taller?" she then laughed jokingly, at already figuring out what the problem was in her mind "Maybe it's because I'm getting shorter, oh well at least I'll still be taller than Soifon-san, speaking of which when are you going to invite her over again, as I still need to beat her in a game of poker." Then a sly smile broke on her face, at remembering her son's affections for the girl "Maybe I can make her bet her hand in marriage with you. ahaha…"

"No, you're dead. This can't be real." The man shook his head in denial over what he was seeing. He knew she was dead, her heard the grief in the voices of so many close family and friends that logic deemed to conclude her demise true, but here she was again with her playful smile and innocent nature.

Masaki's smile dropped at his words and she puffed her cheeks up in annoyance "Well that's not a nice thing to say about your mother." She crossed her arms childishly over her D cup chest "And to think I came all this way to tell you something."

Ichigo's stunned demeanor changed to a bemused smile at seeing her antics, the way she always was when she never got her way. _'She hasn't changed one bit.'_

"And what did you want to tell me?" he asked, his body and mind getting caught in the presence of his beloved mother once again.

Masaki walked over and grabbed her son's hand and looked him straight into the eye "Simple." She leaned close to his ear, so as not to be overheard and whisper "that your such a fool for falling for this trick." And quickly shoved him backward into a tree with enough force to break the trunk of the foliage and cause it to collapse on top of him.

"Ichigo!" yelled Senna as she flash stepped over to help her comrade, thoroughly enraged that it would use his own mother of all things to fight.

"Sorry to run out after such a tender moment, but I'll catch you later." Grand Fisher roared as it entered the rift it created behind him, and jerked it's head dragging the laughing face of Masaki with him before disappearing. The downed man, having now only gotten up from his knock down with Senna's help cried out in protest. "Get back here you son of a bitch! We're not done here!" he yelled as the rift closed behind leaving the team alone again.

Ichigo slammed his Zangetsu into the ground with enough force to leave a sizable crater into the ground. "GRAND FISHER!" he screamed, his reiatsu flaring at having failed to avenge his mother's death, and even worse was insulted and man handled by grand fisher.

Ichigo dropped down to one knee his head touching against the blunt end of Zangetsu, as the clouds over head slowly started to rain upon the group thoroughly soaking them. Silence fell on the group as no one knew what to say, on the one hand the threat of the hollow was neutralized but the whole thing left a bad taste in the soul reaper's mouths.

'_Why can't I do anything right?'_ Ichigo thought bitterly, as the water from the rain washed down his cheeks and soaked his hair. The water rolled down his chest and started to wash away some of the blood off of him, while Senna had kneeled down and used a very basic healing spell to tend to his injuries.

The sound of footsteps caused Ichigo to look over at Rukia, who had a visible frown on her face. "Ichigo, I don't know entirely what all that was about though I could hazard a guess, and while you didn't beat him, you fought bravely." The girl commented knowing his pride must have been severely hurt especially after such a personal encounter. She closed her eyes when the man she saw before her flashed into the image of Kaien "Next time Ichigo, you'll get him."

Ichigo stared at Rukia for a moment longer and nodded his head, nearly swearing to himself that he saw the after image of Soifon standing next to his powerless partner.

"Come on, let's get my body and we can get out of here." Said Senna as she put Ichigo's arm over her shoulder which made a wet plop sound on her soaked Hakama, while her free hand pulled the chest part of her hakama out so it wouldn't hug against her C cup chest so tightly.

The team picked up Senna's unconscious body, and returned to the bus stop and boarded the bus, using the small hour allotted them to rest. After the bus arrived back in Karakura, evening had started to roll in and the team slowly made their way back to home base a.k.a. Senna's home. As they were walking on the side walk, Ichigo suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong Ichigo?" asked Rukia to the man who was now on his alert

"I sense something. Rukia pull out Senna!" he commanded as whatever he was sensing was coming closer, and it felt Shinigami like in nature, though with his previous run in with Kisuke he didn't want to run the risk of being caught unawares of it being a false alarm or worse.

After reaperfying Senna and placing her body against the alleyway beside them the exhausted but ready team turned around weapons drawn for whatever came. Suddenly a man with flaming red hair, tribal tattoo's on his face that seemed to extend downward to perhaps his body, with a strange steel looking visor over his eyes came out of a flash step in front of them.

The man pulled off his visor and looked at all three of the individuals and saw that the second woman who he didn't know, had what appeared to be her body next to them a few feet away. The man sighed in both frustration and resignation, hating what he had to do next, especially to his friend Rukia, the man pulled out a device and spoke into it "Sir, I've located them, and the intel is indeed true, what are your orders." He asked having confirmed the rumors to indeed be true, which got confused looks from the group since they had expected the guy to say 'There you guys are where have you been!' not seem so calm and busy with a mission

The device in the man's hand crackled on and a calm but cold voice echoed from it, one that Rukia recognized as her brother Byakuya "Proceed. I am on my way." A brief pause was heard before the voice added much quieter "We will need one of them to take back for trial fuka-taicho Abarai, let it be Rukia Kuchiki."

"…yes sir" Abarai acknowledged begrudgingly, as he put the device away.

"Renji you idiot, what took you so long!" Rukia asked a playful smirk on her face, though it slowly faded when the man started to draw his Zanpaktou from it's sheath "What are you doing renji?"

"Fourth Seats of second and thirteenth division, Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki. You have been found guilty of treason and the conspiracy of over throwing the spirit king, for that your punishment is death!" the man yelled out to the criminals before him

'_My creators, why your fellow Soul Reapers of course'_ the words of Grand Fisher echoed in Ichigo's head, soon the events of all the things that had been occurring as of late, the different departure times, the loss of equipment, being stranded with no help, his limiter not responding, it all slowly made sense to him now _'We're being set up, but who?'_

"_**It must have been that prick with the silver hair, all this shit started happening after running into his ass. He must be the one behind this!"**_ Hollow Zangetsu roared to Ichigo. Suddenly an epiphany hit the white doppelganger _**"In fact that guy might be that bitch's master, so he's probably the one who killed you mom!"**_

Ichigo bared his teeth in anger _'I knew he felt creepy, but I didn't expect that from a Taicho!'_ Ichigo then took a step forward despite his bodies protest since his wounds were healed but his spiritual energy wasn't replenished and he would be fighting at about 30% strength. "I don't know who you're calling a traitor but I won't submit to someone like you!"

The man smirked, before disappearing and reappearing above Ichigo coming down with his unsheathed sword about to cut him up from on high "That's fine by mean, you can die here!" he exclaimed

The banging of steel echoed through the empty street and into the night, Renji's eye narrowed when the ex-human girl blocked his blow with her own "Nnghh. Ichigo get Rukia out of here, I'll handle him!" the dark purple haired girl grunted out as she strained against the physically stronger male

Seeing that in his weakened state he wouldn't be much help for her, Ichigo reluctantly grabbed Rukia before he flash stepped away he yelled out to his comrade "I'll hurry back be careful though!" and disappeared further down the road to find a safe spot for Rukia

"Of course take your time!" she yelled back, a smirk dancing across her face as she stepped back enough to jump away to the side allowing a better more even fight between the two of them.

The man looked over the woman, and sighed since they were going to be doing things the hard way, instead of just surrendering "I don't like fighting women, but orders are orders." He raised his guard up to engage the girl who clearly didn't know what she was getting into

The man then charged across the street his sword coming from the side to cut her down, which the woman ducked under using her natural agility to counter against his strength advantage. Once the blade had passed over head Senna swept her blade in an upward arc to counter attack.

The man moved his weight to the side to narrowly dodge the sneak attack and swung his blade back around and struck the woman across her right shoulder, hampering her fighting ability so he could finish her in one blow. Despite the pain in her arm, the female Kurosaki jumped back, with her sword swinging at her opponent to get out of the close quarters that she'd lose in.

The asauchi cut the man's cheek, causing him to wince but otherwise remain fine. His hand reflexively touched the spot he was cut and wiped the blood of it, as his eyes turned back to the woman. Slowly filling with anger. "Don't get cocky brat!" Renji yelled at the tense girl, who was side stepping to the right slowly, her eyes firmly planted on the man.

Senna's eyes widened when the man disappeared in an instant. She quickly darted her head around checking her surroundings for the man, knowing the man had used the flash step to vanish. The sound of something scraping behind her, caused Senna to whirl around and slash with her blade.

It connected…with nothing but air.

"Got ya!" the man yelled reappearing behind her and attacking her unbalanced and unprotected flank.

The girl screamed out from the heavy cut inflicted on her, pushing past the burst of pain the girl quickly stepped forward enough to spin around and launch a kido "Hado 1! Sho!" she yelled

A small burst of magic shot out of her hand, though when it hit the fiery Shinigami in front of her it did little more than annoy him.

"Is that it?" he asked calmly brushing away the dust that had landed upon his hakama unnerving her more as she swallowed the fear that had started to build inside her. While he did admire the girl for being able to use a kido and fight better than any human with only two weeks of training under their belt, she ultimately was beaten. "Kid, let me show you a real Kido! Hadou 33!" he yelled out a red light forming in his hand that kept expanding bigger and bigger till it was the size of a bloated basketball "Soukatsui!"

As the energy exploded forward towards Senna, she raised her Zanpaktou in front of her "Bakudo 8: Kaze Kabe!" bracing herself against the wind wall to endure the Shinigami's fire. The attack slammed into the wall of winds, at it tried to scorch Senna with it's intense heat, soon though the weak barrier gave way to the more powerful spell and broke blasting Senna backwards down the street in a series of painful rolls.

"ugghh…" the woman groaned out in pain, as she started to push herself from the tar and readjust to her surroundings, which was inhibited with the constant spinning in her head.

The approaching sound of footsteps caused Senna to look up to see the red haired Shinigami about to slice her head off. She reflexively closed her eyes awaiting the end, when a cold sensation blew through her body, causing her to shiver. When she opened her eyes she saw that her body was staring at a brick wall, and that she was lying against another wall.

"Where…?" she groaned out and turned her head to see the street she was just fighting in a moment ago. Pushing herself up she walked out into the street and saw the red haired Shinigami looking around confusedly.

'_What the where'd she go?'_ Renji wondered since he was just about to kill her when she vanished. He soon picked up a very faint spiritual pressure behind him, and when he carted around he was looking at the woman he was fighting earlier clutching her body from pain, but in different clothes that he had never seen before.

As he walked over to finish the job the purple haired girl fell to her knees and started breathing extremely hard, Renji figured because she was so close to him. As his footsteps grew closer to her a man came running from behind him.

The man looked to be in about his thirties with spiky dark black hair that struck out from his head, with dark brown eyes, and a very rugged beard and goat tee on his chin, and on his cheek was what looked like a possible birth mark that looked like a small black o. He was wearing a full white business suit with a yellow tie and had a white earring in his left ear what looked like a brief case in his hand.

"Senna!" the older, panicking looking man yelled to the girl casting his brief case to the side to get a better look at the girl to see if she was hurt

"D-dad…?" she said weakly, trying to stay conscious but having a really hard time in doing so at the moment. Unable to take the pain inflicted on her spiritual body, she dropped her head back down in her father's arms.

"Senna!" he yelled and started to shake her "Senna!" he turned back around towards the street "Help! Somebody, ANYBODY, call 9-1-1!"

Another person arrived on the scene, with blonde hair a green shirt and pants with a red ruby necklace around his neck "Sir, come with me to my place. I think I can get her some help." The newly arrived man informed, as he helped pick up the unconscious girl.

Renji looked on from his spot, before sheathing his sword. He couldn't do anything more at this point since it was their job to protect souls not kill them, and he figured that since the woman's spiritual body disappeared, all the power she absorbed most have ran out, meaning she had done no wrong and since those two couldn't see him, nobody would believe her story.

Turning away from the alley he located his captain's spiritual pressure, and flash stepped to his location.

(mean while: Ichigo and Rukia)

After getting a reasonable distance away from their murderous comrade, Ichigo dropped Rukia back down unto the street. As Ichigo turned back around to go assist Senna, he and Rukia felt a powerful weight press against him.

'_This pressure…'_ the pair thought sensing both the strength but also the nature of it. The spiritual signature of a Shinigami.

"So it is I, who have located you." A voice called out from above them.

The team looked up and saw a tall pale man, with long hair in a spike pattern that went down the back and a white ornament in his hair that gave a regal look. The man was wearing a Haori signifying his captainship, his hand was grasping the hilt of his Zanpaktou as he descended back down unto the ground.

"Brother…" whispered Rukia, feeling mixed in his sudden appearance, the otherwise usual happiness with being rescued by her brother gone and replaced with an ominous feeling of anxiety as he looked ready to fight not save them.

"Captain!" called Ichigo not hearing the quiet voice of Rukia "You have to help us there's a rogue Shinigami who attacked us back over there and he-" the man suddenly went deathly quiet at remembering that before the red headed Shinigami attacked he radioed in someone, which meant "No…shit!" he immediately flash stepped in front of Rukia, his Zanpaktou drawn out for the inevitable fight

The man's feet touched the ground, as he eyed the traitors in front of him "Prepare yourself." Pulling out his sword and raising his spiritual pressure to about 15% percent

"Wait, Lord Brother!" the man's sister yelled as she stepped between the two of them, not wanting to lose her brother or her friend "Please, tell us what's going on!"

The man's gaze turned to the smaller girl then closed his eyes as his hand reached into his jacket and pulled out the recording device, ready to show the traitors their revealed crimes.

'_What the hell is that tape recorder for?'_ the fourth seat questioned, his arms still firmly gripping his Zanpaktou. When the man hit the play button.

A crackling sounds screeched from the device before silence enveloped the tense atmosphere, soon a voice broke the perpetual silence. A voice that seemed oddly familiar to Ichigo.

"Greetings. It has been far too long Kurosaki-san. It is with this message that I would like to thoroughly congratulate you for surviving so long, despite so many attempts to get rid of you. However, that time is at an end, but know before you pass into oblivion that you assisted in making my steps towards god hood possible. So thank you and good bye Kurosaki-san."

The captain who was also Rukia's brother hit the button to stop the tap, and put the device back into his jacket pocket. When it was put away he turned a impassive gaze back at the pair, ready to destroy the traitor and bring Rukia in for the trial and punishment for assisting the traitors.

Ichigo having heard the bizarre message left on the device turned to Rukia who looked absolutely horrified as if hearing something completely wrong or something that shouldn't be. "Lord Brother, what that message held it cannot be true! Ichigo would never-

"Silence!" the man barked out coldly, his eyes hardening for knowing he would be pushing the outer limits of his promise "Rukia you have disgraced me, the Kuchiki name and your sister's, my late wife's name with your unsavory and dishonorable behavior. I regret that you would so callously throw away your sister's wishes like yesterdays trash, so close your mouth and save what honor you have left, and prepare for your judgment."

The effect the man's words had on her was immediate; Rukia fell down upon her knees her head bowed in penance. Her heart aching from the sharp harsh words of the man, she would always look up to, knowing she was once again damning those around her to death

"Rukia!" yelled Ichigo concerned over her bodies' shutdown

"Worry more for yourself" the captain retorted before disappearing and reappearing in front of the man. While his sword remained sheathed he was actually preparing for his flash blossom attack.

When Ichigo saw the man's sword, his body immediately turned slightly to lessen the damage that would soon be fall him, the training against Shinjiro's unavoidable slash kicking in and influencing his body.

Pain erupted from his lower abdomen, as his eyes briefly saw Rukia's brother's Zanpaktou sticking through him and being pulled out, and felt the blade strike him a second time this time the blade's edge was sticking from his chest. Ichigo's eyes widened from shock and the realization of where he was striking.

The blade was retracted from his body violently, causing his body to fall forward from having his soul chain and heart pierced and severed.

"Kaien…!" yelled Rukia, as she looked back at her comrade mistaking the scenario, and the man himself for her deceased friend. The constant haunting image of her friend slumping over in death pulsating fiercely in her mind

The fourth seat's body collided with the ground, as blood started to flow freely from his wounds, causing the flood to pool around his body until he would bleed out. Ichigo weakly turned his head to the side and glanced back at Rukia with what little strength he had left. His team mate's image flickering and slowly fading away and being replaced by the woman he loved: Shaolin.

'_Will I…never…make it…home…?'_ the man pondered before darkness took over him.

The Taicho seeing the man no longer moving and his sensing his spiritual pressure fall closer to the levels of death, turned and with a quick strike to the neck knocked out his sister, and slung her over his shoulder. As he did this his Fuka-Taicho arrived at his location.

"Report." Byakuya stated solemnly, as he opened a Senkaimon back home

"I've dealt with the other one, and it appears she lost all of her spiritual energy. Since spiritual body disappeared and was replaced with her human body. We won't have to deal with her any more, Taicho."

"Very well, now let us return to back. It seems we'll need to inform Soul Society that threat has been dealt with."

"Yes…Taicho." The man acknowledged his gaze looking at his friend's body, as his captain stepped through the gate. His mind in turmoil, as he knew Rukia would never do such a thing intentionally, but was going to be punished for her association with the two traitors.

As the powerful Shinigami departed, the gate closing behind them, the rain once again picked up and started drizzling upon the bloody body of the innocent Shinigami left on the street.

* * *

Blackout2010: That's the end of that!

Byakuya: It's about time we brought some grace to this production, now if I may make an announcement.

Blackout2010: ahhh…sure I guess.

Byakuya: Thank-you. Now people out there buy the Shinigami training DVD! But if you don't know that I am watching you and I know where you are, as I am in your closet. And for the ladies out there…I'm not wearing a shirt.

Blackout2010: Right…

Byakuya: I have my eyes on you…(seductive) and only you.

Blackout2010: ummm…

Byakuya: for the men we have Masaki-san…and grand fisher.

Ichigo: Dude that's my mom!

Masaki: Soifon-san would you like to play that game of poker now? I got an interesting bet for you…

Shaolin: T-till next time. Hey leave me alone Masaki-sama!


	15. Life and Death: New Allies!

Author's acknowledgement to the unknown reviewers:

To unknown reviewer known only as: Golfer guy

I'm glad you like the story, it's nice to know. I am enthusiastic to hear that you think I'm a talented writer, though I'm just trying to do best.

To answer your question yes and no. I say yes because back in chapter 6-9 I was ahead, right now it's no because I'm still working on 16. I think the reason I caught up with myself is because it takes several days sometimes weeks to write 1 chapter (at approximately 7-8K usually more this one was over 10k) but only 5 minutes to submit one. And then I get kinda anxious when I see my reviews (which I do enjoy it's just I wish more people read but that's greedy of me) so it doesn't help unfortunately but hey gotta do my best.

As for the meeting well it's in this chapter…so good luck I guess.

Final note you are actually the second person to write a review from a mobile device, the first being nickstar1991-san back in 11 or 12.

To AfroThunda! [Screams in passion]

…sorry…

Well yeah, but it's Aizen and his planning, not mention that Ichigo did just get out of a rough fight with Grand Fisher and had to contend with a captain who COULD go all the way to 50%. So I hate to say this but defeat was the only believable outcome. Anyway like said meeting is this chapter so enjoy.

Now without further ado, something every gamer has probably experienced at one point or another!

* * *

Ichigo's party has been wiped out!

[GAME OVER]

Blackout2010 (throws control to the ground): Damn it! He fucking cheated!

[Main Menu]

New game?

-) Load Game!

Select file:

-) File 1 Ichigo Kurosaki lvl Third Seat: Save point Karakura Town.

Load?

-) Yes

No

…

…

…

Loading complete!

Enjoy your adventure!

* * *

Ch. 15 Life and death: New allies!

A fleeting sensation was coming over Ichigo, as he felt intense wind blowing upon him from below and beating against his back.

"up" a voice called out against the screaming winds, causing Ichigo's eyes to squint open against his bodies protest.

"Wake up!" the voice yelled out again much louder than before. Ichigo turned his head and saw the ground slowly approaching meaning he was currently in free fall. His senses slowly catching back up with him, he turned his head forward again, and recognized the passing complexes as the buildings of his inner world.

As he came screaming towards the streets the voice rang out once again. "Ichigo! Wake the fuck up!" the voice easily recognizable as Zangetsu. Ichigo closed his eyes and focused on the voice and before his body hit the ground, his body disappeared from sight.

After a few moments of no longer feeling the rushing wind going on around him, the Shinigami opened up his eyes and was staring into the pale face of Hichigo, who had a smug look on his face.

"Well I'll be damned old man! Looks like that idea of putting away a little spiritual energy for an emergency paid off." The hollow commented, turning towards his other half

"Indeed. Though we're still fortunate enough that Ichigo's body moved on instinct when the slash came otherwise we would be dead for certain."

"Ugghh, what happened?" Ichigo asked the pain he had been feeling still burning inside his body, making his voice sound hoarse

The pair looked back at Ichigo again "Hmph! Simple your stupid ass nearly died, that's what happened!"

The memories of what had transpired began to flood back into Ichigo's mind "Rukia! Senna!" he yelled out having remembered his two friends that got attacked as well

As he tried to get up from the side of the building Hichigo quickly kicked his body back down against the building, causing the man to let out a groan of extreme pain "Tch. Ya see, that's why I should have taken over when those two showed up! I could have at least got you outta there and possible wounded them."

"You know that's…uggh…a no go. If anyone from Soul Society found out that I can let a monster take control of my body… (Pant) (Pant)…they'd kill me on the spot. Especially if that monster is a hollow, we've already discussed this" the man reprimanded to the creature, once again reminding him of their already established cans and cannots.

The 'monster' growled as Ichigo pushed himself back to his feet. When he was fully standing again he looked towards the city sky line and noticed it was a starless night time sky. "What's going on?" the man pointed above him

"It's a small side effect of your near death experience, Ichigo." Spoke the oldest of the individuals "To be precise, you did die, when he attacked you, and we used the spiritual pressure that we had stored for an emergency to restart your heart." He then looked up to the dark sky above "The cold embrace of death turned the sky black, but now that you are alive again, it will return back to its normal colors."

"What about my Soul Chain?" asked Ichigo since the man's strike had come in dangerously close proximity to where it was, which would mean trouble of another kind since if it remained severed he would die.

"It's fine. The son of a bitch almost hit it, but your body twitched enough to cause the strike to narrowly miss." commented Hichigo with his first frown in a long time, though it was mixed with his own feelings of admiration of the captain and his wounded pride from being beaten by said captain. "Anyway forget all the boring details. It's time you get back to the real world, me and pole ass will get you back to running condition."

"Right." Replied Ichigo, as he closed his eyes to return back to the world around him, slowly his body faded and finally disappeared.

Seeing that the king was gone Hichigo scoffed "Tch. Let's hope that jackass doesn't get killed again, we barely had enough power to bring him back."

(Ichigo)

As Ichigo felt himself returning back to the world, he tried to open his eyes to almost no avail, barely opening them enough to see that he was lying on his stomach on the cold ground. Summoning up his strength, he lifted his head a few inches off the ground but inevitable dropped it back down as pain shot through him. Turning his head to look at the ground he saw a giant red pool of blood around him, which he instantly knew was from the ass kicking he just received.

The world around Ichigo slowly started to turn grey and lose its color 'probably because of the blood loss' the Shinigami figured as he felt his consciousness begin to fade again.

The slow pattering of rain began to fall unto his body. 'No! Damnit gotta stay awake!' he chastised as he tried to focus on one thing so he could try and rise again, as he knew if he fell unconscious again he might bleed out and die.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of approaching footsteps echoed down the street and into the downed Shinigami's ears. Ichigo focused his energy on the source, as they kept coming closer. Turning his head to the source he saw the vague form of a tall tanned man with a red amulet around his neck, the man seemed familiar even though he couldn't see the man's face.

The tan man looked at Ichigo behind his glasses, the man then slowly bent over and bowed before the man "Forgive me for this, Kurosaki-san." Before Ichigo could respond back the man's foot slammed into his head causing him to fully pass out from the blow.

The attacker then slowly so as not to agitate Ichigo's wounds any further picked him up and slowly began his long journey back to his destination. Thanking that since it was night time he could use the art of healing kido to heal the man on the trip back.

(SS: Kuchiki Dojo)

Inside the training Dojo of the noble home of the illustrious Kuchiki family, Captain Byakuya Kuchiki was sitting down in a meditative position, with his sword Senbonzakura unsheathed beside him. The man's normal captain attire was gone instead replaced with a simple white robe; his hair was down fully as he opened his eyes with somber resolve.

"What should I do?" the man questioned to the air around him, knowing that no one would answer him as he had ordered for no one to disturb him. The man's normally very handsome face was crossed with deep worry and contemplation, a sight highly unusual for the stoic captain.

His eye closed again as he recalled what had happened that had him in the predicament.

(Flash back)

Word had already spread of Taicho Byakuya Kuchiki and Fukutaichō Renji Abarai return from the world of the living. The two had separated almost immediately upon return to their home, as the captain had ordered that his 'sister' be taken to the penance cell to await whatever punishment would be fall her, the order as expected made Renji's face fall in reluctance but he complied as he didn't want Rukia to wake up and find out aside from what charges would be brought against her but also her good friend was slain for insubordination.

As the man came to the Taichō's meeting hall he was surprised to see that all of the Taichō's we're in line and awaiting his report. The man commenced his trudge to head Captain Yamamoto, along the way he saw the many different facial expression of most of his fellow Taichō's out of his peripheral vision.

He saw the pale sick look of worry on Jushiro Ukitake as he held a certain amount of love and understanding of all Shinigami soldiers which was contrasted by the man opposite of him Mayuri Kurotsuchi would had an insane look of glee on his face from more than likely the chance to examine the corpse of Ichigo Kurosaki and figure out what made him tick.

As he passed by Kenpachi Zaraki and Toshiro Hitsugaya he saw that the young man had a fierce look of thought on his face as the older captain could tell that the boy would hang unto every single word spoken and deduce what would be the best way to prove his good friends innocence if thing turned out unfavorably. The scared man across from him looked like he could care less of everything going on, and only came because their might have been the slight chance this Ichigo fellow and his allies might have more powerful friends to help kill the spirit king.

Passing by them he saw the usually carefree Kyoraku looking with all seriousness a sight that would do his Fukutaichō Nanao Ise proud if not for the tense atmosphere. The man seemed to look back into Byakuya's own eyes and with a reflexive sigh tipped his hat past his eyes in resignation. The blind captain across from his sensed the change in the spiritual pressure of the leader of eight and frowned.

As he passed by his spot, he gave his attention to the giant armored samurai beside him. Though the captain couldn't see into the man's face due to the other wearing a strange helmet, he could sense the larger man was deeply troubled because of the turn of events that seemed to befall Soul Society.

His eyes then landed upon Aizen and Unohana. The woman looked ready to either have an emotional breakdown from all the stress and suspicion upon her idol, teacher and friend. Byakuya knew that his news would only cause more pain for her but if he had to deal with his sister surely she could endure what would happen. The unusually stoic Aizen looked at the man with bated breath for what words he would utter.

Passing by the final gate of Taichō's he noticed absolutely no change in Gin's face as he still had the insane grin on his face as if all the chaos going on was just another day in the park for him. Shifting his eyes back to the other cold captain he saw that while on the surface she held her normal frowning cold indifference, he noticed that she seemed to be restraining herself from someone or something, though even he would never try to gauge what was truly on the mind of the small Chinese captain.

As he reached the end he kneeled down before the Sotaichō who looked intently at the man as he drew a breath and he voiced his thoughts "Tell me Kuchiki-Taicho. After visiting the Human world were you able to confirm if this whole situation was a real threat or was it merely a hoax contrived from a depraved mind of someone else?"

The regal looking man lifted his head up to his superior "Yamamoto-Sotaichō. After going to the human world, I have confirmed that the situation was as such."

The shuffling of feet were soon heard resonating through the dignified hallway, causing everyone to turn and see their 'smiling angel' walking away with her head lowered to the ground in apparent shame. Byakuya himself winced at see the woman seem so dejected, his and everyone else's eyes missed the sharp stab of pain inside the captain of two's eyes.

When the door at the far end closed with Unohana having fled the premises, the Taichō's took a moment to recompose themselves before returning their stare back at the still kneeling Taicho. As Byakuya turned his head back around to stare back at the aged head captain his voice wavered with the tiniest hint of strain "I have arrested one of the perpetrators of this crime, the rest have been dealt with by both myself and my Fukutaichō."

The old man opened his eyes and looked down at the man, his eyes filled with concern, sadness and anger. But Byakuya himself couldn't even begin to fathom why the leader of the Gotei 13 was feeling all of these emotions about the crime. Though he supposed it was because of the level of treachery involved. "Thank-you for your report Kuchiki-Taicho. May I ask the name of the one you brought back?"

The man hardened his eyes for a moment before closing them "…Rukia Kuchiki, sir."

When the words left the man's mouth, a dark calm filtered through the room, as all the captain had either now started to contemplate how far the treachery of Masaki Kurosaki and Ichigo Kurosaki went, the suspicion of fellow Taichō's that might be in on this, a possible fail safe that might lead to a possible second strike, and what to do with the criminal who was revealed to be the sister of Byakuya Kuchiki.

"You are dismissed return to your place." ordered Yamamoto, who Byakuya felt would need to retire soon if more situations such as these were to spread more in the future. As soon as Byakuya returned back to his place the clamor amongst the men and woman gathered ceased as they awaited the words of their leader. "This travesty that has occurred here today, has sullied the name of the Shinigami and right now we don't know who to trust or who is also involved in all of this. So as your leader I am ordering all of you to not let any of this information found here escape this room under possible penalty of death."

"Sotaichō if I may make a suggestion." The ice queen of Seireitei uttered in her blizzard-like tone, her head tilting to show her face which held deep-seated hatred just underneath the surface

"Please speak Soifon-Taichō." The man said, letting slide the woman's outburst since she rarely spoke her mind with the intensity he was sensing inside her soul

"Thank-you Sotaichō." The woman nodded her head before turning fully to face the aged man. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes with a visibly displeased look on her face "I suggest that we make an example of Rukia Kuchiki. If there is more people involved in this then we can't allow them to feel they can get away regardless of social standing, and by getting rid of this person publically it will send a clear message to anyone else who would think of trying something like this in the future."

"If you are opting for the execution of an individual then the only one that befits this crime would be the Sokyoku." The man finished, to which the woman nodded her head. The man looked away from the woman and stroked his beard "All those in favor of Rukia Kuchiki to be executed by the Sokyoku please speak now."

"My vote has already been cast." replied the angry hornet

"She's getting what's coming to her after all, I vote for!" the grinning face of Gin Ichimaru answered

"I could care less. Do what you want with her!" bellowed Mayuri Kurotsuchi personally not giving a damn and just hurrying the meeting along quicker

"I'm with the make up wearing faggot on this one. I don't give a shit unless she's strong, then I'd kill her personally." The bored Zaraki Kenpachi stated, at least getting a self-serving chuckle from messing with the demented scientist. With a sigh Yamamoto split the vote one for each side making things 1 to 3 so far.

"Rukia is a good person, and I don't believe she would ever do such a thing. I request amnesty for her!" answered Jushiro Ukitake, knowing the odds probably wasn't in their favor

"I too call for her pardon." Spoke Toshiro Hitsugaya, getting a surprised smile from Jushiro since he figured himself alone in this "Ichigo Kurosaki, as a friend never involved other he didn't trust and I know for a fact that those two have probably never met before this mission. And I swear if this execution goes through I will be conducting an investigation to prove their innocence." He added, his defiance noted if not futile

"I would normally call for mercy, as it is only the right thing. But to do so would obstruct Justice, I cannot allow that. Please schedule Ms. Kuchiki execution." said the blind Kaname Tosen throwing in his two cents

"I speak for myself and Unohana-chan when I say that Rukia shouldn't be executed, but I do think maybe we can get some information out of her in exchange." proposed Kyoraku, who was really not liking this dicey business he was finding himself in, and wishing he had followed suit like his fellow Taicho and split the moment Byakuya kneeled

"I will have to disagree with you Kyoraku-Taicho." spoke the masked visage of Sajin "We must do what IS right not what our heart FEELS is right. I vote for the execution Yamamoto-dono."

"I too vote for." answered Yamamoto "That leaves us 5 against and 6 for, with only Aizen and Kuchiki to vote."

The serene looking Aizen stepped forward and gazed at Yamamoto "I cast my vote against the execution. She should not have to be dragged down because of circumstances." The man said, unbeknownst to everyone using this calculated move to force Byakuya to choose and knowing he would support the execution due to his sense of honor

"I am afraid I will have to disagree with you Aizen." Spoke the somber voice of said captain, making Aizen smirk on the inside knowing things were going according to plan "She like everyone else is bound to the law. How can we expect other's to follow our laws if we do not ourselves." He turned back to the head captain "Yamamoto-Sotaichō, I bless the execution."

"Very well. This subject shall be passed unto the central forty-six for review. Taichō's dismissed and remember be careful who you trust."

(Flash back end)

Opening his eyes again, the man exhaled his held breathe slowly. He glanced back at Senbonzakura next to him and looked at it for a long moment, before his hand reached up to his robe and undid the center part revealing his chest and abs. With a steady hand he grabbed the sword of his soul and lifted up in front of him with the tip of the blade against his stomach, as he prepared to perform hara-kiri to perhaps save the honor of his family from what Rukia had done.

The blade was still pressed against him about to cut into his flesh when he soon started to think, about Hisana and his parents. He knew that was the reason he was in this dojo about to commit Seppuku for, the very reason for the inner conflict inside of him. That he was either to turn his back on his late wife and her dying wishes or the dying wishes of his parents. The man sighed "What do I do?" he seemingly asked as he lowered the blade back down, hoping for an answered of any kind

_'Simple, keep the honor that means most to you.'_ The spirit inside his blade answered.

"…" not giving an indication he heard the swords response, the man raised his sword again to perform the act, when the knocking on the dojo door got his attention.

"Sir! We need to get to a meeting now!" the voice of Renji Abarai informed to his commander inside, not knowing of his intrusion of the man

"I understand." Answered the Taicho "I will be their momentarily."

Sensing that the man left the handsome leader of 6 picked up his belongings and dressed himself before returning back to duty, the same duty that might have cost him both his sanity and humanity.

(Sometime later: Ichigo)

"Uggh…" groaned out Ichigo as he opened his eyes and saw a dark unfamiliar room to him. Adjusting himself to sit up he pushed the blankets off of him and set his feet against the wooden floor. Pausing for a moment to allow his eyes to adjust he saw that the room he was in had a window across from the bed, which he could see that it was night time out, just below the window was a small work desk that had his Shinigami Hakama hanging from the chair.

The man looked down and saw a white robe was wrapped around him, keeping him decent. Slowly putting some pressure on his legs so he could stand, the betrayed Shinigami collapsed down to one knee.

"You shouldn't move mister." A tiny squeaky voice said

Turning towards the end of the bed where the voice came from, he saw a really young looking girl that looked like the cover page for 'bullied daily'. She was short and scrawny looking with two dark pig-tails sticking from the side of her hair, further adding unto to her darkish appearance.

"Who are you?" his raspy voice questioned weakened from disuse "Where am I?"

The girl was about to speak again when the events that had transpired returned back to the kneeling Shinigami "Rukia! Senna!" he yelled out his eyes looking around the room for any more beds that the others might be in. As he tried to get up fully from his kneeled position the young unidentified girl punched him hard in the gut knocking him back down unto the bed with surprising force

"Sorry, but people are sleeping so you need to be quiet." The girl said quietly, though Ichigo was starting to get the feeling that she was trying to scold him for his outburst. "Please wait here patiently, till I get your doctor."

With that said the mysterious girl turned away and left through the door. Ichigo's hand touched the spot where she hit him and winced since it was the same point that captain's sword had gone through him. 'Better get moving.' He concluded as he unevenly got back to his feet using the desk and wall to support him. When he was firmly secure on his feet he took off the robe he was wearing and put on his Hakama.

After finishing he paused for just a moment "Shit, Zangetsu's missing." He muttered

"There's no need for such foul language sir." A voice called from the entranceway, which was revealed to be the big tan guy with the apron. The man crossed his arms and stroked his chin as he eyed the young man "Hmm, you were able to recover rather quickly; I must say I'm impressed."

"You're that guy from the shop that Urahara runs."

The man touched the walls next to him with his hand and looked up at the ceiling "You mean this shop?" he asked rhetorically and proceeded to push off the wall and walk over to Ichigo

"Where's Senna and Ruk-" he started before he remembered that Rukia…was no longer with them.

Sensing his uneasiness the tan man answered his question "You friend Senna is with her father in the next room over, she been there since yesterday when we picked you up. As for your other friend, I witnessed her being taken away as you we're cut down."

"So you were the one who hit me."

The man nodded "I did and still do apologize but you're moving around would have made treatment impossible, thus you would have bleed out within a matter of minutes and without any spiritual energy to heal yourself with you would no doubt die."

"…"

Tessai uncrossed his arms and extended his hand to the younger man "Since you seem to already know, Kisuke Urahara, the manager wishes to see you. Please come with me."

The two stared at each other for a moment before Ichigo followed the man out of the room. Nothing was said between the two of them as they walked through the hallways. After a few minutes of walking they were back in the familiar room with the table in the center. The revealed traitor sitting in his chair writing on what looked like a newspaper.

"-V.A.N. Caravan. Hehe I'm on a roll." The blond merchant snickered to himself as he continued his cross word

"Ahem." Tessai cleared his throat getting the other man's attention

Kisuke looked up and after seeing them, quietly moved his word scramble underneath the table, so that he could attend to it later, since business came first. "Well, well. Welcome back Ichigo, why don't you have a seat." He offered

Ichigo brushed past Tessai and took the chair across from him, remaining silent to hear what the man had to say "So how you feeling after your narrow brush with death Kurosaki-san?" he asked merrily, when the man narrowed his eyes, the blond leaned back "Still mad I take it."

"What do you want?" he said angrily not having the time or patience to deal with this stupidity

"Calm down." The manager said seriously, flipping from silly and stupid to death serious, which caused some of Ichigo's anger to subside from the sudden whip-lash.

"…sorry." Ichigo apologized roughly tilting his head away from the guy "I was just worried about my friends." He lazily returned his gaze back "So how are they?"

"Well, Senna Kurosaki is still alive; in fact apparently her father was the one I met when I was out strolling the city. Right now I sent him away so he's back at his house, while Senna is resting here since we couldn't risk moving her, and we didn't have any spare place for him."

"How were you just strolling around town without being attacked or sensed by the captain?"

"Well…" the man got up and pulled down his collar which revealed a ruby on a necklace "this necklace, was an invention of mine from a long time ago, it traps spiritual energy within a certain size, this was modified to where it cloaked the person who wore it. So to the other Shinigami I was just another person." He then sat back down in his chair "It's a good thing you showed up first since I figured nobody would ever find me so I had to take these back out again. But I'm getting off track. Senna is fine."

_'So was that red gem his invention when he worked with us?'_ the man pondered silently, marveling briefly at the man's genius. After getting over his silent awe of the intellectual prowess, the recently awoken Shinigami asked "And Rukia?" his worry stoked from their encounter against the captain of six

"Tessai?" the manager asked to his large companion for the answer

"When I had arrived where you were Kurosaki-san, you were alone and dying. If Kuchiki-san was with you, I would assume whatever caused your injuries must have taken her along." The man scratched his beard "Since a Shinigami was close to Senna, I assume that the other one, this Taicho returned to Soul Society." said Tessai drawing an easy conclusion to the missing girl

"Tell me Ichigo what do you plan on doing to rectify the situation?" Kisuke asked, wanting to hear what the kid was going to do now that he endangered pretty much all of the afterlife by letting Rukia get kidnapped since her Gigai contained the Hogyoku and he had sinking feeling of who might be behind it…if it was who he thought it was.

Ichigo turned back "I'm going to clear everything up. This whole thing is just one huge misunderstanding!" he answered since in all honest it was just a huge misunderstanding.

The blond manager lowered his head and shook it in disgust "You fool. Do you honestly think Soul Society is just going to allow you to waltz in there and make your case? In the off chance you forgot they just tried to kill you remember and for what was it that you did exactly?"

Ichigo shifted his eyes away. In honesty he didn't know why his superiors tried to kill him just now, but he was pretty damn sure that silver haired guy had the answerers he needed, since all these events happened immediately after meeting him and losing his communicator and Senkaimon unit. "I don't know, but I plan on finding out."

"Well that's good since I was going to make you get my property that got taken along with Kuchiki-Taicho."

"What 'property' exactly?" asked the strawberry, wary of Kisuke since this sounded like it would be more dangerous than he was letting on

"My Gigai that Rukia has, needs to be returned to me, and since I lost it because of your circumstances that means you need to retrieve It." informed Urahara easily skirting the real reason for needing it, since this kid seemed hot headed enough to go against Aizen and die if he told him the whole truth.

"You're lying. You're mean to tell me that you, ex-Taicho of twelfth Kisuke Urahara, can't make another one." Ichigo responded calling out the scientist's bluff, since the man's brilliance would deem it easier to make a new one rather than enter a lion's den "What are you really after?"

"Does it really matter?" Kisuke queried casually to lull the man's perception with a tactically chosen smoothness in his words, which gripped his attention to not press enough just yet and go along with it for a time. "The way I see it we both need to get to Soul Society, besides you owe me." He reminded the kid of his IOU for saving his life back at the hospital "Think about it, we both know that the reapers are going to try and kill you on sight, so if we're going to both achieve our goals we need to work together."

Ichigo face contorted slightly, knowing that he couldn't talk his way out of this since he had no leverage against Kisuke to make him talk and really needed to get to Soul Society, and couldn't force his way alone since he wasn't strong enough to beat all of the Gotei 13 by himself. "Fine Kisuke." The man grunted begrudgingly "So now that we're going to do this who are we taking and how are we getting there?"

"As for whose going well…a few of us at the shop can go to supervise and assist, Senna Kurosaki can go too, provided both you and her have some training. If you're concerned about actually getting there, I got a Senkaimon creation unit device in the back we can use."

"Wait, you're saying that you had a Senkaimon device this entire time and you never let us use it to get back! WHY!" Ichigo demanded an explanation of the shady Shinigami, since this whole situation could have been avoided if he let them use it when the asked nearly two weeks ago.

The blond lazily waved his hand to Ichigo to relax back in his chair which Ichigo didn't reluctantly. Once again re-sitting and waiting the details Kisuke "Settle down reaper man, the reason I didn't give you guys the Senkaimon unit is because it's the old fashion variety that can't be moved, and is in the training area of our shop, which would require you to see some things I normally can't let you. Then there's the fact that given time the twelfth division could reverse engineer the Senkaimon and discover this location, and regardless of who is here, we can't fight off an unending swarm of Shinigami." answered Kisuke, efficiently and expertly explaining the reason for his earlier lie when the Shinigami team arrived.

"Fine, I get where you're coming from." said Ichigo a moment later, understanding that Kisuke originally assumed that he and his team would get picked up in a few days, without his help.

"Excellent."

"So tell me 'when do we return back to Soul Society?'" the carrot top asked the all-important question

The blond manager got up from his chair and stepped a couple steps away from the table, his mind thinking up a good answer to the question since a lot of variables needed to be taken into account as well as the current situation. "Maybe with a week or so…give or take a few days." He said casually

"A week!" yelled Ichigo pounding his hand into the table "We don't have that kind of time; Rukia could be dead by tomorrow morning for all we know!"

"Sir…" started Tessai breaking the tension between the two of them with a serious look which both of them saw. Finally Ichigo turned his head back down to the table and cooled his jets for a second time, as he awaited a decent explanation from the owner of the shop

Kisuke thanked Tessai with a smirk and wink of the eye before returning back to the disgruntled Shinigami "First off Ichigo, the fact that a Taicho and what I assume is a Fukutaichō came after you means it's something big. So if it's something big it could take a few days before they decide what to do with her. At best they court martial her, drop her a few ranks and put her on probation for a few months, possibly years. Though the good news is that nothing bad happens to her and we get all the time in the world to save her once we're over."

"Always prepare for the worst." said Ichigo, knowing that what he said was the good news, which meant the bad news was coming next

"Right" replied Kisuke as he removed his hat and looked directly into Ichigo's eyes "The bad news." He said darkly "Should they find for something dangerous, they could order her execution. And since they sent a Taicho, it's obviously nothing lenient which means perhaps the Sokyoku, giving us thirty days to get in and get her out."

"The Sokyoku huh?" the strawberry Shinigami snarled 'That's not good. Security will be heavy to make sure she doesn't get out at all.' Ichigo tilted his head back up from the desk to look at his fellow co-conspirator "Who exactly do you plan on bringing, they need to be pretty skilled, since taking a lot of people would be dangerous."

_'This guy doesn't trust me in the slightest does he?'_ Kisuke thought queerly "Well, for your information, I will be going personally since I can't seem to trust you kids with my stuff and more than likely my loving nephew will want to come, and that's really it for the moment."

"So me, you and Uryu. That doesn't sound like our success rate is going to be high, if it's just us." grimaced the soul reaper

"Well, Senna is coming as well."

"No way." interrupted Ichigo "She's a human that-

"They also know her identity." interrupted Kisuke, while somewhat amused that his sense of duty prevented him from recklessly endangering innocent bystander this was not the time nor the place "I'm sure your soul reaper honor and oath of creed asks that you do not endanger innocent souls, but since Soul Society knows who she is, what's to stop them from coming back and dealing with her?" he insinuated, giving just the necessary push needed for Ichigo to sway since essentially if they did die and Senna remained oblivious to the afterlife around her, what was to stop her from being literally spirited away.

The strawberry frowned as he let the information sink in, since there would be nothing preventing Soul Society from sending someone to get rid of her, and while he did want to believe that they would uphold the motto of not endangering others he did have to look at the fact that he and his team [plus one] we're attacked without provocation or to be more accurate set up.

_'That means they could just set her up too…'_ he mentally concluded acknowledging a grim truth

"You have a point." He admitted, getting a casual bobbing of the manager's head for seeing reason. "Still four is not a good number, superstition aside (1)."

Kisuke let out a small chuckle "Don't worry so much. Just get some rest, cause were going to have to do some serious training if we want this to work."

Though he was feeling a myriad of skepticism and uneasiness, the man got up from his chair and bided the men good night, before following the arrows that magically appeared on the floor again back to 'his' room. When he got back to his room, he walked over to the bed closing the door behind him, and laid down on it.

He sighed as he stared at the ceiling, his thoughts scattered yet his mind was focused, focused on everything and nothing. He drifted between the facts of what had happened, the various theories of what may have caused this nightmare scenario, the anxiety of literally charging into Soul Society to save Rukia and clear his name for whatever crimes he was framed for, and lastly his thoughts of how Shaolin was taking this.

The man closed his eyes as he leaned back up and tossed his legs to dangle over the side. His scowling face wasn't the usual 'get out of my face' it typically held but a sad somber look. He gritted his teeth since he knew she was probably angry and most of all disappointed in him, or rather because of the perceived truth of the accusations that probably we're orchestrated by that fox faced Taicho.

_'But why?'_ he asked himself _'Out of all the people in the afterlife, why me? I don't even think I met him before this mission.'_ Ichigo shook his head and sighed before standing up unto the rug _'well I guess I'll ask him when I get there.'_

He walked over back to the doorway to shut the light off when he heard the shuffling of feet, curiously he quietly opened the door to see a man he didn't recognize walk into a nearby door. Opening the door fully Ichigo followed the man into the other room. After entering the room he saw Senna propped up in her bed with the man from earlier sitting next to the bed.

Both of the room's occupants were looking in Ichigo's direction having heard the door open, from what he could tell they seemed to have been in a conversation.

"Ichigo!" the girl yelled as she practically jumped from her bed to embrace the man in a hug, hobbling for a split second from the soreness of her body from yesterday's beating.

"Glad to see your safe." Ichigo let out in a relieved sigh, throwing his arm past her shoulder and patting the center of her back.

"Who are you?" asked the man as he got up from his chair and eyed the apparition who was apparently holding Senna kind of intimately "How do you know my daughter?"

Turning his head Ichigo saw a man who looked to be in his early thirties with spiked black hair and rugged facial hair line. The man was wearing a gray undershirt with a white over jacket and white pants. He had a single small round light blue earring in his left ear lobe and was wearing black shoes. His dark brown eyes narrowed in intrigue before widening just a fraction as if in realization before returning to a normal state.

Senna quickly let go of Ichigo and turned to face her father "Oh, let me introduce you two. Ichigo, dad. Dad, Kurosaki-san."

The man looked at his daughter before slowly a look of horror dawned on his face 'san means '"Mr./s." and he has Sen-chan's last name which means…' the man's face started to contort in anger as he took three hot steps forward and slugged Ichigo in the jaw knocking him to the ground.

When Ichigo looked back at the guy, Senna's dad had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and looked him dead in the eye "You bastard! Who gave you the right to marry my sweet Senna-chan, huh!?"

"M-marry!" a blushing Ichigo stuttered out, not expecting that one, and from the look on Senna's face neither had she.

The man turned around to look at his daughter teary eyed as he appeared ready to start bawling his eyes out "H-h-how could you do that Senna. Waahhh huhuh…sniff. I thought you loved daddy! You even said you wanted to marry me one day!"

"I was six! I couldn't even spell marry back then!" yelled the blushing woman, regretting that her father came to sneak in and visit today. Quietly bringing her hand up in front of her face to hide her mortification.

The man let Ichigo drop back to the ground and stood up and wiped the tears out of his eyes with his sleeve "(sniff) that's ok. I can be a man about it. It's not like having the number one spot in your heart replaced by another meant everything to me."

"Oh dad…" an exasperated Senna groaned out

The man gave a swift inhalation of breath to regain his composure and turned back to Ichigo "You better treat her right, otherwise I'll kill you."

Ichigo lifted his hands up defensively to get the man's attention "I think you have the wrong idea sir. See my last name is 'Kurosaki' as well. So…me and her we're not you know married or anything." The man tilted his head as he seemingly eyed Ichigo gauging the words that were spoken by the Shinigami "In fact we met a little while ago. Some things happened and I ended up saving Senna's life."

"Is that true…?" the man asked turning back to Senna with understood worry, to which she silently nodded her head in confirmation. The man turned back in Ichigo's direction "Well thank-you then, and I apologize for that sir." Senna's dad said briskly as he took a few steps back so Ichigo could stand back up, and be given some space

Once Ichigo was back on his feet, the lone female of the room turned to face her father with a questioning gaze "Hey, dad?"

"Yes, hime."

"Tell me when you could see ghosts?" she asked since she knew for a fact that her father had never once been able to see ghosts before and this sudden ability showing up seemed…off.

"…" the man remained silent for a moment as he went into deep thought as he contemplated what to say. Letting out a tired sigh, he sat down in the chair he had been sitting in prior to when Ichigo entered as he never thought he would have to bring this up. The pair seeing that he was going to speak both sat down on the bed and waited patiently.

"Well Sen-chan I'll be honest…I can't see him-" he started to explain

"But jus-" Senna piped up

The female's father lifted his hand up "Hold up princess let me finish first." Which a nod was given after she looked like she bit her lip to hold back any questions till he was done "Now like I was gonna say. I…can't see spirits, though I can hear them well enough." He said looking directly at Senna "Only reason I know this Ichigo fellow is guy, despite his rather girly name, is because of his voice."

The man scratched his head since he could see that Senna wanted to say something, which was no doubt her pointing out that he hadn't really answered her question yet "I don't know the real reason why I can't see spirits like you, but I think I can tell you why and maybe the reason you two have the same last name."

_'What does that mean?'_ Ichigo thought as he carefully glanced at Senna who was listening to every word spoken intently

The well-dressed man continued noticing Senna's intensity "You see, when I said I adopted you that wasn't completely truthful. You were in fact given to me but…you were handed to me by something I could not see." The man smiled a little "Imagine my surprise to see an infant in a basket floating around in the air, when I went to grab you an intense chill ran through my body and then suddenly I was on my knees."

"Intense chill…suddenly on your knees? That sounds like a death god." said Ichigo which broke Senna from her trance as she looked at Ichigo, as she also started to put two and two together

"Maybe but as I said I couldn't see it, but the voice that spoke to me was definitely a man's. He told that this child was a child born unlucky in the sense that she would be killed back in her home land. It asked of me to raise this daughter as my own even though she had a name."

"B-but you told me that you adopted me from an orphanage…" Senna said in a hushed whisper, her breathing level had elevated so high that it left her winded

Senna's father looked away guiltily "A lie." He said quickly "I didn't want to bring it up as I didn't want to induce unneeded trauma on you at such a young age. When you grew up with the power to see ghosts, I thought it was nothing that couldn't be handled and thought it might go away in time, you know maybe a phase. Guess I was wrong."

Silence followed after the man said his peace. All of the people in the room we're incredible somber, each knowing the others had a lot on their minds as they tried to sort out the truth, lies, and revelations going on around them. Senna's father spoke to again clarify "I'm sorry but that's everything. In fact whatever that had held you that night left me a sword, it's in the back of my hearse and is what I use when I have to perform traditional burials, I can go get it if you don't believe me."

"No, it's not that dad." answered Senna who was still taking all this in "It's just that…for so long I only had you, and then only after nearly dying that I find out I might have a family somewhere." She turned to Ichigo "Does this make us related somehow, Ichigo?"

"I…don't know." A somber Ichigo answered not entirely considering the idea for all it's worth, since he too had believed himself an only child and didn't know of any extended family. Suddenly an idea hit Ichigo, as his brain started to work more and more "Perhaps Isshin."

"Isshin?" asked the purple haired girl, guessing that this Isshin must be a person.

Ichigo shifted his gaze slightly, feeling a little uncomfortable about sharing such information but knew it might be needed to be said "I didn't tell you back at the cemetery, but I have a father…or rather I had a coward who couldn't take responsibility."

Senna frowned knowing what he meant by his words so far while her father, looked away in both shame and loathing. While his eyes quietly glanced to his daughter's back.

"He abandoned me and my mother when I was an infant. So honestly I don't know whatever became of him, but if you have my last name that means you would have needed to inherit it from either my mother, or my dad, and since I was raised by mother that only leaves him. So that would make you either my half or full blooded sister then."

A gasp escaped the human girl at the revelation that she could be part Shinigami, and actually have another living relative…well an undead living relative. The girl looked down at her knees as she started to think of the endless possibilities that could be back in the place Ichigo called home. Maybe there was more family members out there scattered just like she was. "I-Ichigo." She drawled out, desperately trying to control her eagerness

"Yeah…" he responded with interest at seeing something like a small fire burning in her

"C-can I see your home?"

"What!?" the two men yelled out at the same time albeit for two different reasons

The bandaged girl flinched at their tone but didn't let it prevent her from speaking "I want to see your home. If-if we're truly related then I want to know about my true family, I want to know who or what I truly am!"

"It's not that simple Senna." retorted Ichigo as he was feeling exceedingly reluctant to take her to Soul Society, on both the grounds that she could be his last living relative and the fact that they, being him, Ishida and Kisuke, were going on a dangerous mission into extremely hostile territory didn't ease his conscious.

"And why is that!" Senna demanded the answer from the teenager

Ichigo sighed as he leaned against the wall of the hallway cross armed with a neutral expression "I…I don't know why exactly, but Soul Society the place I work for tried to kill us. I'm sure you remember that red headed guy." Senna nodded her head, since she wouldn't forget him for a long time since he almost killed her "And they've taken Rukia back to possibly kill her."

"Then we need to help her!" yelled Senna, not needing another moment or reason to go to Soul Society, since without her she would have died back in the street shortly after cram school.

"It's not that easy, Senna. There are literally hundreds upon thousands of Shinigami, and not a single one of them will hesitate to kill. The chances of our success are pretty low as it is, and we can't afford to have anyone slowing us down."

Having heard enough, Senna got up from her chair and looked at Ichigo with a snarl on her face "You only seem to be giving me reasons to go. You think I'm just gonna sit around and let you possibly die! Brother or not, you're just as important to me as Rukia-san." She quickly darted her head away "As for slowing you down, I promise I won't just give me a chance! Please I beg of you!"

Ichigo sighed since he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to convince her to high tail it, not that she had a choice according to Urahara. Ichigo glanced into Senna's brown eyes and for just a moment he was reminded of Masaki when she was being truly stubborn on something. "…Fine."

"Hold up you two." said a third voice which came from Senna's father, long since forgotten by the two that he was in the room. The intensity that showed on his face reminded Ichigo of a seasoned warrior who was reluctant but resigned with taking to the battlefield again. "If you're taking my daughter, I'm going with you."

"D-dad…" whimpered Senna as she had never seen such an intense or scary side of him like this before. She wondered if that was his own parental instincts kicking in.

Ichigo looked at the man appraisingly, aware that he couldn't be seen and taking full vantage of it, as he continued to observe the man, he didn't sense anything out of the ordinary except for that sudden intensity. Ichigo glanced deeply into the father's black pupils and understood the silent statement they made to him.

Take me with you or as much as I'll regret it, break you in half here.

The Shinigami scratched his head trying to come up with a good way to lose him. As he continued to ponder, he immediately remembered that more than likely they'd end up in Rukongai, he could leave him there when they started things.

"Alright, you can go but I'll need to tell Kisuke." He said finally

"Thank-you, and I assure you, that I will do my best." The dark haired man said, before a thought accord to him "pardon my manners but I don't suppose I've told you my name yet." He extended his hand out in front of his body "Name's Ein."

Ichigo grabbed the hand "Ichigo." Breaking away from the hand shake the Shinigami turned to the female Kurosaki of the group "Get some rest because tomorrow we have a lot of training ahead of us."

"G-got it! I won't let you down!" she said with a smirk as she returned back to lying down upon the bed

"Well…I suppose I should head out as well." Ein chirped since he didn't want to be caught by the owner or his associates since he'd already been escorted off the premises once before

As the two got up and collected their things, they quietly opened the door and left Senna to her thoughts.

_'I wonder what's truly out there…'_ she mused with a tired expression on her face from both the fatigue of battle and after effects of her earlier excitement. Her mind drifted back to the conversation that had taken place in the room _'So I could be the daughter of a Shinigami, and Ichigo is…'_ she turned unto her side so she could rest 'well…it would be nice. I guess I could call him brother just to annoy him a bit.'

(Ichigo and Ein)

The two men continued through the hallways following the arrows once again, to what each hoped was the exit. After a few more turns Ichigo smirked as the area seemed familiar to him, and adjusting his eyes back up he followed his instincts and came upon the entrance to the Shoten.

Opening the door for Ein, the pair stepped out into the night shrouded parking lot. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" asked Ein, since he wanted a confirmation time to be back by Senna's side and assist his daughter's savior.

A moment of silence passed between them, causing the older man to turn fully back to the young carrot top in curiosity in case he had said a time and he didn't happen to hear him.

"Are you sure you want to do this Ein?" said the Shinigami somberly as he tried to one final time to dissuade the man from going. After all he had a life in the human world and they would be going against death itself.

The black haired man let out a chuckle "I gotta say kid your worries are appreciated but you can stop. I'm absolutely certain that I want to undertake this task. Don't get me wrong if you hadn't helped protect Senna when I was gone, I wouldn't even think twice of offering my help." The man put his hand in his pocket as he smiled "But you did, so I owe ya, kid. So this is the most productive way to help, and if I die, well…maybe you or Senna might live, isn't that what adults and parents are for? Ensuring the future."

The teenager stared at the man before he shook his head, but smiled as well since he couldn't get him to budge an inch. "Alright Ein. You win, come back tomorrow morning and I'll explain how you feel to Kisuke." Ichigo lifted his arm out and clasped the other man's and gave a firm shake

"See ya kid, and whatever happens make sure you don't die." He joked as he turned away and disappeared into the darkness of the night. Seeing that the man was gone Ichigo returned back inside and followed the arrows back to the room he stayed in.

_'Zangetsu you in there?'_ he mentally asked himself to at least know how his partners were doing since he hadn't spoken with them for a while. When no answer was given he decided that a good rest would be all that he needed, removing the upper portion of his Hakama he eased himself unto the bed and within a matter of minutes he passed out.

(Outside the Urahara Shoten)

A figure stood in the night sky looking through one of the windows, spying on its occupant Ichigo Kurosaki. The figure seemed to look on in contemplation, before it glided around whisperlessly, and looked up to the moon hanging in the night time sky.

Slowly a smirk began to break across, the person's face. _'He survived and grew strong yet it seems he hasn't changed one bit. Hmm…I wonder then if my beloved is okay as well. Perhaps I should go visit her…soon.'_

* * *

1. 4 is the symbol of the underworld as is consider an unlucky number. On a side note some of the more perceptive readers may recall that Senna seating and placement numbers are 4, 9, and 13. All of which are unlucky numbers. Just FYI.

* * *

Chapter complete…save game?

- ) Yes.

No.

Saving…

Saving...

Saving complete: Ichigo Kurosaki lvl Fukutaichō: save point Kisuke's Shoten

Blackout2010: Finally geez! (Stretches) alright I'm going out for a walk later…everybody take…a while…

Everyone: Got it!

?: Now, now is my chance!


	16. Decisive moment! Hearts connected

Hello, everyone out their this Blackout2010, just giving a few announcements. Firstly to my absence, the reason this chapter took so long was because it's roughly 2.5-3x the normal amount of text in a single chapter I do, not counting this, the pre-fic banter, acknowledgements and the omakes and informative at the end (which you can skip if you wish.) Second to why it took so long is because, my writing time has been cut to ¼ the amount of time I previously had, because I'm in summer school and will attend fall, some of you already know this as I had informed you during our various talks (nod your head you know who you are…). Lastly I would like to thank the many, many, kind souls who I talk to when I can and continue to encourage me as write this so too,

Mako-Hero-san, Grinja-san, Music Watch, Cittyno2-chan, Sinister curt-san, ice wolves (thought it's been a while), A man of many faces-san, dthegrimm-san, afrothunda!, golferguy, Hanzo the salamander, Bleachboy95-san, Zecross, Digzzz-san, Seiei-san and lastly (without having to look) Akira Stridder-san

Thank-you for continued support and all around vocalism when you find the time!

Let see, I think that's if for now…so here's to hoping I get 20 more reviews to hit the coveted (to me at least) one hundred fifty marker! Go team! (though I still want a development team so please apply!)

PS. For senna's weapon I put it under the illustrative photo's section so you can see what it looks like, to give something more solid.

* * *

Author's acknowledgments to various reviews

To Screen name thjm18-san

Since you have a screen name I would appreciate it if you could turn on your PM so that I could respond to you (unless you desire otherwise).

If you read the top you'll know why Update speed is slow. I can only work as fast as I can if I'm feeling it, otherwise it can be a struggle. So I can only update when I'm done and feel it's good. As for the rest I'm glad you like it, and hope you continue to enjoy the rest of what FF has to offer!

To Screen name ArchRaphael

Starts the same with thjm18, if you could please turn on your PM so that I can talk to you for information that would be great. To answer your question, the time length is completely and utterly erratic, there is no time frame just ask Mako-Hero-san and 'The man' they could tell you first hand. Anyway since I'm sending nearly as soon as I finish it (I caught up) it could take a while, that's all I can say.

To unknown reviewer known only as 'Golferguy'

I'm glad to have made you chuckle on the intro, I try. I suppose I should apologize, if you had to go back and re-read something, obviously I'm doing something wrong unless I intended it to make you think.

For the meeting between Ichigo and Soifon, it won't happen for at least a bit longer unsure when. I will try and live up to your expectation, and for being responded back, well ahh, your welcome? I thought I should at least be courteous since you decided to review. Anyway can't wait to hear more from you!

To unknown reviewer known only as Hitmanforyou'

I sent a PM to you already, I hope you received it.

To Afrothunda

People are really technologically savvy huh? Well it paid off for you since you still get to read mine and any other story you love (but do rest your eyes from time to time otherwise you'll get a headache.). Well nothing too major happens except a glimpse into Ichi and Sens training.

All right! Now on to the next point!

* * *

Author's apology for the female audience (such as Cittyno2-chan and other who I don't know)

Ahem. I, Jeanluc Ocasio aka Blackout2010, would like to formally state this now that what occurs in this chapter, particularly the events of Senna do NOT in any form, fashion, or way express my own personal beliefs of women, in terms of mentality, station or attitude.

I was doing this merely for the comical factor because well it's been a while since a good laugh has occurred. So I would like to say if ANY women out there are offended by this chapter, PLEASE let me know in either a REVIEW OR PM (to which I can respond). That way I can offer you my sincerest apology and I will try and avoid that in the future. While some things might not change such as a certain spirits personality, I will none the less strive to make it…less…I won't say stereotypical cause it ain't but more…restrained. I just wanted to say this now, so I don't get called sexist later (not that it'll stop some people if they chose to comment). Anyway, thank-you for reading my story and hope you continue to enjoy it!

* * *

?: His name! His name IS BLACKOUT! 20100000000! (points at audience) But You! (slyly) You…you, you knew this already! (starts talking overdramatically) You knew that it is his DESTINY to continue writing this story, just like you knew when you got up this morning, that you had to see this story, because it was YOUR DESTINY to have continued reading this story. So without any more ado what so ever, continue reading this gift! The story of the magnificent protagonist of ICHIIIIIGOOOOOOOO KUROSAKIIIII! (1)

* * *

Ch. 16 Decisive moment! Hearts connected, but path separated!

(next day: Ichigo's room)

'_Ichigo…are you there?'_ a voice called to the sleeping man within the deepest recess of his mind. _'Ichigo…Ichigo!'_

'_Z-zangetsu?'_ he called out as he started to stir from his rest. Slowly awakening from his rest, the young Kurosaki opened his eyes dazedly taking in the sights of the room as he started to recall where he was, in Keisuke's shop back in the human world, not his sleeping quarters back in squad two or the bed back at Senna and Ein's apartment.

'_It is good to see that you are well again. We were worried that we might have lost our ability to contact you after reviving you with the stored spiritual power'_ the dark cloaked man said to his master _'Have you noticed anything wrong with your body?'_

'_Nah, old man. I'm fine.'_ replied Ichigo as he sat up from the bed, his previous tiredness billowing away from his body now that he was conscious and well rested again.

The knocking on the door drew the teenagers eyes to the source "Ichigo, get up we need to get ready." Keisuke said from the other side in his chipper tone that almost never seemed to vanish from his normal speech pattern.

"I got it. I'll see you in the meeting room." He responded back gruffly to the traitor since even though he owed him and was his fellow conspirator in this loose alliance between, didn't mean that he had to like him or his carefree attitude for serious things.

The shuffling of feet told him that the man on the other side of the door had accepted the answer and proceeded along. When he couldn't hear the noise from his clogs anymore Ichigo returned back to his previous conversation with Zangetsu _'Zangetsu, I wanted to thank both of you for sticking by my side. And now more than ever I'm going to need you to help me fight with all my strength against everyone I encounter when I return home again.'_

'I understand.'

'**Ha! As if they'd walk all over you with me here! But you damn well better get stronger otherwise I don't think I'll be willing to help you out anymore!'**the smirking phantom of Ichigo's mind declared defiantly, since he knew that there was more power Ichigo had but that damnable limiter needed to be dealt with first

Having reassured himself, Ichigo exited the room full of vim and confidence knowing that things would be different this time around, and that his name would soon be cleared of whatever slanderous accusations were laid upon him. Opening the door to the meeting room, he saw that Senna had yet to arrive, while her father Ein was seated in a chair in the round table with Uryu sitting silently across from him.

"Keisuke, Uryu, Ein." Ichigo said each name with a subtle bobbing of his head in recognition to all of the people in the room. His eyes slowly drifted to Ein who was decked out in a white karate Gi, with a black head band running across his forehead that had the kanji for the word monster on it.

"Hey Kisuke-"

"Say no more Ichigo." said the smiling shop keeper who saw the brief look of skepticism and concern when he glanced at the karate-wearing father next to him. "I'm going to have Tessai 'train' him while I deal with you and Senna. That way he won't be a hindrance when things get started, we already talked it over earlier this morning. Speaking of which hey Tessai!" the blond man called out which caused the man to appear from the door Ichigo had entered in from, decked out in his apron and muscle shirt.

"Yes?" the hearty man replied confidently in his deep voice, awaiting his friends command

"If you would please take Mr. Kung-fu here out to a remote part of the training field for practice and the basics that would be appreciated." He gestured to the at least looking the part warrior, though the jab at his appearance didn't go unnoticed by Ein.

"Very well, sir." The tanned giant responded with a nod before turning around to leave with Ein getting up to follow

As the pair hit the door the blond man threw in one more request before they got too far out of ears shot "Oh, don't forget to raise a barrier we don't want mine or the kid here's spiritual pressure to affect him too much."

The momentary stop and nodding of Tessai's head gave his acknowledgement to his words, and without any further ado the pair departed to the training field that Kisuke had been mentioning.

"Now, as for you two." Kisuke said as he got up from his chair and stretched his arms before swiftly grabbing his cane "Uryu, your good to go, so you can do some training on your own today, and tomorrow you can help out with Ichigo. As for you Ichigo, well you get to sit in the room for a little bit while I go get Senna started in getting some powers to manifest, once she's off running you and me can have a little one on one."

"Very well, Uncle till next time." The navy haired boy excused himself so he could return back to the abandoned hospital since as his uncle described would be quite similar to what Soul Societies interior looked like

"Fine." The orange haired Shinigami grunted as he crossed his arms, since Keisuke seemed to have a plan in mind so he wouldn't interfere and would just go along with it since he needed all the help he could get…minus Ein since they both seemed intent on ditching him if they could.

"Right be back in a few." The blond said contentedly as he vanished in a flash step to go deal with the human girl, while Ichigo decided to meditate and prepare himself for his fight against the former captain.

(Underground training facility: Keisuke)

As the green clad ex-Taicho, came walking down the stairwell to the training area he saw the human clothed Senna talking with the little artificially created girl Ururu that he had created out of boredom one day. "Ah, miss Senna so glad to see you are you feeling well now?"

The girl turned her attention away from the soft spoken girl that lead her to this giant wasteland like area "Yeah, I'm fine Urahara-san. Thanks for saving me." The girl bowed out of respect

"Good, now that we got formalities out of the way let's get to the important stuff." He said quickly, as he pulled off his hat and grew more serious "As you may or may not know, your good buddy Ichigo has unfortunately gotten into a spot of trouble with the wrong people and wants to prove both his and Rukia's innocence."

The girl cast her sight away from him in slight guilt "Yeah, I know, but that's why I'm going to help him." She returned her gaze back into Keisuke's eyes and continued with more confidence "I owe the both of them my life literally, and now's my chance to pay them back." She answered while in the back of her mind she thought of how it would also explain who or what she really was by traveling to Soul Society the land of Shinigami.

The blond hmmed to himself, and inwardly chuckled since he got the feeling she wasn't going to budge any time soon which was good for what he had planned "Well, if you're dead serious, then I'll train you but first take off your clothes and put these on." He said tossing two articles of clothing to her

The purple ribbon wearer caught the garments and glanced at them for a full three seconds before blushing extremely hard "Y-you you want to me to wear this!" she exclaimed as she stretched out the vibrant red bra and panties in front of her

"That's right and only that." He affirmed with a serious poker face even though on the inside he was grinning up a storm

"You can NOT be serious!" she yelled at her Sensei, for her perceived lechery the man had

"Fine don't believe me." He shrugged nonchalantly that caused the girl to sweat a bit from his action. Since she had now started to think that he was doing this for her safety and she was ignoring his precautions. "Ururu get ready." He commanded to the human looking AI girl, who took a few steps back before shifting into a karate stance

"Ready for what?" she muttered nervously

"Well Ururu here is going to chase you around for five minutes, and attack you. Those undergarments we're designed to both increase your speed and protect you should she hit you, after all you dying would be a bad thing. But since you won't do it we'll just continue on…"

"W-wait!" the woman exclaimed getting a chuckle from Kisuke "Do I really need to wear this…?" she asked reluctantly at the thought of being in only this risqué outfit

"Yep, and unfortunately that's all you can wear since other garments and stuff interfere with it's frequency so it's that or what you got on now."

After hearing the statement, the girl looked at her clenched hand that held the revealing undergarment, with a mix of shyness and disdain "Fine! But turn around I'm not going to get naked in front of you!" she declared pointing her index finger at the man, who laughed before slowly turning around

Once he was fully facing away she looked over at Ururu and asked her to cover her eyes, to which the android complied and brought both of her fist in front of her face and opened them to shield herself from the visual display.

As Keisuke started to hear the shifting of garments a sly idea hit him, as he slowly turned around "By the way I forgot to mention-" he started as his eyes got a good view of her legs, stomach and underboob as she was in the middle of lifting her bra off from her shoulders

The girl froze from his sudden turning around and puffed up before bring her arms back down and gave a look to kill despite her embarrassed red face "Turn back around you damnable pervert!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, as she started striding towards him

"I'm sorry but I was ju-"

He never got to finish as Senna had finished trekking over and delivered an ear popping slap to the side of his face resulting in the man flipping over the side twice before collapsing to the ground in a broken heap.

The man pushed himself up with one hand while his free hand touched the tender bright red spot that had a hand print marking on his cheek _'Ok maybe not the best idea I've had yet'_ he rubbed it to lessen the stinging sensation before tilted his head slightly _'still after a view like that definitely a great idea'_

Getting back unto his feet, he turned back around to see Senna covering her breasts and nether region with her arms, and glared at him with bared teeth like a dog whose territory had been invaded by an intruder.

Though in this case it wasn't too far from the truth.

"Ok well you look ready to go." He said suppressing the urge to laugh at the pissed 'lady' in front of him "And begin."

Not a second later, did the little girl with pig tails jump from behind to clobber the older half-naked woman, who dodged to the left to avoid the jab. The moment the fist touched the ground Senna's eyes widened in fright to see that rather large crater had been implanted unto the rocky ground.

As her feet touched the ground, the girl immediately tore off in another direction, while the android girl shifted her head and locked unto her target before giving chase.

With the two at it, Keisuke Urahara walked over to one of the larger rocks and took a seat on top of it. A smirk etched on his face, as he watched the half naked girl duck and dive out of the way from the tyke bomb _'Ohhh yes Kisuke, my boy.'_ The man bobbed his head in an even tempo, still looking on at the sexy teen and her curves _'best plan ever.'_

Senna herself was not enjoying the little marathon trial Kisuke had imposed on her with these garments, as she bended into a backwards flip to avoid another bone crushing punch from the girl named Ururu. _'Damn it, she's got smaller legs than me but she's just as fast!'_ the girl concluded before looking over to the stupid grinning Keisuke "Hey, jack off!" she yelled at the man to get his attention as she ran in the opposite direction of Keisuke to put some more distance between her and Ururu "How come this thing isn't working!" the girl questioned as she moved to the side again to avoid a powerful punch

The thoroughly enjoying the show, Keisuke whipped out his trademark fan to hide his grin while he pulled out a small camcorder with his right "Well you see poor Senna-chan, it's not working because you haven't activated it yet."

"Now you tell me!" the indignant woman hollered back in anger as she silently made the commitment to thoroughly thrash the man when she was finished with this test…

If she lived…

Keisuke closed his eyes and shrugged "Well I was gonna tell you but you decided to give me quite the back hand so I figured hey, she must not need my help."

'_You little-!'_ the woman thought angrily, as she pushed past Ururu arm and swept behind her, using the momentary reprieve to send a death glare at the man. _'rgggh, if this girl hit me, I'm finished and I still have two minutes' to go!'_

"Fine will you please help me!" she pleaded

'_Hook, line and sinker.'_ The dirty man thought happily, as he was now going to get some prime footage with his mini-camcorder that thankfully the woman hadn't noticed due to the fighting. "Well…" he started grandiosely "What you got to do is put your hands on your knockers, massage them real quick and yell 'super armor of kinky-ness activate' (2)."

"Are you kidding me!" the already pride crushed woman yelled

Keisuke shrugged at her declaration to further seal the deal "eh fine then. It's not like my advice has been helpful so far…"

"Agghh damn it! Your gonna pay you ass-hat!" roared Senna as she grabbed her chest and started to grope herself "Super armor of kinky-ness activate!"

'_Today's a great day to be a man.'_ The thoroughly amused blond noted to himself while tears of joy ran down his face, as he planned on enjoying this little production and might actively sell it in the shop later on. He could see the title 'high school girl gone wild'.

"I-is it working?" the desperate woman asked the inventor since she really had no clue, and so far Keisuke hadn't done anything…too illegal.

"Hmm…try grabbing your boobs harder and saying it louder, maybe it didn't recognize your audio or bodily commands." He lied under the guise of diagnostics

Even though she felt a wave of skepticism at this point she none-the-less complied. When nothing happened again she looked over at Keisuke for an explanation to the problem. "Keisuke…!" she guttered out, her temper picking back up

"Oh…heh…must have grabbed the wrong one…oh well." He said care freely. Senna was about to really give Keisuke a piece of her mind when the blistering noise of an alarm clock garnered the trio's attention.

"It seem the five minutes are up." commented Ururu, speaking for the first time since the exercise started between Senna and herself

"It seems your right Ururu-chan. Senna successfully managed to last the duration of the exercise." He said happily with his eyes closed as he turned to Senna and was about to speak, but the words were lost in his wind pipe as Senna had seemingly charged from her spot all the way to where he stood and gave him a vicious cloths line to the trachea stopping the man cold, and leaving him to the unbridled angry fury of a embarrassed maiden.

Ten minutes a reclothed and still pissed Senna stopped her assault and left Kisuke to getting nursed back to health by Ururu for the next half-hour. Having just barely survived, the man slowly via limping, had the human girl follow him further into the strange underground wasteland until they came to a giant hole in the ground.

"What's this ass-hat? The tentacle rape plunge?" the unamused teenager queried mockingly to the officially dubbed by her ass-hat, her patience and respect for the man looking exactly like the gaping hole in front of her, lacking of substance.

The man scoffed before turning back around fully, with a serious glint in his eye "Not quite this time it's serious so you better be ready, little Ms. School girl. But first…" he turned around and jabbed the tip of his cane against her forehead launching her spirit from her body.

The girl blinked momentarily in confusion as she brought her hand up and flexed it "What the?" she questioned as she looked at the strange crumpled woman on the ground who looked like her if she was asleep.

"Step one done. Now unto step two." The blond chirped as he made a quick motion of his hand and pointed at Senna, who instantly felt her back straighten before her arms folded behind her back and her legs gave way forcing her to the ground, the chain that she now noticed that was attached to her chest rattling weakly.

"Hey what's going on! Answer me Keisuke!" the woman demanded of her instructor who whipped out his fan in front of himself

"Keep your panties on exhibitionist-chan and I'll explain. What my cane here did was similar to removing your soul from your body as if you were going to become a Soul reaper again, which is why your body is right there." He answered as he pointed to the chain on her chest that snaked over to her body "Unfortunately since you don't have any Shinigami power otherwise known as Reiatsu coursing through you, you haven't changed. In fact your borderline dead."

Senna nodded her head in understanding things so far, allowing Keisuke to continue "That chain on your chest is your chain of fate and is what tethers you to life which is why it's connected to your body. What I'm going to do is cut it and effectively end your life." He explained

Senna bit back her words and held her anger in check since she knew he wasn't done explaining his plan, to which Keisuke noticed and smiled that she was being understanding so far "By cutting you chain of fate your body will start to release Reiatsu which is needed to become a Shinigami unfortunately that's where the hard part starts. You'll have about twenty-four hours to become a Shinigami or you'll turn into a hollow. Luckily for you since you've experienced what Shinigami power feels like it should be easier to locate the power inside of you and activate it." the man moved his fan out of his face and narrowed his eyes at Senna to display his seriousness "If you fail to activate it, I will have to end your life. So I give you this ultimatum: Do you have the guts to risk your life and soul to help Ichigo or do you wish to return to your previous life?"

For a brief moment Senna's eyes widened before returning to normal size, while she paused for a moment. Not out of hesitation but to show Keisuke her true resolve "I promised I'd help Ichigo no matter what, and I have no intention of letting Ichigo go it alone any longer. I accept so bring it on!" she said defiantly

The owner of the Shoten nodded his head and picked up the reiatsu bound soul and held her up to him "See you later Senna." and turned tossing the girl into the giant chasm below. Surprisingly the girl didn't bother screaming at all during the descent.

Waiting a second or so, the man unsheathed his Zanpaktou Benihime and severed the chain of fate of Senna Kurosaki.

'_Good luck girl.'_ He mentally added as he turned away from the hole to return back to Ichigo "Come Ururu, we got things to do." He commanded to the AI girl as they went to go see Ichigo

(Ichigo)

The sound of a sliding door informed the meditating man of someone else's presence upon turning around he saw Keisuke and that little girl with the two pony tails from earlier. "Well Ichigo we're going to get started momentarily but first I need to check up on your limiter and see how that's doing."

"Why? I thought it was no good after nearly getting killed back there in the streets."

"While that is true Ichigo, there is a chance that could still be functioning, and if it is we need to deal with it now since, I won't have the tools available to disable it over in Soul Society. Anyway the main reason I want to get rid of it is because I need you to not only be able to fight at 100% but I can't-

"You don't want them to be able to track us while we're in labyrinth of the Seireitei." Ichigo finished seeing where he was going.

"Glad to see you catch on. Now what I want you to do is to simply relax while I put some anesthesia in you so I can remove it, without you flailing around." He replied merrily his smile still remaining on his lips

The Ichigo followed the duo out of the room and back into the room he had spent the night in, and removed his shirt and lay down on the bed, but still kept a hard glint in his eye as he watched Keisuke, not wanting to be a part of any funny business the guy might have in mind.

Once the patient was fully lying down, Keisuke reached into his jerkin and pulled out a small needle, and brought next to the teenagers neck before puncturing the skin and releasing the liquid chemicals into Ichigo's blood stream. Within a matter of moments, Ichigo's vision started to become impaired as the colors of the room started to get darker and darker, and the sounds of Keisuke's breathing slowly became fainter. Ichigo's eyes kept drooping down and after the third attempt to remain open closed permanently no longer obeying the owner of the bodies will.

Keisuke waved his hand over Ichigo's sleeping face for a couple of seconds before tapping the orange haired boy's cheeks with the back of his hand two more times to make sure he was out like a light, satisfied that he was resting the ex-Taicho turned to the doorway "You can come out Yoruichi-chan." He said aloud

The door to the room creaked open as a small black cat lazily entered the room and strutted past the cyborg and leapt unto the nearby bed post and sat upon it's hind legs, it's gold saucer eyes observing the resting Shinigami in the room "Thanks it's been rather stuffy to have to hide in my own home when you brought the Shinigami in a few days ago." The cat said in a rather masculine tone "Hmm so this is the one that's hell bent on finding me. I really can't see why, it's not like we ever met before, though he is kinda cute."

Keisuke gave a small chuckle and picked up the cat and started to make it dance in his hands "Flirtatious even in the face of danger aren't you Yo-chan. Hehe yes you are."

The cat's eyes narrowed at the person manhandling her even though her feline face showed evidence of a smirk "Put me down now or I'm going to have to scratch you. Now tell me what you wanted me for now that the kid's in dreamland."

The blond man pouted his lips for being at least to him yelled out and set the black cat back down on the bed "Well, firstly we need to get back my Hogyoku that unfortunately gotten taken away to Soul Society. Which is why I'm going to need you to train that female girl if she does manage to get some soul reaper powers."

The cat brought it's paws to it's head and scratched her head "alright so that mean we're heading back to our old home town right? Well why not, but what are you going to do in the mean time Mr. Know-it-all?"

The blond man removed his hat and leaned on his cheek on his fist "Well since Mr. Kurosaki wants your skin for reasons unknown, I'm going to take to training him, maybe if we're lucky get Bankai out of him to help our success rate."

"So who's going?" the cat asked lazily as it arched it's back to stretch before crumpling down and resting with her tail wrapping around her body

"Well you and I need to go just in case, Aizen is involved in all of this, which considering how things have been going between us and him is pretty high. Uryu of course since we need all the help we can get and the boy and girl."

The cat opened one of her eyes "And what about that older man Ent or something was it." she asked guessing the man's name since she didn't bother to pay attention to him since he didn't look all that aesthetically appealing to her and so was ignored.

"Well for this 'Ein' fellow" he corrected the cat, but saw that the cat wasn't going to be bothered in remembering the man's name anytime soon "He's going to have to tag along for a bit but once we get to Rukongai specifically Kukaku's place were going to bench him so he doesn't get in the way." He informed having thought over his decision since they didn't need unnecessary people or risks. "By the way how's his training with Tessai coming along?" the man asked since, for this plan to work they did have to make it look real

The cat let out a soft chuckle "According to what I last heard, Tessai was teaching the old guy the 'Fist of fury'." She reported getting a chuckle from the business man since he knew watching all those kungfu movies would pay off one day.

"ahhh, I love it when things go my way." He said gleefully, as he stroked the cat beside him "Alright, why don't you got check up on the girl and see how she's doing in all this…be ready for a fight just in case." He warned off-handedly

The cat sat up and hopped off the bed "Right. Right." She muttered as she slinked back out the door and headed down the stair back to go see her latest trainee or possible victim.

Turning in his chair he looked at the silent Ururu "Would you go get me tools for me Ururu-chan?" he asked to which the android quietly walked out the door in acknowledgment to her master's command. "Time to get rid of that pesky limiter and maybe if your still sleeping, I'll have time to finish my word scramble." He mused to himself aloud.

After all it had been a long time since he'd been this busy for something.

([Same time] Free fall: Senna)

After being dropped down into the abyss, Senna herself had come to the realization that she didn't have the proper idea of what she was doing. Sure she told herself that she knew what it kind of felt like to have the power of the Shinigami running through her veins, it felt exhilarating, fierce and at the same time cold and detached. Right now she was feeling the rush of adrenaline going through her and had maintained a calm demeanor on the surface but she didn't have any control over what the hell she needed to have control over.

The girl grunted as she tried to move her wrists ignoring her whipping hair that ascend away from the ground that was coming up behind her. "Damn it." she cursed as still found the spell on her arms to remain firmly in tact despite her efforts.

Turning her head to see the ground fast approaching she closed her eyes and curled her body up to lessen the damage that would no doubt be inflicted upon her impact. With a loud crash, the human base jumper slammed into the ground.

Opening one of her eyes, the girl to her amazement found her body didn't look any worse for wear from the rather steep fall. _'I guess this is one of the perks of already being a spirit.'_ She commented in her inner monologue. Turning from her side to her stomach she tried to wiggle her hands free again to no avail '_figures it wouldn't be that easy.'_

A creaking sound broke her of her thoughts as the severed part of her chain came crashing down in front of her. The purple haired girl looked at it briefly before returning back to her thoughts of how to get out of this spell and re-awaken her Shinigami powers. "It's can't be this hard, I already have a clue. I know what it feels like but I just tch…I don't know." She whispered to herself

The girl remained on her stomach as she continued to think on what to do, when an idea hit her. Having seen her friend Don Kannoji constantly channel the spirits around him to form his golden cannonball attack, she decided to follow suit and try and concentrate on the emotion that she had felt, since they we're the closest thing to simulating Shinigami power which would hopefully stimulate the real thing.

The bound girl drew in a cold breath of air to relax herself and closed her eyes as she tried to imagine the feeling she had felt when she was wearing the Shinigami attire. Her memories from the fear of the first battle, to her more courageous if futile defending of Ichigo and Rukia. Letting out a slow breathe, the ribbon wearing girl reopened her eyes and once again tried to budge free.

It didn't work.

"Damn. I thought that would work." The girl muttered as she looked back around the darkness to try and keep her distracted from venting frustration on herself which would only stress her and make the situation even worse.

"…"

Senna perked up her ears when she thought she heard someone or something speak. Adjusting her head she began scanning her surroundings a second time, it was then that her eyes landed upon a pair of golden eyes hovering in the infernal darkness. The eyes seemed to hold extreme malice and loathing within them, almost like it was mocking her for her current predicament. The golden iris moved along the shadows never getting to close to the light that came from the florescent light up above, it kept going until it was look at Senna from the side, who had kept both her face and eyes firmly attached to the only other thing inside this hole with her.

The two stared at each other before a loud nightmarish laughter pierced the silence between the female and creature. "Pathetic." A voice commented which Senna assumed came from the pair of eyes

"W-what?" she asked in confusion her face contorting, since she didn't know if this was a hallucination or what happened when one choose to become a Shinigami.

"Do I really need to explain?" the voice said in a cool voice with a seemingly snide attitude underneath "Tell you what let's see what your actually capable of Senna."

Another loud piercing laugh erupted and soon the eyes disappeared into the darkness, leaving Senna alone again. The rattling of a chain drew Senna attention to the chain in front of her as it started to move on it's own. Slowly teeth started to appear on the chain and the gaping mouths of the locks started to chew upon the lock above it trying to deteriorate it and shorten it's overall length.

"Daggghhh!" Senna yelled out in pain as the chain's bit into each other, for the girl it felt as though each time the metal was bitten into someone took a rusty metal pipe studded with nails and slammed it into her chest before sliding it across her torso to have each nail rip into her flesh.

The girl fell over to her side as she closed her eyes to stop from screaming further. Once the pain had subsided, the teenager let out a labored breath as she closed her eyes, to rest and recover from the unexpected pain. Within a matter of minutes Senna's breathing had slowed down considerably as a sense of peace fell on her.

The sound of chirping and bright lights caused the girl to stir. _'Wait a second…Birds?'_ Senna questioned as she opened her eyes and was staring at a sight that wasn't previously there. Instead of a dark shaft with a pair of creepy eyes glaring at her, she was now viewing a verdant green forest with birds in the trees. Shifting her weight, she found it much easier to move, in fact as she moved her shoulders she found that her hands were no longer bound by the strange spell that Keisuke had placed on her.

Slowly getting unto her knees she touched her wrists. _'Strange. I couldn't do that back in the tunnel.'_ Standing up fully the girl looked around and then looked down to see if she was wearing a hakama. Too her disappointment she was still in her civilian clothes, though she was happy to see that the chain that was attached to her was gone. Turning her head to the right she saw that she was standing on a dirt path that lead in that direction seemingly infinitely turning to the left also seemed to bring her to that conclusion.

As she continued to stare off into the distance a nauseating sensation flitted inside her head, causing her to clutch it from pain. Once the feeling past, she brought her head back to normal height level, and saw a dark cloud approaching from the west.

"_Run!"_ a voice yelled out to the girl from the forest around her _"That cloud is evil, get away from it!"_

Almost in response to the command did the cloud start to hang lower and lower that it began to touch the tree tops. The moment it did the leaves and soon branches we're lost into the darkness and unable to be seen. Not wanting to find out what was dangerous about that cloud any further Senna started to tear of in the opposite direction.

"_That's it keep going!"_ the voice encouraged to the fleeing girl who was coming up to a four-way intersection _"Turn left!"_ the soft voice told her leading her still away from the cloud.

As she kept running she saw the entrance to the mouth of a cave and continued inside until the strange voice called to her again. "_Keep going straight. I await you at the end._"

"Who are you?" asked Senna to the guiding voice

The voice responded again only the tone seemed to have changed from nice to fierce **"Hurry up!"** the voice commanded to her as it's anger resonated through the cave.

After a moment's pause, Senna continued walking straight since it was the only way forward at this point. She kept walking until she started to hear the sound of water falling unto puddles, glancing to her left she saw the perpetrator of the noise. _'I must be in some kind of subterranean cave.'_

"_You are partially correct, your ladyship."_ A strange mixed voice said from above her having easily heard her thoughts since they were inside her head

Turning her head to the voice's direction which was overhead she saw what looked like a girl riding a golden staff with strange rings on one end that seemed to loop around giving it a key-like appearance. The girl or woman sitting on the levitating staff didn't appear to be very old maybe around Senna's own age, not that she could really tell by the figure since the flying woman was wearing a long flowing white and black Happai with the yin and yang Taoism symbol in the center of the chest. The person's face was obscured by the traditional witches hat over her face, but the long hair was clearly visible though it had shades' of three different colors the strands we're either black or white with the strand next to it being the other color but when it reached the end a tiny portion was a sandy brown. The only part of her skin that was exposed was her slightly pale colored feet and legs as they dangled over the edge of the weapon she sat on.

The girl blushed at the beautiful but strange looking woman, who seemed to regard her with such high regard, as she slowly descended back down to the cave floor and dismounted from her odd floatation device "Ummm, who are you and why did you call me 'your ladyship'?"

"**I didn't say that you dumb bitch!"** a snide voice rang out but to Senna's surprise in came from directly in front of her, where the witch wearing girl was whose face was hidden underneath her tipped hat

"_Oh, my apologizes Senna-san, but unfortunately I am rather complex and complicated individual."_ Spoke the witch again in the first tone and informing Senna that both actually belonged to her, which didn't make sense since while her normal tone seemed pleasant if not odd, the other felt malicious. _"Is their some way that I could be of assistance to you? Though I have an idea."_

Senna took a reflexive step backward and bit her lip as she contemplated what to ask first "Can you tell me where I am and who you are?"

The nameless hermit let out as small chuckle before turning away _"Please follow me, Senna."_ Doing as instructed Senna followed the witch further into the cave _"This Senna, this cave and everything in here, is you mind scape. Your so called inner world where all is right a type of happy place where you mind and soul unconsciously wander to in times of strife."_ The yin yang bomb explained as they passed by some more stalagmites and we're soon approaching the exit, which was herald by the light at the end of the tunnel

Senna looked to the side at the cave wall as she walked behind her guide's long strands of mixed hair "Really? It's kind of disappointing. I mean I love high places and being able to see all the world, why am I comforted by being underground?"

The witch stopped at the edge of the light and moved to one side of the cave wall "_Then please step into the light and see your answer."_ She said softly as she held her hands out gently towards the exit

After hearing the response from the underground hermit Senna walked past her and shielded her eyes from the penetrating light, when it was safe for her to see she saw a gigantic mountain in t distance. The mountain didn't seem extremely tall and looked like it could hiked up if it wasn't too steep.

"_That Senna is the highest point in this place, it is also the center and where you should be."_ The girl in white said _"As of now you are only a naïve fool with barely any understanding of the world around you, but by the time you reach the top of that mountain and conquered it, you will finally understand your place in the world as a whole."_

The dark red ribbon wearing girl looked back at the girl in white only to see the hat bob up and down in a nod. Senna glanced back at the mountain in the distance this time with much more awe, at the fact that the mountain could be akin to her life. Letting out a breath in renewed vigor Senna turned back to her tour guide "That's truly amazing but I don't know if that helps me yet, see I still don't know who you are or where do I got to obtain my Shinigami powers."

The hat wearing Taoist hmmed aloud as she thought what to say exactly to answer the young girl's question, with a nod of her head she smiled as she prepared to answer _"firstly Senna, I am better part, I am what you wish to become."_

"Huh?" the girl asked awkwardly as a sweat drop slid down the back of her head "I want to be a strange no face revealing, Yin-Yang wearing flying on a staff person with multi-colored hair?"

"**You're too literal you damn broad, think with you head not your tits!"** the angrier side of the unrevealed girl gritted out, a shaking of the head and the girl muttered a quiet apology

"_What I mean to say is, I am what you wish to become in the sense that I know what I wish to do with my life, I know the reason of why I would fight if I must, I know the reason why I would give my life for another, I know where I wish to go with my life. You don't. You are like a lost lamb without it's shepherd, wander without purpose or reason until you die."_

Senna grimaced and her face fell at the words the apparent wise woman said, for the most part it was true, but she wouldn't let her get her down. Bringing her head back up to masked face level of the wise woman Senna spoke with conviction and determination "You right. I don't know the reason for what I'm doing entirely. Maybe I'm a lost sheep but it's only by wander can one truly see the world and understand it. The reason I fight or rather I guess wish to gain the power to fight, is so that I can discover myself. My friend Ichigo, he, he could be my long last family for all I know, and now I have this chance to learn about him and my heritage of the afterlife, and protect him just like he protected me and Rukia. So I'm not just going to wait for my 'Shepherd' to come save me, I'm going to make an effort and go out to find the answers on my own!"

"_Ahaha…your very amusing. You speak so naively in the face of danger yet your word seem to retain their pureness in intent. Very well, I shall assist you in gaining this power to protect your family as you so call it."_

Senna's face lit up in elation "Really? Thank-you so very much!" suddenly a thought hit her and her happiness was brought down a level "But how?"

The witch gave an unseen smirk _"Simple. I am your Zanpaktou, the source of your Shinigami powers."_

"But I thought Zanpaktou's were just swords. I didn't know you were people too."

"_We're not people persay."_ The Zanpaktou spirit said sagely, as she tried to think of a good analogy _"Rather we're spirits who personify you as a person. Ichigo has a Zanpaktou spirit in his mind scape as well, I believe his name is Zangetsu since he called his sword that before once or twice in mentioning."_

"So who are you then?"

"_My name? As I said before I am you Senna, but I suppose that would be rather confusing for one so young. You may address me as Mirokumaru."_

"Mirokumaru?" Senna repeated slowly "Isn't Miroku and maru typically reserved for boys?" she asked dryly, silently wondering if the reason the so far female spirit hadn't shown it's face was because it was possibly a cross dresser.

"_You will also find that Ichigo is typically reserved for girls but whose keeping count."_ The unseen smiling face of Mirokumaru answered knowledgably getting a girly chuckle from Senna _"Now then Senna, seeing as you were able to hear my name which is rather odd since most first timers can't, I will tell you my release command to assist you in fighting from now on. So please repeat after me. 'Bring them to the twilight, Mirokumaru!"_

Nodding her head Senna took a step back and calmed herself "Bring them to the twilight! Mirokumaru!" Senna exclaimed

Not a moment after a dark energy erupted around Senna and engulfed her. When the light died down, Senna looked down in surprise to see herself drapped out in a Shinigami uniform back when Senna had received her temporary power from Rukia. The outfit looked exactly the same the differences between the two was the red sash that draped around her hips and had the loose part fall to the side and the weapon in her hand.

The weapon was an exact replica of Mirokumaru's Shakujo. It was a bright gold staff, with a separation mark about three-fourths of the way up which confused Senna. The right end had a strange design in that it was a small circle with three golden rings on each side that served as chimes but what made it strange was the extension between the circular parts bisecting it and keeping the rings from all running into each other.

"Hehe, just like you." Senna chuckled childishly as she stuck her tongue out playfully

"_Quite right. Now before you return to whence you came, it seems the angry voice has some parting words for you."_

As soon as the words left the spirit's mouth, it's hand darted forward and grabbed Senna's left arm. Not strong enough to hurt it but enough where she couldn't pulled away even if she tried **"Alright. I don't like you and you don't like me. But I'm making one thing clear if you die, I die. I don't want that. So I'm gonna help you out real quick first this."** A dark energy swirled around the dark mirokumaru's arms and around Senna's left arm and dipped underneath her skin. When Mirokumaru's hand pulled away, a small symbol was left on the newly Shinigamified woman. The symbol consisted of a black snake coiled in a circle biting it's tail with a small H in the center.

"**There."** The angrier Mirokumaru said **"And don't give me that look bitch, I'm only doing this because it helps you and me."** She continued surprising Senna that she could see her face despite the hat hiding Senna's face from view **"That symbol will allow you to use the sword mode of your Zanpaktou. All that you need to say when you have you Zanpaktou released is '****Mugen dai: Kyōfū ken'**** (Infinity: Gale Saber)** **and your blade will be released. Try it."**

Senna raised her Shakujo to chest level and assumed that the small circular ring on the staff was where it would separate. Placing her right hand in the center of chime end she held the sword like a samurai sword awaiting to be unsheathed "Mugen dai!:Kyofu Ken!" she yelled as the ring lit up and allowed the girl to easily separate the golden rod-like end from the sword.

The blade of the sword wasn't as long as the golden sheath that surrounded it losing in length by about two feet, rounding out at about 2 feet. The blade had a silver color to it with an emerald gem on the center. The edge wasn't particularly sharp, but it would be effective in fighting off hollows and giving small cuts.

The only problem that Senna noticed about the sword and pipe combo was simply the weight. Unused to fighting with two weapons and having the larger metal pipe in her off-hand, Senna struggled to hold up both weapons at once, which also didn't go unnoticed by the snider of the Zanpaktou spirits.

"**Tch. Wow you suck, one of the only times I might help you and you can't even handle it. Geez…I wonder if brother has to put up with this…" **she said aloud in obvious disgust, which was starting to piss Senna off

"Look what is your problem?" Senna asked her mood dampening rapidly around this particular Mirokumaru

"**You honestly expect me to be all buddy-buddy, when you've been ignoring me for the past seventeen years! Is your brain broken or something!"**

The news of Mirokumaru being inside her for as long as she apparently claimed came as a major surprise to her, one of the main reasons being if what she said was true that means she would have to have been inside of her since the day she was born. Senna didn't know exactly what to think or say "I don't understand. You say you've been with me for seventeen years and that I've been ignoring you, but I've never once met or heard of you before." The girl replied in naive honesty since she wanted the spirit to at least explain itself clearer to her

"_You should not be so critical…she could not have known."_ The light side of the Taoist witch said to itself

"**Excuses, excuses, excuses! You'd think that having the ability to see spirits since you were a kid would at least make you think you weren't normal! But nooo…she just accepts it and thinks herself special!"**

Seeing that the spirit was apparently…arguing with herself, the newly made Shinigami interrupted to get some more answers from her "Hey if what you said was true just now, does that mean I really am part Shinigami. Does that mean I really am from Soul Society!"

'_Does that mean Ichigo is TRULY my brother?'_

The taciturn spirit stopped arguing and raised it's face to where Senna could only see the extremely pale neck of the girl _"Yes Senna-chan. The words your father spoke the other day ring true. You are indeed a Shinigami born child but…you are also more."_

"**Hey hold up goody-two shoes!"** the dark half yelled out stopping the conversation again **"I don't think we should just give her information without something in compensation!"**

The outburst caused Senna to frown at having to give something up to a spirit that obviously had an distaste for her "Why should I? You work for me don't you?"

"**Dahaha! That's a good joke!"** the dark side laughed coldly as it gripped it side from the obvious comedian in front of her **"Listen little girl you don't seem to know your role in this place, so let me break it down nice and easy for your peanut sized brain to comprehend."** The darker Mirokumaru extended her hand to the left and slowly moved in a circle **"This place might be YOUR mind but it's MY world. That means I'm in charge and rule over everything in here. And since your in here that makes you my bitch, got that you little chiwawa?"**

Senna scrunched her face up from the stuck up nature of her Zanpaktou "You think I'm scared of some…cosplay otaku wannabe that can't even have a conversation with herself before busting out in anger? Please! Your the bitch here who doesn't know her place!"

Another fit of laughter erupted from the dark side **"And you prove my point again. It's always the smallest specks of dust that try and make themselves out to be bigger than they are and suck at doing it! But…"** the dark Mirokumaru stated bring her finger to her unseen chin **"You do captivate me in more than one way…hmmm…tell you what."** Mirokumaru snapped her finger as a sadistic grin stretched across her face, she lifted her arm up and pointed to the mountain in the distance **"See that, mountain there. I think it was mentioned by my less than desirable side that it's center of your world. How about a bet? If you can reach the top of that mountain and defeat me, I'll do whatever you want. You can make me fight for you at full power, hit me, kick me, hell even kill me, I won't complain one bit!"** the yang side of the Zanpaktou offered giving considerable amounts of incentive to the 'supposed' master of this domain **"But if you fail to reach the top of that mountain, fail to figure out a good deal of yourself, or fail to beat me, well…"** she gazed up and down Senna's body **"I think that I should get the chance to strut my stuff and be the real ruler of this place. But don't fret, I'm sure I could find a use for you."**

Senna's eyes hardened at the demand, while she was still going to accept the deal since it would shut the mouth of this…idiot in her head. She could easily figure out that getting up that mountain would not be as easy as it seemed now. "Fine, but I request a handicap."

"**Oh and that would be…?"** Mirokumaru said mockingly in a off-handed flick of her arm, as if she knew the result for this bet was already in and just waiting to cash in on her winnings.

"I want the light half to help train me, that way if you do beat me which would be a very big IF in that regard, we can both live with the results of me truly not being good enough to be your leader!"

The witch hat wearing girl fell silent as she thought it over **"Heh! You got spunk, I like that. I can't wait to beat it out of you, after a well deserved thrashing. So the deal has been struck, you have until the end of the year to reach the top and defeat me!"**

Grabbing her staff, the multicolored stranded girl pointed it behind Senna and with a loud static like crackle a strange rift opened up, the inside of the rift revealed the pit that Senna had gotten thrown into earlier, but what made this different was the fact that nothing was in the center where she had previously laid, though the fact that her soul was here and not out their helped with the attribution of this being all in her head.

"**Well time to take what's mine…" **the voice behind Senna whispered just loud enough. Senna was about to turn around when something large and black draped over her head and blocked her vision. Moving her hands to take whatever got up on top of her off, she unknowingly left herself wide open to Mirokumaru

Within a second something smooth and hard crashed into Senna's lips something that felt like skin, but the realization that something was molesting her mouth didn't come until something slimy entered her mouth and started to play with her own tongue.

'_What the hell!' _Senna's mind blasted to her brain from the lewd actions of Mirokumaru. Commanding her body to push the obvious perpetrator back, she shoved the other woman back and proceeded to rip the hat off her head to really give this depraved being a piece of her mind. However what she saw when the large witch hat came off was the extending leg of the other girl flying towards her mid-section.

Unable to move or catch the attack, Senna took the brunt of the blow which was powerful enough to knock her clean of her feet and sent her flying to the rift, sending her back to the real world while the rift closed itself back up it's purpose done.

Seeing that her guest was gone Mirokumaru went over to retrieve her hat that had cart wheeled down to a nearby puddle of water. Deciding to take this opportunity to see what the dark side was thinking, the less psychotic one probed for an answer "Was all that truly necessary?"

"**Heehee! Of course, besides the fact I couldn't just let an attractive person go on by without making a pass despite the fact I'm gonna own her one day, in fact you could tell the little miss that everyone and everything belongs to me!"**

"And where does Ichigo fit in all of this, surely one inner hollow can sense another, especially given the fact that your spiritual pressures are very similar in terms of feeling?"

The last thing that the good have would have expected from the dark half was to let out a very contented sigh and blush with a hungry look on her face **"Brother will always be king."** She said reverently **"He can own anyone or anything…even me. Haaah…to be his queen even if we are blood…so wrong…so right…so decadent…fuufuu"**

Mirokumaru's face returned to neutral when she changed voices again "I'm also concerned with the bet, I have no problem training her into using the weapons but what guarantee do I have that you won't try kill her before she masters them and possibly beats you."

The neutral face broke out this time in a smug smirk **"Well right side of the law, I promise not to interfere with your training, besides the longer she's in control the more attractive people we seem to run into. Once I take over, no one will desire to be around her, so let her have her time, that way I can remember all the faces of my future slaves."**

"I thought you were mad? You tried to kill her with your presence earlier." Referring to the cloud that engulfed everything

"**Well, I am still a little sore at her about ignoring me, but…"** her voice dropped an octave, and brought her hand over her mouth to hide her infernal grin **"who could stay mad at my pretty little servants face? Ahahu…**"

"I see. Well let us see if you lustful nature will be either your or her down fall…"

"**What can I say?"** Mirokumaru said as she bent over and picked up her hat, her multicolored hair parting from the gravity revealing a very pale face with gold colored eyes **"I'm a narcissist."** finished the creature that had the same face as her master Senna Kurosaki.

(Outside the pit: Human world)

It had been roughly three hours since Yoruichi had left Keisuke and waited at the top of the circular canyon, with nothing to do since she couldn't sense the girl down at the bottom, she had decided to curl up and take a cat nap. She would have continued her resting if not for the sound of a loud crackling noise and loud yell from what Yoruichi assumed to be the girl.

Getting upon her paws she stretched her back out to work the kinks, as she peered down the shaft. She couldn't sense any hollow like energy signature, which made the cat smirk, seeing that she'd finally have something to do with the Shinigami below.

(In the pit)

"I AM GOING TO KILL THAT BITCH WHEN I GET MY DAMN HANDS ON HER!" yelled an irate Senna as she got from her back after being kicked through the apparent portal back to the real world.

'**Stop your bitching and pick us up cause you dropped us!'** the re-grumpified Mirokumaru grunted out from inside her head

Senna gritted her teeth as she walked over to retrieve the sword and staff end of her soul blade. _'Leave me alone. I don't want to be reminded I have rapist living in my head!'_

The dark side was going to respond but was pushed away by the better mannered side taking control _'Listen to me Senna-chan. We need to get out of this hole in the ground, and back up top. What I want you to do is focus your spiritual energy and focus it on you legs. You recall what it feels like correct?'_

Senna affirmed, and closed her eyes as she began to imagine the cold embrace of death, and attune herself to the wavelengths of her…better halfed Zanpaktou. Reopening her eyes, Senna crouched down and prepared to jump. Pushing her feet off the ground Senna reached up to about 30 feet before her body slowed down and gravity took over once again dragging her back down to the bottom.

No less discouraged Senna concentrated even harder and jumped once again reaching about a third of the way. After the third attempt, Senna fell to her knee as she tried to catch her breath. _'This sucks. I never actually tried to jump something the size of an apartment complex.'_ She thought bitterly. After a moment an idea hit her _'Wait like an apartment complex…'_ Senna looked around her and saw that the circular hole wasn't too wide across _'or maybe like roof hoping…I wonder…'_

Picking herself back up Senna refocused her energy, though this time instead of jumping straight up she ran forward and kicked herself off the wall, a huge smirk burst across her face when she saw that her apparent plan was working, going back across the otherway Senna braced herself and kicked off the far side wall sending back. _'Like a charm!' _Senna thought gleefully as she approached the wall again unfortunately for her she wouldn't be met with the same results.

The reason being was the reishi she was using on her feet and legs to assist her finally gave out, so when she tried to kick off again her foot slipped and she fell back down to the bottom of the pit. With a loud and dust crash, Senna slammed back into the bottom kicking up lots of dust "(Hack) (cough) ahh…owww…oohh falling on your butt still hurts…" the purple haired Shinigami said with a wince as she moved her hand to soothe her sore bottom.

Unfortunatley for her, her actions didn't go unnoticed **"Ohh~ baby, baby work that hand!"** the inner demon mocked seductively, getting a look of annoyance from Senna was mentally noting to hurry up and get stronger so she could beat the crap out of the female Taoist witch thing. **"Aww…don't stop touching your ass on my account!"**

'_Shut up…'_ Senna replied bitterly as she was back to square one again in her escape attempt

'**Tch…whatever.'** Mirokumaru replied with a rolling of her eyes, as she decided to talk with her other half **'So why exactly don't you just have her use her staff and-**

"The staff!" The Shinigami girl exclaimed remembering her weapon from the dark half's casual mentioning of it, walking over to the wall Senna re-sheathed the sword back into the hollow golden rod end, transforming it back into Shakujo mode, with her hands gripping the center with the ringed end facing away from the wall Senna thrusted the weapon like a spear. The metallic end pierced the rock wall and after penetrating about six or so inches stopped.

Giving a slight tug, Senna smiled seeing that the weapon was held firmly in place. Placing her foot against the rocky sheet she concentrated her energy again and pulled out the rod. "Alright, this time for sure." She reassured as she walked back to the center, and grasped the staff firmly with her two hands.

Closing her eyes once more she focused herself on resummoning up her Reishi, when she felt it back on her feet again, she sprinted to the wall once more and kicked off it turning her body in mid air to launch herself again. After the second kick Senna felt the power once again give out but this time she was ready. Raising the blunt end above her head Senna stabbed the staff into the earth as she collided against the wall. Despite the shock that caused her left hand to fall to her side her right arm clung tightly to the handle.

"Good." Senna panted from the mounting exhaustion, as she dangled just below her staff. Swinging her arm up the ribbon wearing teenager gripped the weapon with both her hands and tried to pull herself up. With a small grunt Senna swung her right arm over the other side and hoisted herself up, until her stomach laid upon the golden metal of her staff, with one final push Senna flipped herself over until she was sitting on the top part of the staff just like the light side of Mirokumaru had been in her mind

"(Sigh)…it's a lot harder going straight up rather than across." The sweating teen said to herself, as she wiped the sweat that had been building from her efforts away from her forehead while she used her Hakama to clean her hands so they wouldn't lose their grip ability when she would kick off again. "I guess my body is still adjusting to my own power since I'd always been using Rukia's…" she whispered to herself, as she tilted her head back and looked up to where the light from the room she had previously been in was shining from "Rukia…" she said sadly remembering her friend who saved her life, at the cost of her own "Just you wait. Once I can stand on my own, I'll save you no matter what." The girl reaffirmed with a small smile built from her growing confidence "But first." She let out a sigh as she lowered herself down done with her small break "I need to get out of here."

Senna placed her foot against the rock wall and reconcentrated her reiatsu again and once it was at sufficient level kicked off the wall pulling her Zanpaktou out with her and flew across the otherside, and repeated her wall jumps and resting.

About thirty minutes and ten more wall jumps later, Senna could see that she was very near to the top, as she sat taking a well deserved break and wiped the dust and sweat off her face while her matted hair clung tightly to her flesh from the level of effort needed to escape the pit. "Almost (pant)(pant) there (pant)" Senna said gleefully that her steady work was getting ready to pay off, as she lowered herself back down.

Using what she felt must have been the last of her energy Senna kicked off the wall and ascended yet again, as she rose up from the second jump she saw that she could pull herself up from here, after she dug the Shakujo into the rock wall. The fatigued Shinigami tiredly raised herself up on to the staff, and sat on it tiredly taking a moment's pause so she could prepare to leave.

Using her hands to keep herself balanced Senna calmly moved her leg unto the ringed end of the Shakujo and paused to allow her sense of balance get accustomed so she could stand upon the staff to get out. Once she was sure that it wouldn't wobble under her weight, Senna let her right hand leave the staff and slowly feeling the wall to help give herself the support to stand. Slowly rising up to where she was crouching on the staff with only her left hand, that was in the between the distance of her legs, gripping the staff. Finally sure that she wouldn't fall, Senna allowed herself to smile as she slowly stood, using her natural agility and balance to maintain herself while her right hand scaled up until it touched the outer edge.

"Perfect." The girl whispered to herself as she felt she could pull herself up from here. Glancing back down, the red obied Shinigami maneuvered her foot into the Shakujo's rings and concentrated her running on fumes spiritual power, and jumped up pulling the Zanpaktou out while she used the last of her physical strength pull herself up.

With a stranded grunt Senna powered out of the tunnel her left foot that had her Zanpaktou still dangling over the side, while she remained face down on the ground exhausted from her climb. "M..mad…it" she forced out congraduatedly to herself as she flexed her left leg, causing her Zanpaktou to bang into her side, not that she cared at this point since she was finally out.

"Hmph. You certainly took your time." A voice said to the barely conscious girl, who against her bodies plea for rest looked up and saw in front of her a cat.

Senna stared tiredly into the creatures eyes, before she shook her head. "No way cat's don't talk." She rationalized figuring her mind was playing a trick on her from the mental and physical exhaustion placed unto her from the accumulating traumatic and stressful situation she'd been having so far. "But you are a pretty kitty." She teased as she brought her shaky hand to scratch the ears of the black feline

"Thanks for compliment, but unfortunately for you we don't have time to rest." The feline said again, making the downed girl freeze in terror, since she had literally watched the cat's mouth open and heard the words spill out of it.

Senna's unblinking gaze continued to bore into the face of the cat until she sharply dropped it back down unconscious her mind unable to cope all of what had transpired so far.

Yoruichi sat on her hind legs and scratched her ear before walking closer to the girl who was out like a light. A bright idea came to the nekomata, taking a glance around to make sure the coast was clear, the cat transformed back into her human form. As the last of the mist parted, the now fully naked and volpturious goddess of flash picked up her newest protégé and in the blur of a flash step headed in the direction of the emergency exit to continue the training of Senna.

(Same time: Ichigo: mind scape)

The banging and clanging of hard edged metal rang throughout the silent city of Ichigo's inner world. The black clothed Shinigami in charge of this sacred place was currently jumping from one building to the next to close the distance between himself and his inner hollow.

Not being one to let this opportunity to train against a powerful foe slip by, he had challenged his darker, though ironic lightly colored half to an interesting game of 'king of the hill', with the older of dynamic snide and wise team serving as the observer, referee and reluctant cheering section.

Knocking away the cloth thrown blade of Hichigo, Ichigo continued his charge forward to close the distance and re-engage in close quarters since he wasn't as good with the whole throwing your blade with enough force to rip people in half thing yet.

"The home team takes the lead at two minutes and thirty-five seconds" chimed in the observing black clad glasses wearing old man from his perch higher up the building, a safe distance from the vicious fighting between the two, silently informing Ichigo that he needed to kick hollow Zangetsu off that particular building to regain more point to reach the five minute goal.

Making the last jump needed unto the building his inner hollow was on Ichigo gripped his Zanpaktou with both of his hands, while his opponent tugged his arm back to retrieve his wayward blade to engage in an old fashioned sword match, while the old man stopped counting in his head since the 'hill' was now under territorial dispute.

Swinging with intense force Ichigo's Zangetsu collided into the lower end of the white specters blade just above the hilt, knocking him completely off balance, pulling his arm back he reversed his swing to horizontally clip his opponent.

The white specter despite his insane grin had no choice but to back pedal to avoid the returning slash. Hoping back half a step, the hollow adjusted his grip on his Zangetsu and launched himself forward as his foot came in contact with the glass window underneath him.

The two swordsman's blades clanged and clinged against each other as the both combatants violently slashed against the other trying to find an opening to inflict some serious damage and take the lead in their deadly game. Soon an opening presented itself, as the hollow phantom swung his sword to cut Ichigo in half, the teenage Shinigami wisely decided to side step instead of guard. As the blade lowered past Ichigo, he removed his right hand and pelted a right hook into the hollows face, sending him twirling about which was followed up by a kick to it's stomach launching it cleanly off the building.

"The away has taken control, Ichigo now leads at two minutes and forty-two seconds." The impromptu referee declared, while his other half erupted from the smoke and debris of his crash landing. In an almost arrogant fashion the white hamaka wearing mirror image got back to his own feet and ran his hand through his hair to get rid of some dust before brushing away at his hakama.

Picking his blade back up and resting it against his shoulder the inner hollow decide to give a little praise **"Not too bad king. Ya got me pretty good."** his pale thumb nicking his left side of his lip, revealing a tiny amount of blood that came from the side. **"Tell ya what…remember that one move I said I'd help you with when you were getting the little ring for Mrs. 'Own your sack'?"** he lowered his sword back down and grabbed it by the cloth as he started to swing the blade in a circular revolution until it looked like a buzz saw attached to a cloth **"Why don't I show you it."** he yelled out maniacally as he threw the blade at Ichigo who stood at the ready **"Make sure to take some damn good notes!"**

Reacting on instinct, Ichigo's body narrowly dodged the projectile blade by rolling away to the side. The blade slammed into the wall like it always did but this time it seemed to be much more ominous then before, turning his eyes back at his attacker, he saw his inner hollow hunched over a bit with it's head down.

Ichigo would have continued to wonder what was going on but he lost that luxury when the grinning white doppelganger snapped it's head at Ichigo, his normal yellow eyes glowing a very dark golden almost like a full moon in the evening sky. With a slight jerk of it's arm a violently dark aura engulfed the creature's form and in one fluid motion thrusted the cloth forward as if it was trying to strike someone with it's fist.

"Gotta move!" Ichigo realized as the dark purple-ish energy had started to whip through the cloth and race down to where the enemy Zangetsu rested, the cord flipping in a circular motion in the air as it continued down it's path.

Utilizing his speed and skill with flash step, the man raced to the edge of the building and jumped away from it as the dark energy touched the hilt. The result was instantaneous as the energy soon erupted into a dark nuclear explosion like attack, the roar was deafening to Ichigo who was so close to ground zero of the attack the only thing that could be heard even above the devastating move was insane laughter of Hollow Zangetsu.

"Close…" Ichigo whispered as he turned back around and his eyes widened when he saw the results. The building he was on…was no more all that remained was a small pole that the older Zangetsu was still standing on, and more than likely the only reason the pole was still there in the first place. Out of the corner of his eye a flash of white caught his eye as the inverse Zangetsu sword sailed through the air and back into the waiting hand of it's monstrous master.

"**Well look at that you lived! Hahaha…"** the pure white looking Ichigo chuckled darkly, as both he and Ichigo got ready to re-engage the other

Unfortunately before they could continue Zangetsu broke their concentration with his words "Ichigo it seems your body is starting to wake up again. We'll have to postpone this…and the goal was destroyed so we can't continue the game."

Hichigo contorted his face in disgust at having his fun ruined **"Bah! That's bull shit! Fuck them and their training regiment, I'm all Ichigo needs to kick all of Soul Societies undead asses!"** he retorted, before pausing a moment as an epiphany dawned on him and decided to amend what he said slightly **"Well except for the women, I'll kick the male half asses during the day and tapping the female half at night starting with little miss twin bands."**

Ichigo sighed in disbelief "Nothing is sacred to you is it?" he asked futilely

"**Pff…whatever just beat it…"**

"Farewell Ichigo."

With a nod of his head Ichigo focused his mind to the sounds of the outside world so he could return back to consciousness. When Ichigo's body fully disappeared, the dark shady wearing old man jumped from his perch and landed beside his younger blood thirsty counter-part. A serene look on his face, a look of resignation.

"He's quite strong…"

"**Heh..tell me about it."**

The older man looked away "It's a shame you may not live to see his full potential."

The all white phenomenon gave a sour look at his black clothed half **"Yeah well…considering what he is, it's not a big surprise. I mean he could have ended up either way for all we both knew, but he ended up a Shinigami, my end was decided that very moment, he didn't end up a hollow."** He then turned his face away and faced the empty city sky line and sighed **"Hell, all he needs now is the Getsuga Tensho and maybe a Bankai and he could easily overpower me, doesn't help that he's absorbing mine and your power."**

"True, though you do realize we will have to come together again someday, if he is to unlock his true potential."

"**Yeah…well we'll see I mean if I beat him, his body will decay and die with me since I'd be in control and it's absorbing me."** The dark half said bitterly, since while it didn't want to die, it couldn't allow Ichigo to beat it with earning the right to be king **"Bah! Enough of this depressing shit, I want ask you about something else, Zangetsu."**

"I have a feeling it pertains to Senna and her relationship to Ichigo correct Zangetsu?" the man roughly gauged since he was for all intents and purpose talking to himself. His only response was a crossing of the arms and a rude nodding of his partners head "I think…that she is in fact Ichigo's sister, reason being aside from the story we were told, her spiritual signature is extremely similar to Ichigo's which could only be reforged by someone with the same parents, though Ichigo hasn't completely accepted or understood the fact because her spiritual energy is so similar to her, he thinks it's his."

Hollow Zangetsu scowled slightly **"If that's true then that unknown signature that seemed hollow like in nature…could have been Senna's inner hollow, but would that make her…?"**

The older figure tilted his head upward in thought "It is possible but will require more observation. She had only recently awakened to her power…who's to say how she will turn out."

"**Regardless, make sure that King's got no problems with killing her, last thing we need is someone ungodly strong and the only one who can stop doesn't have the balls to do it."**

After the statement was said, silence fell upon the pair as they gazed over the city. One contemplating his own death at the hands of his master, while the other was forced to think about the uncertainty of the future, though both would agree, the catalyst, Ichigo, would be the key to what the future would hold for both himself and Soul Society.

(Ichigo's room)

Having finished surgically removing Ichigo's limiter about an hour ago, the semi-well mannered proprietor of the establishment Keisuke Urahara was sitting in back in an office chair with his legs propped on the nearby desk, while he took a swig of his cup of Joe. The man let out a contented sigh from the rich taste and aroma of the drink, as he placed it back down on the desk and continued to work on his word scrabble since he wasn't sure when the sleeping teen would come back to reality.

"Hmm…a seven letter word for something long and hard…" the tinkering thinker said aloud "Arousal…" he came up with saying the first thing that came to his mind "mmm…but I don't really see what that has to do with something long and hard, ah well put down for now." He said with a shrug as he moved in to fill in the blank

"Well if you can't figure it out now, I doubt you ever will." chimed in the voice of Ichigo groggily, as he adjusted himself up and with a shaky hand pulled the ruffled blankets off of him and raised himself from the bed, and glanced towards the hazy form of Keisuke.

Closing his book and throwing it back unto the table, the blond man turned to his fellow infiltrator "Well, well, nice to see that you decided to join us here I was thinking you were gonna take a dirt nap on us."

Ichigo rolled his eyes "Sorry to disappoint." He responded sarcastically, as he moved his legs off the bed and brought his feet to the wooden floor "You ready?" the orange haired teen asked since he needed to get a move on training if he wanted this plan to work

Pushing his feet off the desk, Keisuke turned in his chair and got up and picked up his cane "Course, but before we start I want to know how far you've come in terms of understanding your Zanpaktou."

Ichigo gave a sideways glance "I can use my Shikai no problem, unfortunately I haven't completely master it."

The blonde traitor hummed as he tapped his cane in front of him. He was inwardly cursing that within the limited amount of time they might not have the chance to get started on Bankai training since he hadn't fully master Shikai, and to try and force that could be dangerous to not only Ichigo but also himself. _'Well, I suppose I can take the Tenshintai, Zanpaktou materialization doll , and have him use it maybe at Kukaku's…no, no bad idea the reapers would sense us. I know at me and Yoruichi's playground, no one could sense us and we'll have the full three days to bring out his Bankai.'_

"That's fine for now, we'll just spend our time improving your Zanjutsu-ship, and getting you to learn whatever you haven't learned yet of your blade." The blond said as he tapped his chin "Still how did you make fourth seat without having mastered you Zanpaktou?"

Ichigo hesitated slightly at the question since he didn't want to give him the wrong idea "Originally, I was a sixth seat prior to learning my Zanpaktou's released form. Unfortunately when transferred divisions, it wasn't to master my Zanpaktou it was to reign in my spiritual pressure since it would affect others around me."

Keisuke's eyes narrowed in suspicion _'Odd…if that's the case then why wouldn't the R&D just issue him a device in the mean time and have him learn how to control it.'_ his eyes widened a fraction as the answer came to him _'Aizen. Probably wanted him and his power, and considering all that's happened to the kid, I'd say it didn't go as planned so he tried to tie up loose ends. Very clever…'_

"So after the transfer, the sixth seat wasn't open so I was placed as a fourth seat, and after a year the Taicho in charge decided to let me keep the seat and sanctioned my chance to become Fuka-Taicho, which unfortunately because of this mission got shot to hell." finished Ichigo, who planned on beating the answers out of that silver haired Taicho after he rescued Rukia Kuchiki.

"Well, after this little invasion, let's see if they'll change their mind on considering you." said Keisuke as he beckoned the young man to follow him down to the training area.

The two walked in silence, since Ichigo was preparing his mind to focus entirely on fighting and if possible defeat Keisuke, while Keisuke was hoping enough time passed for Yoruichi to have taken Senna to the riverside near the south side of town since he had made a guesstimation that the girl would either succeed or fail within three to five hours since her body and soul hadn't fully recovered, thus giving her a much smaller window of success but also less interference/resistance within her inner world.

Reaching the stairs to the desolate training field, both Soul reapers detected the unique spiritual barrier of Tessai to the far right hand side that to Ichigo's surprise was completely out of his range of sight giving him a small healthy respect of the sheer size and design by the mad scientist beside him. Taking a moment to gander at his new found environment, Ichigo saw a barren dust-ridden plain that looked like the ruins of an old battle field minus the building one would expect to be found in such a hellish locale.

Unknown to the awe-struck strawberry, the blond scientist smirked as he didn't sense Yoruichi but more importantly a hollow signature which meant that Senna had succeeded in regaining her once borrowed power and made it her own. "All right Strawberry, get ready to defend yourself." declared the martial researcher as he dipped his hat down and pulled out his as of yet unnamed Zanpaktou

"One question before we start Keisuke." said Ichigo as he still kept his lingering gaze out into the expansive emptiness. The token silence being the indication on Urahara's part to continue "Out of everything you could have made this room look like, why did you settle for little more than scorched earth and some rocks?"

The blond arched his eye brow at the question, and took a moment to allow his eyes to peek to the ends of his peripherals. He silently brought his grey eye's gaze back to the currently unarmed man, a smirk dancing unto his face as he raised his partner threateningly at Ichigo "What you afraid that there might be something out there?" Keisuke chided

Ichigo remained for the most part impassive, though he had to suppress the urge to scoff at the man coming to the wrong conclusion like that "No. I just wanted to know why the architect would choose something so…sad." He said solemnly as he pulled Zangetsu from it's resting place, the cloth binding giving way as if sensing the up-coming battle between the conspirators.

Keisuke kept a fierce gaze on Ichigo, unwilling to let him out of his sight since he didn't have a great idea of what Ichigo could do and going solely on what his beloved grand-nephew told him, but replied none-the-less since curiosity gave rise to knowledge. "The reason the place is so barren is so that it leaves who ever enters focused on one thing: Their enemy. With nothing around to distract your senses or mind with movement your mind will become acutely focused on your task, further more the other reason is because this place is most-like the hollow world Hueco Mundo. Nothing around as far as the eye can see, and should you die just a cold place to leave you body until something comes along to devour you." Keisuke answerer coldly, giving the younger Shinigami the exact reason for such a design in mind "Now…enough talk, let's see what you can do, Kurosaki-san."

With the time for question and answers over, Ichigo pulled out his giant sized clever from his back which was answered by Keisuke and his sword closing the distance between them, leaving just a small window for Zangetsu to intercept.

As the blades screeched against each other, the blond dipped his blade downward with a twist of his hand and thrusted forward using the larger sword's edge to keep it straight on it's course to Ichigo's heart.

Seeing the blade edge closer, the Shinigami jerked his arm to the side sending the blade away towards the ground. What he didn't expect however was for Keisuke's sword to implant itself in such an angle that it allowed Keisuke to jump on top of the blade and deliver a spinning kick to his head, sending Ichigo flying in the opposite direction.

Landing back down on the ground, Keisuke smirked as he pulled his blade out and charged after his opponent who was using his hand to slow his skidding body to a halt. "Is that it? You're boring me here." Keisuke taunted as his opponent got back off his knee, ignoring the stinging sensation in his hand

Letting his opponent waste the energy in charging him, Ichigo grounded his stance to prepare for the onslaught of the ex-taicho and traitor to soul society. The blond man's blade entered back into another dead lock with the cutting moon for a few more seconds before the pair broke off and started striking and parrying each other moves with their Zanpaktou

'_So this is the strength of a captain! Well I won't lose!'_ Ichigo declared in his mind, as Zangetsu stopped another cut and absorbing the shock from the strength behind it

'_Well, well, he's certainly picking up the pace.'_ The opposing man denoted as he stepped backwards to block the young man's counter attacks _'But…this still isn't enough, I gotta get him to dig deeper.'_

As both thoughts concluded themselves within each's respective minds, their blades arced backwards forcing both men to put some distance, in case the other decided to try something in the momentary break in the fighting.

As Ichigo was jumping back, he swung Zangetsu in a low upward swing dragging the blade against the rocky ground, causing some of the earth to split underneath it and launch it forwards as an rocky storm at his enemy, and propel him even further backward to switch us some tactics.

'Clever.' Keisuke thought with interest at the surprising in not futile technique, as he flicked his hand at each large boulder and cleaving it in to pint sized pebbles, as it approached his persons, with the last one promptly destroyed he gazed over at his opponent who stood in an odd stance, as his hand were no longer gripping the hilt but instead the cloth wrapping at the butt of the sword.

Having finished his preparation due to the distraction, Ichigo swung his right arm in a quick circular motion and tossed the massive great sword towards it's human bulls eye with great easy but deadly force.

His curiosity caught Keisuke decided to take the attack head on, to see if this particular attack and possible fighting style might be efficient at all. Raising his guard up, he braced himself as the blade crashed into him forcing his body back by the impressive strength behind the attack. When he stopped moving he momentarily allowed himself to recover, which almost got him fatal results, as the moment the blade began to fall back to the ground allow him the reprieve Ichigo twisted his forearm and raised it upwards, causing the sword to flip itself over and jump upward like a snake.

Due to Keisuke having not fully let his guard down, he only lost a small portion of the hair on the side of his head and had his hat get knocked off, a small price to pay he supposed but a lesson learned as he began to formulate a plan to remove that long range attack from the equation that was this battle.

Tsking, in annoyance Ichigo tugged the cloth back hard to return it back to him for another volley, glad that the current distance would give him the time needed to relaunch it.

As the blade sailed through the air back towards Ichigo who didn't waste a second sending it in a circular motion to give it more strength while Keisuke started his advance forward again keeping an eye on the sword for when the next attack would come.

He didn't have to wait long as the soul reaper heaved his weapon back at the Taicho. The result were much different this time around as Urahara flash stepped past the blade and with a rotating spin and back swinging arc cut the cloth of Zangetsu leaving Ichigo defenseless, while the blade dragged against the rocky ground.

With another succession of flash step, Keisuke closed the distance with a cocky smirk. "Good first time but the not the second." He chided childishly, but then grew deathly serious "If this is all you got, I gotta say that Soul Societies really gone downhill, and whoever your captain was…" he swung his sword to cut the man in half as he finished his taunt knowing it could get him more motivated "must have been really pathetic to give you your seat."

As the words left the traitors mouth, Ichigo's anger soared high at the insulting of both his friends Toshiro Hitsuguaya and Shaolin Fon. Quickly breaking his eyes away from the snide face of his opponent he focused in on the katana, and in a show great dexterity and strength, clasped both his hands on the flat end of the sword keeping it from going any further towards his persons.

With a violent convulsion of his body, Ichigo sent the sword skyward, disarming Keisuke. Using the small window of opportunity, Ichigo's elbow shot out and struck the man in the face smashing his head backwards from the collision, as he moved to follow up his opening with enraged vigor, Keisuke himself started to perform some unexpectedly skilled Hakudo of his own.

The duo's hands and legs connected with each other in quick violent frenzies as each one tried to gain the upper hand, their Zanpaktou's both laying on the ground forgotten in the pugilist's brawl. Unfortunately for Ichigo, his spiritual power and strength was not at the level of captain, so with each blocked blow, his energy reservoir dropped a little bit more and his anger left him more vulnerable to attack as he was becoming too focused on taking off Keisuke's head than defending himself.

"Damn it." Ichigo cursed under his breath as he deflected another kick to his side away _'Gotta get to Zangetsu…'_

Keisuke's calculating eyes noticed the slight twitch on Ichigo's face and assumed a momentary distraction _'Too bad you lose kid.'_ With a lightning fast gut shot, he grabbed the outer edges of Ichigo's hakama and tossed him over his shoulder, allowing the opportunity to unleash Benihime on his enemy.

As Ichigo was thrown through the air he flipped sideways to correct his body, and with a brief scan of spiritual power located Zangetsu before flash stepping to his fallen partner. As his feet touched the floor heard the voice of Keisuke Urahara yelled out something and a violent roar erupted from the distance and could be heard screaming towards him at high velocity. He was only allowed a fleeting glance as a humongous red wave crashed into his body.

The explosion that followed was quite impressive sending huge clouds of dust, rock, smoke, and spiritual particles flying everywhere. Inwardly the mad scientist was glad Tessai had erected that barrier around them, surely something of that magnitude would have had negative effects on that Ein fellow who was inside learning "the way of the fist" as the movies proclaimed.

As the smoke cleared, Keisuke found himself on one end of a giant linear crevice with the other end containing whatever was left of Ichigo's spiritual power and a big pile of rubble. Placing his sword against his shoulder he decided to pause to see if the kid was still alive for his patience, Ichigo Kurosaki broke through the stone prison with Zangetsu at his side breathing heavily with his hakama torn to pieces and blood running down his forehead, sides of his mouth and numerous cuts and burn marks on his chest and forearms. Ichigo with a slight stumble exited the ruins and grasped his sword with what little strength he had left, as he fought against gravity's attempts to bring him down to the ground to rest.

The hat-and-clog wearing manager was amused to see that Ichigo did in fact survive and still wanted to go, but he still had a feeling that Ichigo hadn't been pushed all the way yet, something still wasn't there. But now he knew the right buttons to press to get him riled up, and set out to do just that. "You know, Ichigo I hate to say this but you should quit while your ahead." He said condescendingly grabbing the beat down man's attention "because if you can't even really hurt me what chance do you have at beating Yoruichi? For all that you've supposedly endured so far just to get a shot at her makes me question your conviction on the matter, and I've come to the conclusion on one thing." He felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure begin to spike rapidly at the words, unbeknownst to Ichigo, whose blade was starting to become enveloped in a white light "That your reasons for wanting to kill her are simply…pathetic."

"You…" he gritted out as his temper and spiritual pressure continued rise upward "You know nothing!" he yelled out as he gripped his cutting moon with both his hands to bring it up to waist level, as he stared down the man almost as if he wanted his eyes to incinerate the walking corpse before him. "If to get to her I need to walk over your corpse," he yelled out as his mind flashed a faint image of both Yoruichi and Shaolin "Then I'll kill you here!"

Launching his arms up past his head, Ichigo's Zanpaktou screamed out it's power as the blade was fully engulfed in a white light that seemed to steam from the blue spiritual aura covering Ichigo. "Die!" he yelled as the sword descended down ward, releasing a gigantic wave of light towards the excited scientist.

From a rough guesstimation on his part Keisuke easily deduced that it was roughly 10 times the size of his Benihime crimson wave, which meant precautions needed to be made, such as defense and evasion. "Blood mist shield" he called out as a triangular red mist shot out of his weapon and stood in between him and the vastly approaching energy wave

The two spiritual forces collided and raged against each other, as each tried to overpower the other. Keisuke noted that unless he started putting more energy into his shield it was going to give out and leave him on the receiving end of an attack that he was pretty sure he might not survive. So he started focusing more and more unto the center to keep it stable the white energy shooting past the sides of the barrier.

Near the bottom corner a small portion slipped around and rushed towards the man and clipped his legs, sending him to his knees as he ignored the pain and remained focused on his task. Within a matter of moments the light died down, leaving the kneeling man to catch his breath behind his crimson barrier.

"That was pretty good. We might have a chance yet." He chuckled to himself as he got up on his feet, and looked behind him to check out the damage. He let out a low whistle at seeing two giant streaks go off in separate directions at roughly three or four feet across, turning back around he lowered his shield and looked amusedly at the still barely standing Ichigo, who soon collapsed unto his knees, his sword clanging against the ground.

Ichigo was gasping for air from the attack that had been released by his blade.

…_Tensho!_

He blinked dumbly at hearing the word in his mind though it sounded incomplete so far. Ichigo winced as pain shot throughout his body "Better worry about that later." He whispered as he prepared to use some kido to mend himself.

Seeing Ichigo start to heal himself Keisuke flash stepped over and gave his assistance to bring the young Shinigami back to health, and off the brink of death. Once he was finished he took to treating his own leg. "Well kid, I gotta say you did quite well."

"Thanks." Ichigo replied with a grin, and then not a moment later head butted Keisuke in the face sending the man crashing to the ground "and that's for saying she's pathetic." He declared while the scientist rolled around on the floor clutching his face

'_Geez, I get beat up by student's twice in one day, ah well…their stimulating to say the least.'_ Keisuke thought half-amused as he rubbed his forehead with his hand since that was the part that absorbed most of the damage "Well, let's go over a few exercises and then call it a day."

So for the next hour and a half Ichigo trained under the careful eye of Keisuke Urahara, feeling that he might need to recover he ended up cutting it short saying that they had all week to get him above and beyond par. So the pair headed back towards the stairwell, both noticing that the barrier Tessai made was gone meaning he and Ein were long gone. Climbing up the stair one weary step at a time the two entered back into the circular center room where Uryu was busy cooking with Ururu and a small red haired boy that Ichigo didn't know, and Tessai was sitting next to the proverbial karate kid, who had taken notice to the newly arrivals.

The head band wearing martial arts wannabe jumped out of his seat and moved over towards the two with a friendly smile "Ah Ichigo-kun, Urahara-sensei! How goes things on your end of the training? I myself feel truly invigorated and feel that I can take on anything thrown at me!" the older man let out a hearty laugh

"Ahem forgive my apprentice, he's still green." apologized Tessai continuing along with the charade which made his 'apprentice' give a sheepish look at being called out "Anyway, return tomorrow at the same time so we could pick up at the 'screaming angry wombat' stance."

"Yes, master." He declared with vigor before turning towards Ichigo with a fire in his eye "Then I entrust Sen-chan's safety to you Ichigo. No kid sister is ever more safer than with her older brother."

Ichigo was flabbergasted at the man for practically talking about private things like that out loud with no regard for who might be within ear shot, like the idiot scientist beside him "That's still…unsure at the moment."

The dark haired man look no less dissuaded "None sense, you must have a striking resemblance to one another."

"You can't even see me." Ichigo dead panned with a huge sweat drop at the man's faulty logic

Ein merely laughed "Hahaha! But my princess is quite the looker at her age, so I'm guessing if your related you two must be quite rugged and handsome, I mean you have such a strong manly voice filled with such vigor."

The male Kurosaki merely face palmed, while Keisuke decided to throw his two cents in "Ohoho! If he could only see your face Ichigo. That'll give him a new meaning to 'rugged'." Unfortunately it wasn't for the betterment of Ichigo and his argument

"Shut up, hat and clogs." He retorted with mild annoyance, as he went to go sit down and get something to eat, while Ein bowed before exiting the room.

(Store entrance: Senna and Yoruichi)

Senna practically limped her way back to the Urahara Shoten using her Shakujo staff as a walking stick with the nekofied Yoruichi resting on her shoulder comfortably enjoying the ride. The poor girl so far had not had a very great day, after being abducted while unconscious by the cat she took her down to the Samgawa river, stripped her off her Hamaka and chucked her into the river to wake her up.

After breaking the surface, and flashing the world around her it took fifteen minutes of intense consultation and talking to get it through that she was in her spiritual form and that nobody could see her…probably, which earned the ire from the teenager and the despair that would soon engulf her from being trained by the jokester.

After the side-show introduction was over, Yoruichi stated that they would work on the basics of swordsmanship today, and skip all of Hakudo since it would take too long for a novice to pick up and use it efficiently unlike a sword. The training itself was easy the hard part was ignoring the peanut gallery in her head that was making itself quite vocal at having been, so teased and aroused by the whimsical nature of the cat girl, which was then stoked even further when the nekomata started to tease Senna over every little detail.

Back to the present as she came closer to the house she wondered if her sanity would last the week and training before she would snap and probably kill everyone around her within a hundred mile radius, and given her Shinigami powers it was damn well possible, in fact Dark Mirokumaru was actively encouraging the idea.

As she approached the house she decided now would be a good time to wake up Yoruichi "Hey Yoruichi-Sensei, we're here." She said tiredly as her hand shook the cat lightly, while she wanted to grab the cat and beat it senseless she just couldn't find the strength or energy for the task what with all the mental trauma inflicted upon her persons.

The cat stirred from it's slumber as it opened one of it's eyes and got up on it's legs and hopped off her Senna express, down to the ground and transformed back into human shape. Her once nude body covered up by a orange flak jacket with a purple shirt underneath and skin-tight black pants with white running shoes, a weird ruby necklace and a golden ribbon to tie her ponytail backwards.

Yoruichi's face lit up in a cat like grin "Thank-you little witch." She teased saying that she looked like a witch from Halloween with her Shakujo.

As the pair prepared to enter, the door opened up and out came the karate man himself, Ein who seemed to be in thought. "Hey dad." Senna said amicably her mood picking up for the better from seeing her, human world father still alive.

The man's head picked up "Hmm? Oh hey Senna didn't see ya there."

Senna grinned childishly "Well that's because you can't see spirits silly!" enjoying the small talk, while Yoruichi decided to leave them alone and entered the premises

The rugged man puffed up as he stroked his goat tee "I'll have you know Senna, that your old man has been learning the fine arts of Kung-fu, I'm telling you when we get to Soul Society, Your really gonna see your old man shine. I'll have everyone singing praises of Ein the divine! Hahaha!"

"I'm sure they will dad." Senna replied a little willing to stroke his ego just a bit "So you'll be back tomorrow?" she asked a bit hopeful since this could be their last week together as family since they could die for real in the world that was Ichigo's home.

"Of course, but you must promise that when we win, that you'll continue to grow strong, and that you'll marry a fine young man, and then bring him home to me so I can intimidate him with my fists of fury, and then you can go to the bed room and-"

He never got to finish his long winded speech as Senna 'accidentally' lost her grip on her Shakujo staff which caused the golden rod to smash hard into the skull of the lunatic she was now disgraced to call a father. _'Maybe I can become a nun now; I at least look the part…perhaps a Miko in some mountain village far away from society.'_

She picked up her staff tiredly and stepped over her limp father's form with a tired expression "Later dad." She said as she closed the door behind her.

Picking himself up, he rubbed the sore spot that the rod had bumped into. Taking his hand off his head, he continued to look at the door, and then finally smirked as he put his hands in his pockets and walked off away from the chaos that was taking place inside

(Inside the Shoten: Moments earlier)

Yoruichi had strolled on by the human duo, leaving them to have a precious tender moment in privacy for their sake. Since it was easily within the realm of possibility that either of them die by either Soul Reaper, Kukaku or any other combination of things.

Hearing her stomach growl in it's want for food the brown goddess decided to follow her feline nose towards the smell of something good being cooked 'Looks like Uryu returned early, hehe maybe there will be fluke tonight.' The woman thought to herself as a bit of drool started to come out of the side of her mouth for delicious fish that might soon be inside it.

Turning the corner, she opened the main room door and walked in "Hey Keisuke!" she chirped cheerfully with a close eyed smile. When silence met her, she opened her eyes and saw that everyone was looking at her. Tessai looked extremely hesitant as sweat began to roll down the side of his face, Uryu had stopped cooking and asked the boy and girl to leave much to Jinta's detest since he was gonna miss an apocalyptic battle between neko-chan and girly man, Keisuke merely looked at her and silently cursed as his hand gripped Benihime, and the final occupant Ichigo looked at her with a slight peacefulness since he had expected someone else.

Ichigo's gaze remained fixed on the face of Yoruichi Shihoin, as his mind started to reboot up that the person in front of him was here.

Almost instantaneously did Ichigo kick himself off the table using as a spring board as he jumped at the cat, ready to draw Zangetsu and cleave her head off her shoulders. His attempt failed when the other three men sprung into action with Tessai flash stepping and pinning his arms down to the ground, while Uryu sat on his lower body and restrained his legs so he couldn't use a flash step of any kind, while Keisuke walked over and tapped Yoruichi on the forehead with his fan and placed his sword against Ichigo's neck.

"Settle down kid. Don't do something you're going to regret." Keisuke commanded, as his sword's razor sharp edge met the flesh of Ichigo's neck

"Like hell I'll regret it!" the strawberry blond teen spat out, while he mentally commanded for Hichigo to get ready to take over so he could break the grip the other's had on his body and use that small burst to snap Shaolin's ex-mentor's neck

"**My apologies Ichigo, but me and the old man are too beat from fighting off that captain and keeping you alive from that one attack. Sorry, but I can't take over and get you out of this!"** the inner hollow reported reluctantly since this would have been a great win-win situation for him. He get's to fight all these strong enemies and if by some miracle Shaolin did forgive him, she'd have been more than willing to sleep with him, which again was mutualistic for the phantom since he'd essential be getting laid as well

"What are you doing!" yelled out Senna as she entered into the scene her sword drawn and pressing against the back of Keisuke, wanting answers as to why Ichigo looked like he was about to be executed

"Stand down, Senna. I'm sure we could come to a reasonable solution to all of this." Said Yoruichi as she raised her hands up to try and play peace maker

"I agree it's called you standing still and me lobbing your head off!" Ichigo snarled out from his human lock scenario as he tried to break free again to no avail

Slightly annoyed the goddess of flash put her hands on her hips as she frowned slightly in misunderstanding "Ok what's with the hostility? I don't even know you so what's your deal?"

Ichigo glared at her and tsked "Fine, but I'm still going to kill you. One way or another."

Yoruichi laughed amused by his conviction "That's fine, I don't mind having a tussle with young rowdy boy like you. In fact, I might teach you a thing or two."

Senna sweat dropped from all the innuendo in her statement and decided to just remain quiet and ignore the lecherous gaze of Dark Mirokumaru between Senna and Yoruichi, as she resheathed her gale saber back into Shakujo mode.

Casting a quick kido, Tessai created a rather strong barrier around Yoruichi and her side of the room while he and Uryu got off Ichigo's back allowing the man to get back to his feet. Ichigo gaze a linger hate filled glare at Yoruichi before turning his back and walking towards the chair at the far end of the room, making a rough guess they wouldn't be lower the barrier until there was a considerable amount of objects and people in the way to intercept Ichigo.

As he propped himself down, he saw Senna come and take the seat next to him with her staff raised over the table in a make-shift defensive position that came from the concern and his need to have to abandon his weapon by his 'executioners'.

Keisuke and Uryu came next and sat on opposite ends of the table serving as a pair of living gate keepers, Tessai came next followed by Yoruichi taking the seat on the opposite end of the table.

The tension of the occupants of the room was stifling, as each one was stressed from the hard training they had done, sought answers to questions, and feared for the lives of others. The silence linger on as Ichigo stared across the table acknowledging no one else in the room besides Her. Keeping his hands underneath the table to ensure he didn't lose them to Benihime or a barrage of Quincy arrows, he started his story.

He explained in elaborate detail who he was and what brought him here, he then went on to explain how he knew who Yoruichi and Keisuke were by bringing up the relationship status of his girlfriend Soifon, though he and everyone else supposed the correct term would be ex-girlfriend because of what happened.

All of the room's occupants had varying ranges of opinions and expressions on their faces. Senna who had heard some of his background from back at the cemetery that they had visited nodded her head, and noted that he must have really cared about his girlfriend Soifon if he still aimed to accomplish that task despite the current situation, though she did think that maybe it could have been put on hold…for at least a little while longer. _'Then again this is his first chance to get her so it's understandable…'_ she countered herself with since she knew anger made people do strange things

A thoughtful looking Keisuke was mixed as he could understand where he was coming from so he knew that if they told their side of the story, then maybe they could defuse this loose cannon and gain a more loyal ally, though it would mean explaining the real reason that Keisuke and company we're going something he didn't want to do anytime soon, but felt there wasn't much of a choice now.

Uryu's opinion of Ichigo changed slightly for the better, since while a good majority of Soul reapers were assholes: case in point the extinction of nearly 99% of the Quincy race, Ichigo had shown a strong sense of loyalty and duty, the bespectacled boy easily recalled the Shinigami saying he would protect all innocent souls including Uryu's, despite their pretenses and misgivings at the time.

Tessai remained impassive and merely gave a "hmm…" his own thought's not readily explained

The final occupant, Yoruichi, looked visibly troubled by what Ichigo had told her had happened to her star apprentice and first choice bodyguard. "I understand." She said in a soft serious tone of voice that wasn't normally used except outside of important times "Before you speak though, hear my reasons and hear our side first before you jump to conclusions. Ok?"

Ichigo said nothing but nodded his head his gaze still unblinking at the former commander of Onimitsukido, while Senna moved her staff out of the way since it wouldn't be necessary at this point in time, but she didn't slacken her grip on it.

"I guess the cat's outta the bag…" said Keisuke as he leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms out since this could take a while and was now unavoidable "oh well, I suppose you would have gotten suspicious and started asking questions soon, kid."

Yoruichi leaned her cheek against her fist as a look of boredom dawned on her face "Let's start from the top. According to Soul Societies history records, Kisuke, Tessai and myself should be listed as traitor's roughly 52 years ago. However I'm not sure what the given reason they gave to you was, could you tell us."

Ichigo shook his head "I wasn't around then and for most part that incident was considered hush hush, even amongst squad two."

"Very well orchestrated Aizen." Kisuke said off-handedly, getting odd looks of confusion from the two Kurosaki's though for different reasons.

"What does Aizen-Taicho have to do with anything?" asked Ichigo not getting the connection

"Ahh…who's this Aizen fellow?" asked Senna as she, being human was ignorant of the top dogs of the afterlife

Keisuke leaned forward over the table and quickly asked Uryu to move the food of the stove while he explained "To answer both your question, Sosuke Aizen is one of thirteen court guard squad captains, that essentially run soul society, though I don't know who else has been replaced or if that number changed. As to how he fits into our story is this, he's the one that caused our banishment."

"How?" asked Ichigo, as he prepared to find any holes in the man's story that could break apart any well constructed lies.

"It all started with an invention of mine called the Hogyoku. What this little baby did was break down the limits between Shinigami and Hollows, allowing one to have both sides and increase their power exponentially. For easier terms for you Senna, it would be like having a machine gun and a shot gun given to you instead of one or the other. Anyway, after successfully creating it, I decided to test it out." Keisuke shifted back into his chair and let out a breath of frustration "The result was mixed, but in my opinion it was a failure. I tested it on a young trainee, and while he did gain hollow powers…he…also turned into a grotesque monster. He was killed shortly thereafter, and we told his family he died in an accident, not entirely a lie."

"Oh my god." Senna said under her breath, her mind imagining what could have happened to that poor soul

"Oh, it get's better, which is where Aizen comes in. Shortly afterward, I went into a slight depression and so I had gone to see previous captain of the fifth, Hirako Shinji. As I told him the result about what had happened, it was at that moment that Sosuke Aizen made his presence know, he apologized for having eavesdropped as he brought the tea and formally asked if he could join the discussion. I didn't know him all that well but decided that he looked like an intelligent man, so might have a solution, so we invited him though Hirako was wary of Aizen. We had talked but I could never forget the suggestion that man made…"

(Flash back)

"Forgive me for saying Hirako-Taicho but I don't believe the problem, lies in this "Hogyoku" itself but rather the individual." Aizen said in objection to Hirako-Taicho's remark of the Hogyoku being too dangerous, and should be destroyed

"The individual?" the other two blonds asked questioningly at the brunette fuka-taicho

"Precisely, if the test subject wasn't strong enough to handle the strain then you should try someone even stronger who could resist and endure the process whilst maintaining their human form. Someone along our caliber."

"You're suggesting that I should use it on someone like a Taicho or Fuka-taicho?" Keisuke asked concernedly "No, I won't allow it. I think I'll go with my fellow captain's on idea and seal it, while it will be a huge loss I cannot in good conscious run the risk of sacrificing valuable members of Soul Society, for a process that might not work. I had already lost one member, I don' plan on losing another."

Aizen sat in silence for a moment as he held his tea in his hand, then proceeded to take a sip of it letting the contents stroke the fire inside him _'So be it Keisuke. I had hoped that you would see things my way despite knowing it would be a fool errand, never the less I came prepared for this outcome.'_

"I understand. It's regrettable but it's you decision." said Aizen as he got up and left the two occupants alone, while he went to go set forth his plan into action.

Shinji and Keisuke watched the fuka-taicho leave and both had to fight back the ominous feeling that something terribly wrong was a foot, and it all started with Sosuke Aizen.

(flash back end)

Keisuke took a quick sip of the tea that Tessai handed him, while Uryu had left to go serve the food he had been cooking to Ururu and Jinta, and keep them out of the adult conversation, to which he had already been privy to know. "It was about a week or so later that a break in occurred at the soul society main gate, drawing most of the captain's and squad's attention. During the confusion, Aizen obtained the Hogyoku in it's still unstable condition, and when the captain's and vice-captain's meeting ended, him and some of his cohorts captured some of the high class Shinigami, which included my at the time Fuka-Taicho, Hiyori Sarugaki. Upon discovering that it was missing, and fearing the safety of Hiyori due to her absence, I sent a hell butterfly to Tessai and Yoruichi asking that they accompany me, in finding her."

Keisuke took another sip of his tea while Yoruichi picked from where he had left off "Little did we know we were playing right into Aizen's plans. Upon following an abnormal trail of spiritual power near the north gate, we came across the hollowifying bodies of the missing people, along with the Hogyoku. We did our best but not all of them survived, however worst came to worse when several squad members of various division arrived at our spot, with the Sou-Taicho in tow. We had tried to argue and inform what had happened, when the Sou-taicho arrived and declared us traitor on accounts of trying to obtain forbidden powers, and attacking several high seated officer and forcing our way into Soul Society."

The blond manager interrupted so he could continue "Naturally, we had surrendered without a fight, to which all of us would be taken into custody, and keep this entire incident hush-hush. I had intended to explain what had happened and how we found them as they were, but we were never given the chance. Almost immediately after being taken in, the central 46 declared my invention as well as our action heretical, which lead to me believing that only one person was behind this: Aizen. Aside from Yoruichi, Tessai, and Hirako Shinji not a single soul knew of it's existence or power. It was at that moment that we decided to break out from the penance tower, as they came to deliver us the news of our impending execution alongside the remaining survivors of the hollowification, Yoruichi and myself used our Hakudo to escape whilst Tessai performed a powerful but subtle barrier to keep the wardens inside. We grabbed our fellow executes, gathered our things as well as my research notes, and fled, to the human world, spending the last fifty years laying low and keeping out of soul societies watchful eye, and then you came along (3)."

"If what your saying is true, how can we win? Aizen has this invention that will increase his strength exponentially and he was already strong enough to take out several captains. Do you have a plan for that?" asked Ichigo, since this brought a new powerful foe into the picture, one who wasn't bound to Soul Society

"Aizen can't use it right now. See one of my early experiments regarding it, was to see how it would affect a Gigai before testing it on a live person. After several experiments, my results showed that Gigai actually inhibited the Hogyoku's power and in fact if left in their long enough would actually make the Gigai a real body. Naturally I had to extract it from the Gigai before it could happen, but the main conclusion I've come to is also the reason I believe we time to train to rescue Rukia."

"The closer to death the Gigai is, the easier it is to retrieve, however it also takes an enormous amount of spiritual power to retrieve it, since that is what loosens it from the body. As head of R&D, I could explain it away as energy needed for experiments, Aizen doesn't have that option so he has to look elsewhere, and only one other source produces more energy than an entire division combined."

"The Sokyoku." Ichigo said as the epiphany hit him "He's going to have Rukia executed with that so he can retrieve it from her charred corpse, and if that silver-haired bastard works for him, then he must have been the one to set us up to look like we were traitors as well!"

Keisuke nodded his head contented that Ichigo was catching on "So we can kill a week because no matter how fast Aizen will try and advance it, which he will since more than likely he'll have a backup plan of some kind if you survived."

"Ahh…question." asked Senna as she raised her hand to call their attention "I know this might be a little off topic but how exactly did you retain the Hogyo-thing if you were captured? Wouldn't they take it from your persons?"

Yoruichi smiled her cheshire grin "It's was rather fun experience, see me and Kisuke were both apart of second squad which specializes in stealth. He slipped it to me, and put it in my mouth and swallowed it. Once we got thrown in the penance cell, I changed to my feline mode you're so familiar with and threw up a Hogo-ball."

Urahara turned back to Ichigo semi-ignoring the side conversation between the women, a hard look on his face "So now you've heard our side of things. Do you still wanna kill Yoruichi now? Or are you going to help us save Soul Society from an homicidal maniac."

The carrot top turned his gaze away from Keisuke and settled over to the ebony goddess behind him. His mind divided between his promise, what he felt was right, and the simple need to put aside difference for the greater good. "Fine." He said "Yoruichi Shihoin, Keisuke Urahara, I'm sorry." He then lowered his head so that it touched the table in a bowing gesture "I now understand the circumstance your under and will say that I wouldn't have acted any differently." He raised his head up but kept his gaze on Yoruichi "However Yoruichi-san, YOU better set things right with Shaolin or else…" he threatened flexing his spiritual muscle on her, who while impressed with what he still had left in the tank didn't get affected by any means.

Yoruichi crossed her arms over her orange jacket covered chest "I'll do it when I get the chance, but knowing her she'll definitely be at the Sokyoku grounds the day of the execution. I'm sure I'll have an enlightened 'chat' with her."

"So how do we get to Soul Society exactly? Is there another way then when Ichigo-kun came here this time." Senna wondered thoughtfully, since she was curious to how travel between earth and the afterlife would take place for them

The resident mad scientist removed his hat and scratched his itching hair "I believe I mentioned this to Ichigo once before, but I have a prototype Senkaimon unit. It's looks exactly like one of those portal things from the sci-fi mangas you'd see in stores, it was made prior to the Senkaimon units. We took it with us because, if Soul Society ever found this place, only someone with technological knowhow of how the early models worked could use it, and by then we'd be long gone." He placed the cap back unto his skull "Only draw backs are that since it was mostly faulty and only served the basic design, it could only teleport to one place as well as making it one-way. So once in you can't go back, then there's also the time displacement which fortunately works to our advantage."

"Time displacement? You mean like time travel?" Ichigo asked for clarification, since it sounded rather absurd. But at the same token he did try and keep in mind who the inventor was.

"Kinda, sorta, not really. It sends people where they want to go, though a week in the past." Keisuke clarified

"So why didn't you just use it to change what had occurred!" roared out Ichigo as he slammed his hand into the table since this entire phenomena could have been averted if he stopped Aizen before things got hectic

"I would have if not for the doppelganger phenomena, which states that how two people can't occupy the same space at the same time. For instance if I were to have done that I would occupy that space, which would cause the unfortunate effects to have kicked in on myself, which I'll tell you what happened to the twenty volunteers that had agreed to do it, they all ended up inside out at the evacuation point and blew up." He stated coldly, getting a freaked out look from Senna and Ichigo

"Then how are we supposed to use that! We'll die!" Senna yelled out fearfully, not intrigued of being unmade from a nice girl into a walking flesh bomb

"No, we won't." corrected Urahara as he got nice big smile that would soon come from flaunting his genius level intelligence "You see, I realized the problem, the volunteers we had were inside Soul Society a week ago meaning they occupied the same dimensional plane: The afterlife. The 'us' from today is in the human world, where as the ones to go are going to be in soul society. The doppelganger effect can't occur because since this is one-way we can't interact with the past selves meaning we're safe, and since we'll be longer than a week in our rescue attempt, the timeline flows the same, with no interruption."

Ichigo and Senna exchanged a wary look, but both decided to let the resident genius do his area of expertise and focus on training, so that when they got to Soul Society they could really start kicking ass, and get the son of a bitch Aizen.

"Whoa! Look at the time!" a shocked Keisuke exclaimed at seeing that the hours had flew on by "Damn the food's probably cold and we haven't eaten yet!" he got up from his chair and headed into the kitchen area followed by everyone else as they helped themselves to some dinner.

The meal was ate rather quietly, as Ichigo began to ponder ways to deal with Aizen as well as their overall chance of saving Rukia what with all of SS breathing down their necks, Senna was eating her dinner at a relaxed pace a stark contrast with her racing mind telling her of all the laws of physics and reality the afterlife seemed to contradict. Sometimes it paid to be simple. Keisuke was hurrying to finish his meal so he could go get some supplies from the nearby convenient store, while the cat goddess Yoruichi was making some small talk with Senna and trying to make Ichigo smile at one of her jokes, but it was lost since his head was in the clouds.

With dinner done, the quartet exited the room and parted ways, with Yoruichi heading to her room, Keisuke heading out for an errand, and the two apprentices to head back to their almost adjacent rooms.

(Ichigo and Senna)

"Wow…" an awed Senna whispered with her hands clasping each other as they were pressed against the back of her head "It sounds like this Aizen fellow is a real piece of work. I feel bad for Yoruichi-san, and Keisuke-baka, they had their lives ruined because of him."

Ichigo bobbed his head in agreement with her statement "Yeah, I never would have thought Aizen was the enemy…but now that I look back on it. It really does seems odd that he wanted me to just join him out of the blue, then there was what Subaru and Shinjiro said about being wary around him I wonder if they knew?" he sighed in frustration "That doesn't make any sense though, they had no clue that Keisuke and Yoruichi we're innocent otherwise they would have made an effort in an ensuring Shaolin DIDN'T hate Yoruichi."

Senna turned to her taller companion, and unsaid blood relative "Well no use thinking about it right now. Let's just focus on getting stronger that way we'll have a chance to tell them to their face the truth." She stopped and turned fully with a sweet smile on her face "So stop being mister broody frowny face and smile, I don't need a brother whose all doom and gloom!"

Ichigo quirked an eyebrow, and soon snorted and erupted into laughter as she stuck out her tongue playfully and closed her eyes tighter. "Fine, you win, happy, Senna-chan?" the male Kurosaki asked feeling more energetic around the teenage girl

"Say, Ichigo can I ask you something?" The ribbon wearing girl asked since he seemed to be in a better mood, he might indulge her "You said you have a girlfriend what's she like?"

'**Scoping out the competition Sen-chan?'** Dark Mirokumaru said mockingly adding extra sarcasm on the sen-chan** 'Ooooh, someone's jealous, don't worry once I run the show, he'll have eyes for me…but don't worry I'll still love you too, ehehehahaha!'**

Ichigo saw that Senna's smile seemed to drop in plasticity, which caught his attention but he decided to keep it quiet for the moment and answer the girl's question "As you know her current name is Soifon, though her real name is Shaolin. On the outside she seems extremely cold and ruthless, she not all like that on the inside. She's…a little like you, she's temperamental like anyone, but when she's happy you know it. She's got a slight complex about her height, since she's just half an inch short of breaking five even."

Senna laughed as the seemingly mental images drew together to make a short cheery-frigid person who was infatuated with her girly named brother "Well I'll keep an eye out for her, and let her know you said hi."

Ichigo smiled wryily as his hand ruffled Senna's ponytail "By the time you'd get to say hi, you'd be laying on the ground with her foot on top of you. But still the sentiment is appreciated." He earnestly replied back to the huffing girl who crossed her arms after swatting his hand out of her hair "Anyway Senna, if you're having trouble with anything, let me know. Your important to me, just like you are to your father Ein, I'm here if you need someone to lean on."

Senna straightened up and blushed slightly "Ah…t-thanks. I..I h-hope that I help return the favor!" she said slightly embarrassed but equally full of conviction. She then took a step back and firmly grabbed Ichigo's hand "Let's do our best brother!"

Ichigo paused at the word the girl used but decided to roll with it as he returned the smile the girl was giving "And nothing less, sister."

(Soul Society: Shinjiro)

In the night air of the ninth division, the third seat was sitting lazily on top of the roof gazing at the crescent moon that hung just above the sky line. His eyes mixed with a sense of regret and anger as he stared at the celestial body, reminded of the fact that the object looked like a cleaved moon which brought his mind to the owner of the cutting moon.

The samurai let out a resigned sigh, as he reached for the small bottle of sake he had pilfered from one of his fellow Shinigami, an act he knew he should regret as a samurai but lost out to his apathy in his current humanity.

"How odd seeing you like this Shin-kun." A voice called out from behind, though Shinjiro knew that voice above all others.

"Subaru." He said aloud, not bothering to look in her direction, and continued looking out over the edge "Why don't you take a seat and tell me what brings you this way." He requested patting the shillings of the roof top next to him, which rattled under his touch

The soft pattering of feet crept closer, until the man's wife sat down beside him her own legs dangling over the edge as she placed a small folder between them. Looking into her unmasked face she definitely looked like she had seen infinitely better days. "Sake huh? How unlike you…" commented Subaru upon seeing the bottle of alcohol in her husband's hand

The tan skinned samurai let out an amused chuckle "You think this is bad, just wait till I tell you how it got it." he then sighed and shook his head discontentedly, unable to feign enthusiasm at this time

The pale girl tried to force down a frown but couldn't force the anguish out of her eyes "I've seen you hanging around outside the second, and have been seeing you in the training fields more often than not recently, why is this?" she asked rhetorically, even though the content and subject were easily found in her own thought process

The boy tilted his head to just keep Subaru in his peripherals and silently offered her some Sake to which she declined. Putting the lid back on top he decided to humor her since she'd probably just get her answer somewhere else if the super genius didn't already know. "The 'thing' with Kohai and sister. If we had to be honest, it's partially are fault that Shaolin is hurting like she is…hell I doubt she'd ever trust anyone or anything ever again, not that she could be faulted for it."

"Yes…I see." The other third seat responded back, trying to avoid the memory of the tense awkwardness of being around her constantly "But that doesn't explain you recent actions."

"I haven't been in the office because…I'm just not feeling it given circumstances, as for showing up at your door step, well…I've wanted to go in and apologize to Shaolin, but every time I get to the door step I just freeze. I want to go in, but mind and heart just stop. Talk about pathetic huh? A Shinigami, whose faced hordes of monsters and demons on almost a daily basis, get's cold feet when it comes to apologizing to someone he cares about."

Subaru shook her head in disagreement as she clutched her husband's cold hands "No, we were human once, it's ok to feel fear. In fact to be perfectly honest, I too have been having reservations around her. It's always so unbearably quiet, with sister's tense anger and pent up frustration, and Ichigo's absence, in fact the reason I'm here right now was because I was on my way to give some documents to Hitsuguaya-Taicho."

Subaru's husband looked at her slightly confused, at the fact that she would do a delivery mission since it wasn't her job but quickly figured it probably was one of the few times she could get away from it all "Can I ask what the documents are about?"

"It pertains to Ichigo." She said softly as she moved some hair out of her face "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I think you'll hear about it eventually, the Gotei 13 is planning to execute Rukia Kuchiki on the ground of affiliation with a traitor and plans to overthrown Soul Society. I'm giving these documents to Toshiro Hitsuguaya who seems determined to prove Rukia's innocence of the crime, perhaps out of guilt for not being able to protect his friend Ichigo, whom they held a candid rapport with each other."

Shinjiro scoffed amusedly "Heh. Someone still believes in Ichigo and is defiantly trying to prove his innocence huh? I gotta say, they hold more courage and faith then I ever could."

Subaru nodded her head as well as she pulled back her hand from Shinjiro "Yes, though I do wish this was just another time I was right on something. For such a noble soul to have fallen is truly disheartening, especially considering all he's done."

The pair then sat in silence, both unsure of what to say or do since neither of them had actually experienced such a violent betrayal in their personal lives, sure there may have been hearsays about suspicious people or dissenters, sure they had been left behind by 'her' though at the time they weren't particularly close, but not one so close to them. "I still feel conflicted…" Shinjiro said aloud to try and break the awkward silence that had fallen into their conversation

"What about?" asked his wife in genuine interest to keep the mood from going sourer

"Ichigo." He summarized in one word, as his hand scratched the side of his head a worried and annoyed trait that Subaru had learned to identify over the years "Fighting alongside him, working with him, even talking to him. It was peaceful, almost like he was hope incarnate for better things. I know he's been labeled as a traitor, but no matter how angry I get at him at all he's done, I just can't help but believe him innocent, at least on some small level. I wonder if it's because we never physically saw the proof."

The violet haired girl closed her eyes as she thought of an unbiased explanation to her husband's dilemma "Perhaps," she started as she got up from her impromptu seat "it's because he's similar to you in terms of your aspects and beliefs, that you have lingering doubts Shin-kun. You both desire to see your friends and loved ones, healthy and safe, and the fact that he's been labeled as a traitor, has left you a reminder of yourself, that anyone could turn their back on others. Birds of a feather flock together after all."

"I see." said the unhappy samurai "I suppose we can't keep running forever then."

"Running?" asked the shinobi Shinigami, her significant other's words seemingly odd

The confusion in his significant other's voice brought a wry smile to Shinjiro's face since he could still on very rare occasions leave her clueless. "We still have to apologize and reconcile with Shaolin." He stated which brought the crushing reality back unto the resident second division member "Still we don't have to do it immediately, since I doubt I'm going to be going to work, let's both take a walk around Rukongai to keep our mind of Soul Society and focus on what to say."

Subaru chuckled lightly "I can't even think of the words to shoot down your plan, on the fact alone of insubordination and blowing off your duty. Still I suppose it'll get me out of the office for a day."

"Good, we'll go to tomorrow then." He said slightly more cheerily than before, since they both could use some non-stress related company

The pair's quiet bonding was abruptly ended, sensing something approaching Subaru picked up her paper work "I must depart." She said quickly and vanished immediately, much to Shinjiro's disappointment that she was leaving in such a hurry.

Not a second later did the Samurai turn around hearing the approaching footsteps of another person. He was about to call out to the person, when the robed visage of his captain emerge from the darkness. "Ah, Taicho." Shinjiro said in surprise as he bowed before his superior officer, who waved off the loyalist's formality "What..ahh brings you up here?" he asked cautiously since he hoped that his captain hadn't over heard the conversation, as it could potentially be misconstrued as traitorous by some.

"I had sensed something to be off within your persons. I had thought that since I had a moment, I should try and alleviate it as carrying a burden within one's self to be more damaging than good." The blind captain stated to his third seat. He then side stepped to turn away "However, if you do not wish to be disturbed third seat Taiga, I will respect your wishes."

"No, that's fine Taicho." He said in a low even tone, while his body started to relax itself "I do thank-you for your concern though."

The scarf wearing blind man faced his head back to his third seat "It is only the right thing to do. So what may I ask troubles you?"

Shinjiro drooped his head as his mind began to construct the words and voice his concerns, without being too inviting of certain subjects "It is about the absence of one Ichigo Kurosaki from Soul Society. As you know, my sister's well being mean more to me than anything else." He said gaining the captain's full attention, since Tosen was well aware of his, Subaru's and Soifon-Taicho's relationship with each other "The fact that Ichigo still has not returned, and her sudden…fling off rage makes me wonder what is wrong." The samurai stated carefully avoiding the fact he wasn't supposed to know that Ichigo had been labeled a traitor since it was, from what he assumed, to be announced when maybe the heat died down or something else happened.

Kaname Tosen furrowed his brow, since he wanted spin his words just right "Perhaps, people are not what they seem to be. It's from my understanding that Ichigo had the opportunity to embrace our cause and ideals and join hands and heart with us, ultimately it seems that we would have to part ways because of…certain weaknesses."

Now it was Shinjiro who would frown from the African American's words, the dull respite that had enveloped them broken by the younger of the pair's rise in anger "I don't believe that for a moment Tosen-san. One doesn't just break from ideals and ideology so easily, besides on the battlefield or in a spar the sword never lies. I felt no weakness only his strength."

The older man stopped and considered the third seats words, as they held a certain measure of truth to them "Be careful with such ideology, it could prove to be your undoing." Kaname warned cautiously

Shinjiro shrugged apathetically and got up "Maybe, but then again I'm either a psycho with a sword or one to be feared, which by the latter blurs the lines of a tyrant. And with tyrants, there is never any peace." He said ominously as he walked back inside the division barracks, which the blind captain followed behind him, curious of his words.

(Subaru)

Having left Shinjiro due to her mission and sensing of a another spiritual pressure, the third seat was running through the maze like streets using the moon and starlight to help her see. As she turned the next corridor she saw someone up ahead, making her come to a screeching halt.

The person was wearing a white Haori and had silver hair. It was obviously a male from the size difference and body structure. Narrowing her eyes, the third seat let out a frustrated breath of who she had run across "Gin Ichimaru." The girl spoke the name of the affronted man

Said man continued his even gait towards her, his 'friendly' smile still on his face "Well, well, evening there Kujo-chan. What brings you out on such a fine evening as this alone?" at about twenty feet away he stopped and crossed his arms, but the spy could see that his hand could easily flash out his Zanpaktou if he felt the need

"I do not answer to you, Taicho." Subaru said simply her patience for this man seemingly non-existent

"Aww, you don't have to be so mean." Gin pouted with a sad face at being rejected so harshly by a subordinate even if they weren't one of his "What happened to being friendly and loyal to others to build camaraderie?"

Subaru reached into her sleeve and pulled out a very short sword, and while the gesture may have seemed threatening she twiddled with it in her hand to make it pass of as a semi-normal gesture "I do not believe, I ever agreed to nor expressed a desire to be friendly or loyal to you, or most others, Taicho."

"What an ice cold lady, I wonder what Soifon-Taicho and Shinji-kun see in you." The silver haired fox said thoughtfully, as his right hand touched his chin to make it seem he was deeply concentrating to find the answer to the informal question he asked himself

"I would request that you allow me to pass, as I'm currently on the clock." The pale third seat urged forcefully

"Going to see Toshi-bozu?" he asked dangerously, as he too drew his sword and made a few practice cuts with the air. The silver haired man opened his eyes revealing the crimson sphere's inside and spoke in a much sweeter, though Subaru could tell more sinister voice "Well I don't want to hold you up and get you in trouble Kujo-chan, so please carry on."

The female quietly stared at Gin's smiling face before she decided to continue onward. She didn't even take one step when something came whistling towards her, giving the third seat barely enough time to jerk her head out of the way.

The third seat let out a frightened exhalation of air as she saw the Taicho in front of her Zanpaktou stretched all the way out towards her with the blade beside her face, dripping with fresh blood from her cut cheek. Her eyes glazed over in fear at the sudden unwarranted attack by her superior, who seemed to be exuding a dark aura about his persons. "Whoopsey, my bad." The still grinning man said childishly "You see there was an annoying bug in front of me, and I just felt the need to kill it, hope you'll forgive me for my aim being a little off."

Bringing a dark scowl unto her face Subaru looked at the blade with apathetic disregard, as she touched the top and bottom with her hand and moved it away from her head, and watched as it slowly retracted back to it's wielder "That's quite alright Taicho." She said as she flash stepped to his side "I find foxes to be much more annoying than any bug, since they tend to cause unneeded mischief and scavenge through garbage, you would do well to bear that in mind for your own life and property Taicho." And with her peace spoken the girl vanished again towards her destination

Gin watched the girl leave, and when she was out of sight he heard a ripping sound. Casting a quick eye at his garment he saw nothing wrong. He soon discovered the problem when he tried to remove his Haori and found that it was cleaved down the middle and through his number. For a strangely odd reason he couldn't help but be amused "Attacking my pride as a captain, ohh Kujo-chan you wound me. I'll have to pay you back someday." He grinned manically as he proceeded back to his division, having the time of his life

(At Toshiro Hitsugauya's office)

Currently the tired pint sized captain was less than pleased with the lack of results so far in his crusade to prove Rukia Kuchiki's involvement was merely coincidental or that the dubbed 'Kurosaki Rebellion' was indeed falsified at least on the part of Ichigo, which would also annual the currently surviving victim in this tragedy, and help bring perhaps some level of peace to his departed friend.

The boy ran a hand through his hair after putting down yet another document, that didn't seem to be able to help his cause. "Hey, Matsumoto!" he called out to the busty fuka-taicho, but silently cursed in remembering that he had sent her away, so that he could do this task since he still hadn't broken the news to his division yet, though in his defense all the other captains so far seemed to have been tight lipped as well. He did however recall the momentary odd pause from Rangiku when he told her to take the night off, for a second time this week, obviously sending off alarm bell inside her. Thankfully he guessed, she didn't voice her opinion or concern.

His eyes wandered over to the small pile of paperwork that he had neglected to finish, since he was so absorbed in finding out as much information as possible. Not wanting to look at the eye sore on his desk any longer the short boy, got up from his chair and transported the paperwork to the nearby couch.

'_Out of sight, out of mind'_ the Taicho quoted as he used this rare moment to stretch his tense body from the constant sitting, and shifting through files upon files of useless or partial but subjective information

His moment of relaxation was broken when the light tapping of his office door reached his ear "Who is it?" he asked cautiously since while he could search for information as it was granted by the Sou-Taicho, despite the frowning looks of some of his fellow captains, he couldn't allow others who didn't have the right to know to see such things, as they would start asking questions or as feared by Yamamoto, give information to any remaining enemies within Seireitei.

"This is third seat of the second division, Subaru Kujo, here to deliver requested documentation, to the Taicho of tenth division, one Hitsuguaya Toshiro." A feminine voice answered from the other side of the door

Toshiro perked up at what he heard his weary bodies fatigue slowly eroding within a burst of adrenaline at getting another chance to turn things around. "Please enter." He said professionally keeping his excitement to a minimum

The door swung open to reveal a slightly around his height person wearing the formal garb of the Onimitsukido and mouth mask, in the persons hands was a tan looking office folder. Stepping to the side the Shinobi-like officer closed the door to give some privacy. "Good evening Hitsuguaya-Taicho." Subaru said politely as she bowed in respect

"Kujo-san if I could please have the documents." The albino genius requested equally as politely with as he extended his hand out for the folder.

Subaru handed the documentation over but couldn't help but comment on the busy captain's actions since her eagle eyes spotted the unattended paperwork laying on the couch "It seems as though you're quite focused, on trying to save Rukia Kuchiki from impending execution. It's admirable though I wonder for what reason you do it though."

"How do you know about that? That's classified information." asked Toshiro seeking an answer to the breach in protocol

Subaru shifted her body to lean more on one of her legs as she answered "I am a member of the stealth and punishment force, executions and information are our business. We will be the ones who help set up and ensure the execution goes smoothly, so Soifon-taicho would have needed to tell this otherwise we'd be neglecting our duty, which is unacceptable."

Hitsuguaya tipped his head up slightly as he walked the length of his desk to return back to his seat "Soifon-Taicho is certainly something if she can remain so calm about being betrayed, and focus solely on the execution."

However the thoroughly stressed and tired Subaru took the comment the wrong way and despite her normal demeanor practically shot back at the captain "You know nothing of how she feels!" she said hotly, the words leaving her mouth before they could be possibly processed.

"How she feels?" Toshiro asked in confusion not seeing how the cold captain of two's feeling fell into the picture at present. The girl however froze on the spot at letting that slip out, she mentally berated herself for letting that of all things get thrown out there.

Before the androgynous woman could come up with something to follow up the Taicho crossed his arms and threw the situation into nightmare territory for her "Explain." He unknowingly condemned her with but a word

"Ahhh…" she started dumbly her mind backfiring from fatigue, when nothing came out she closed her mouth and bit the side of her lip in her desperate stall for time. She remained silent under the Taicho's unflinching stare for a few more moments _'It's not entire like it matters now…'_ she begrudgingly concluded to herself, as she knew fleeing the scene could cause the boy in front of her to go take it up with her Taicho.

"Fine." She muttered as she walked over to the couch and sat down like a student would after being called into the principal's office for something. "As you know, last year, you allowed the transfer of Ichigo Kurosaki into our division."

Toshiro nodded his head as he adjusted himself in his chair "I did and do recall the event it was about close to two years now."

Glad that the timeframe and point of reference was established she continued her explanation "While he was with us, he spent a significant amount time near our Taicho in order to learn how to suppress his energy. The task was for the most part successful, but an unexpected side effect had occurred."

"Side effect?" he said with a measure of uncertainty since that never sounded good

"Not necessarily an unpleasant one." She clarified "As the two continued to interact with each other, Ichigo's demeanor and qualities began to have an effect on Soifon-Taicho. She…started to open up to him, and they became very good friends with each other. Shortly after returning from his first trip to the living world, the news of Masaki's death…or I should say supposed death, knocked him off balance; though, I don't know if it's truly an act devised by another since he seemed so very distraught, and to fool three close friends who know the inner workings of the human psyche is not something any amateur can do."

"Tell me about it." replied Toshiro who was absorbing this unrelated but interesting information, while simultaneously recalling the day the sixth turned fourth seat sat in his office after hearing the news of his mother's death "He looked empty, like he was just told the world was going to end it and it was his fault. It's part of the reason I find it extremely difficult to believe that recording and what Kuchiki-Taicho saw. So far from what I've found during my searching is that there hasn't been any prior encountering of Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki."

An idea struck the third seat at hearing the last part of the youngest Taicho in histories statement "Hmm, tell me what you found and I'll see if it holds water."

The boy nodded his head as he leaned forward unto his desk his fingers interlocking as he started to present his evidence so far "I know of Ichigo's current mission records and with request from Ukitake of Rukia Kuchiki's mission records, I've concluded that at no point have the two ever been on a joint mission of some kind, further more I know Ichigo is very strong, but since the eleventh division would hassle him into a fight, I've ensured that any delivery missions or request services to the 11th, 12th, and 13 divisions be passed off unto someone else to minimize casualties on both fronts, so he's never been that way, and since he finished the academy he's been signed on with me."

"Alright everything seems sound so far…" Subaru said in a neutral tone, not finding any holes in the defense so far, which was a good sign for both the captain and herself

Seeing that he still had the green light Toshiro continued "During his stay here, he bonded with some of the other men and women, but he kept things on a friendly but professional level, the only exceptions would be Matsumoto and myself, since well…Matsumoto being Matsumoto…" he alluded to which Subaru nodded her head in understanding, she didn't need to be in charge of a spy network to know about the tenth's fuka-taicho problem, though she did silently speculate if it was as bad the seconds fuka-taicho.

"Anyway, as soon as I get the chance to read Ichigo's mission report for the second division, maybe I might be able to come up with something, with Ukitake-Taicho." The Haori wearing boy said as he tapped the folder with the back of his middle and pointer finger. "By the way if I may ask you a rather personal question Kujo-san."

"…very well." The dark purple haired girl said albeit hesitantly

"You described that Soifon-taicho opened up to him, and befriended him. Yet she was the one who condemned the both of them the most, why is that?"

Grimacing at being asked the question, Subaru sighed in resignation to the fact she probably couldn't dissuade the young genius from pursuing the matter. It was both a gift and curse for the talented. "She condemns them, well more specifically Ichigo, because…she fell in love with him and vice versa." She explained getting an odd look from the young man since he never would expected that from captain Soifon, then again he supposed it was Ichigo "Right now, she's extremely agitated by her feelings of anger and sadness, but more importantly loss. She needs to reach some level of closure to move on, even a tiny step forward would help, but she's in denial and I don't know what to do."

The young man at the desk glanced away in thought "I can't say that I know the feeling, or what you should do. I guess she just she needs to find the strength on her own, though I doubt she'll let anyone know if she ever does reach that point or that she even has a problem…just ride it out, and hope you can return to speaking terms."

As he turned his eyes back toward the woman he was surprised to see her standing up and bowing very graciously towards him "I thank-you for that Taicho." The girl said just barely above a whisper, as she re-elevated her upper body she spoke in a more firm and controlled voice "Allow me to return the favor. In regards to your investigation, one or two of my spies mentioned upon heading to their posts that they saw Ichigo Kurosaki on his way to the human world gate where Rukia was, and on the way there he encountered a captain with silver hair and the Haori for three."

"Gin Ichimaru." The captain surmised since he was the only one to fit the restrictions

Subaru shrugged "I wouldn't know Taicho, this is merely a rumor. He says, She says. So I can't go on record for telling you such things." She said making the captain smirk as he pulled out a paper and pen and got ready to jot some more things down

"Supposedly they had a conversation with one another making him the last person in Soul Society he talked to within the Seireitei walls. All I'm saying is that maybe, just maybe, this man might have some knowledge about what was going on with the 'Kurosaki' rebellion, and might be a fellow conspirator or…" she trailed off allowing the captain to catch up and get the really important information down "maybe if extreme enough one who might have framed him, in maybe a sick plan of his own, after all so long as things are in ruination he is contented. But like I said Taicho it's merely a rumor, so I couldn't tell you how much of it is valid or not."

With a click of his pen, Toshiro smiled at his new possible lead. While he knew that even if he pursued this and Soul Societies decision was overturned, Ichigo wouldn't come back. He was gone, but he would try to honor his friends memory by saving an innocent life after all it was the very least he could do.

"Thank-you Kujo-san, you've been immensely helpful." The captain thanked to which the third seat nodded and made her way to the door.

"I wish you luck." She said as she prepared to leave _'Not that it'll change things now, but…I hope he does prove both of their innocence, such faith should be rewarded.'_

(Soifon)

"And that is what I have done, Soifon-Taicho." The blunderingly incompetent fuka-taicho Omeada declared as he stood straight giving his report of the 'mission' he had in the maggot's nest

"I understand." She said in a biting tone "If that is all then leave my sight."

Marechiyo winced at her words, his pride stung, but he decided to continue playing nice for just little longer. At least until she was all his "Very well, then Taicho. But if I may say something."

"And that is?" she asked with a dangerous glare as her temper was boiling over by this point

The giant of man swallowed the lump in his throat "If something's ever bothering you feel free to let me know!" he said quickly throwing in a cheesy smile

The much smaller girl however was far from amused, and in fact decided to vent some steam off him "You wasted precious moments of my life to tell me something that I would have no reason to confide in you with. I am your superior officer, and you are underneath me, to think that you would even have the right to try and understand me is the epitome of arrogance. Get out my sight immediately, I am not in the mood for your antics today or in the foreseeable future." She barked out doing her best to bite the man's head off

"Y-yes. T-taicho." The man said weakly as he turned away to leave, though his thoughts were less than pure _'Just a little longer Soifon-chan, and soon you won't be the superior, I will be.'_

Having finally dismissed Omeada and his incessant idiocy coupled with his unwarranted request of letting him know if anything was wrong with her, Soifon locked the door to her office and returned back to her desk. Her irritation and annoyance clearly visible to any one if they could see her, a stark contrast to the much more frigid than normal attitude she'd exuded for the past two days.

Reaching over her desk, she picked up her Zanpaktou and went to the door on the side. Her private room. Opening the shoji door quietly she stepped into the room, however the moment she finished crossing, she snapped.

Her pent-up anger and aggression hit it's boiling point as her hand lashed out at the door handle and whipped the paper door so fast across the track that when it hit the other side it recoiled back leaving it open after a resounding whack. Turning her eyes away from the entrance she proceeded further into the room, which was also out of the usual norm.

The room looked like it should belong to Fuka-Taicho Matsumoto. The small knick-knacks that had previously been on her dresser were flung across the ground. The lamp that she had lay broken on the ground, as the petite captain swept on by using her night trained eyes and single candle light on the far side to find her away in the dark and lonely room. Her bed which was always orderly and neat, was in total disarray with a pillow on the carpet beside the bed and the blanket half-way off the side.

Stopping about half-way to the bed, Shaolin's left hand flung out automatically and struck the wall in a loud powerful thump, like it had the previous three times before. "Damn it!" she cursed aloud, her anger smoldering within her "Why does it bother me so much!"

Removing her hand from the wall, she opened her palm and glanced at it longingly "He's a traitor, a filthy liar, a deceiver! But then why!...Why do I wish things were different?" She asked herself sadly, which soon gave way to anger "God damn it!" she yelled slamming her hand back into the dresser beside her as she had done the previous night before.

A little bee inside the bigger bee's head decided now might be a good time to speak "Calm down, Soifon."

Her words were drowned out however, as the enraged woman turned her ire on her spiritual companion "Quiet, Suzumebachi! I am in no mood for your chatter."

Suzumebachi was caught off guard momentarily, since this out of equilibrium Soifon spoke with much more passion even if it was misguided. The young bee however wasn't going to get yelled out without at least letting her voice be heard too "Now you listen hear kid. Stop acting so tough and unapproachable and be honest with yourself! You loved him didn't you! And you and everyone else found out something unacceptable, and after everything was said and done you too had to part ways."

The painfully slow cooling Soifon gritted out "So what is your point? You merely tell me something I know, about something already done! Ichigo Kurosaki is dead!"

"What I'm telling you is that you should just admit to yourself and be proud of who you loved. You keep thinking about him, and cursing his name as a traitor, continuing your own self infliction. I'm telling you to quit it, and to come to terms with it! You genuinely loved him, and enjoyed all the happy times you had together, regardless of him being a traitor." Stated the red haired girl in her head

The Chinese captain however wasn't going to buy any of it though, as she twisted her face into one of absolute disgust as her hand reached for something to throw across the room "I WOULD NEVER believe that! Yoruichi Shihoin was my world and she left me for little more than a traitor! That bastard fourth seat of mine, decided to become ambitious enough to desire to kill the spirit king and possibly take over the afterlife. You know what they both have in common; they care about no one except themselves. Any genuine time we spent together or words exchanged nothing more than honey suckled gestures!"

Having finished her yelling, she waited patiently for the reply from the spirit. Right now she was on a anger high so great, she was sure she could challenge Zaraki and defeat him without breaking a sweat. Suzumebachi, for her part was merely preparing to slap the captain with some reality due greatly in part to the object she had unknowingly grabbed "If what you say is true. That the bonds between you, were never truly their and even to this moment, why don't you destroy the object in your hand and prove me wrong."

"All too easy." The captain said arrogantly as she unsheathed her Zanpaktou with her free hand and turned to the soon to be cut in half object, before she paused in complete hesitation for what was in her red palms. "The Ihai," She whispered to herself, having now saw the testament of both her and Ichigo's bond that they had both built together

"Well, I'm waiting." The hornet said impatiently, even though she knew the results before the gauntlet was cast

Shaolin didn't even seem to hear the taunt as she continued to stare at the hand-held memorial tombstone. The one she bought for Ichigo for their anniversary, the one that was to be given in memory to his departed mother and HER dear friend Masaki Kurosaki. She had spent days trying to think of something meaningful, to give since it was the first time she had such joy since the departure of Yoruichi, the first time she could just be Shaolin Fon around the one she loved.

The girl gripped the mini-statuette firmly and raised her wakizashi directly next to it. Her hand froze once it was next to the object, and she saw the steel edge of her sword begin to wobble directing her eyes further down to see it was her own hand shaking. _'Am I afraid?'_ she pondered silently, unused to such a strange phenomena

"Thought so. It's a lot harder to break something emotionally invested yourself, than if other's do it." the spirit replied before wisking out to leave the mistress alone

No sooner had the words left Suzumebachi did Soifon's hand weaken in strength as her Zanpaktou clumsily fell through Soifon's fingers and clang against the ground. The girl kept her eyes square on the Ihai as she slowly soften them, while she maneuvered her body to sit upon the bed.

Soon the reason dawned on her why she had been so out of whack, like the Ihai in her hand, she had forgotten. Forgotten to even mourn the loss of Ichigo, her ex-Yojimbo. She hadn't allowed herself the chance to move on, she had been swept up in unbridled anger like with Yoruichi, but had forgotten that unlike the former, this actually had a conclusion, justice had been served and he was not out there doing whatever he desired. She kept herself chained to anger, believing that if she admitted loving him aloud, that he might show up again in the future to threaten Soul Society and use her weakness against her.

"I'm such an idiot." She said bitterly as she continued to gaze at the Ihai, her grip tightening on it, as streams of liquid started to run down her cheeks and dash themselves against the memorial tomb "I-I love you…I love you so much Ichigo (4)." She admitted as she slowly curled into a ball, the tips of her Haori catching some of her airborne tears.

She kept crying for another ten minutes straight, before she could semi-compose herself again. Stepping off her bed the red-eyed girl gently placed the Ihai of Ichigo and Masaki back unto her dresser, and gave a weak smile, as she bent over to open one of the drawers to use a kimono for rest. She picked out the very same red Kimono that she wore on her date, and proceeded to take off her clothes so she could wear at least once more.

With her task done, the twin banded girl undid her bands and let her long flowing navy blue hair flow freely and proceeded to the candle next to her bed, the only light in the room so. Casting a final glance she muttered one last slightly whimsical desire "I wish I could say it to you one last time Ichigo-kun." And blew out the candle and went to sleep.

* * *

Ichigo: What the hell was up with that beginning?

Subaru: I'd like to take this moment and point out that it was NOT the reader's destiny to read this story. Whoever that was needs to realize that every time the story is updated an e-mail is sent out.

Ein: hehe, I thought it was rather manly! (oh yeah I'm awesome.)

Soifon: I bet you it was Blackout2010…

Blackout2010 (walking in): Alright I'm back from my walk so let's get ready for chapter 16 people…

Senna: It's kinda over already boss.

Blackout2010:…

Everyone:…

Blackout2010 (angry): Aizen! What have I said about messing with things you don't understand! (storms off)

(Omake: Welcome aboard?)

Blackout2010: Friggin' Aizen…geez.

?: ahem.

Blackout2010 (turns around): Oh hey Senna (see's Mirokumaru too) and Taciturn.

Senna (annoyed): Tell me why exactly is the guardian of my mind a rapist in training?

Blackout2010: Well I can easily explain that. You see that chart over there.

Senna (seeing no chart): No

Blackout2010: Wonderful that means I can BS it. Now the really high bar on the left is our action meter. As you obviously know there's been a lot of action in this story so far…

Senna (sweat drop): I see (what an idiot…)

Blackout2010 (oblivious): Wonderful, now the really tiny bar next to it, is our romance meter which, unfortunately is extremely low. Since Ichigo and Soifon can't be near each other for an indeterminable amount of time, so that leave YOU.

Senna: Me?

Blackout2010: You are one of the few plot important female right now, meaning you gotta help pick up the slack, in that department!

Senna: That makes no sense and it still doesn't explain why Dark Mirokumaru practically molested me!

Blackout2010: The reason you have a literal Juri Han(5) in your head is because she would do any and everything that walked as well as in slave it, you as of right now in this, your sexual orientation is…ambiguous.

Senna: Ambiguous!

Dark Mirokumaru (lecherously): Interesting…

Blackout2010 (off-handedly): Honestly even I don't know, if you're going to end up being straight, bi, or lesbian. I've gotten a couple of request to see you paired off with Shuuhei, I was originally gonna intend for you to be with Hanataro, or maybe in a harem with Hanataro since he hardly get's any love or mention.

Senna (exasperated): Seriously?

Blackout2010: Hmm…maybe I can make you have mixed harem of your own…(smiles) yeah that might not be a bad idea, it would certainly boost the comedy aspect. Yeah, thanks for the idea Senna. (walks away)

Senna:… (face palms) Is my luck really that bad…?...a harem girl is what I'm going to end up as?...I need to sit down and cry for just a little bit.

(Omake: Welcome aboard…? End)

(Informative: An honest reason)

Senna: Seriously though why is she like…(looks over at Mirokumaru who strikes a seductive pose)…like her?

Blackout2010 (sweat drop): I guess I can see your head ache. Well I guess it's not too much a spoiler and it's more along the ideology that sprung her forth from your soul, so I'll explain.

The trio sit down

Blackout2010: Now, as stated the vulgar one (sticks her tongue out) is your dark side.

Senna: I get that, but why is she so…ahem (mockery) "Everyone I see is my love servant now! Ahaha!"

Dark Mirokumaru: Because I can and have no compunction not too.

Light Mirokumaru: I am sorry to disgrace you like that your ladyship.

Blackout2010: That can be explained. You see as stated in your inner world, you like to be in high places, so that you can see all the world around you. She (points to the spirit) is the dark interpretation of that.

Senna: huh?

Blackout2010: That's why the center of your mind scape is a giant mountain, from their you can see everything, unfortunately when your at the top of the world, to view things you have to look down on it.

Senna (understanding): Oh, I get it. 'Look down' as in look down on others.

Blackout2010 (happily): Good now you get it, so the sooner you get to the top of that mountain and beat her the sooner…

Dark Mirokumaru (singing merrily): I just wanna get next you girl, I just wanna make a mess of you world…(6)

Blackout2010 (sweat drop): yeah, that stops…

Dark Mirokumaru: Ahahah! You think her beating me will change this? I don't hate her, I LOOOVE her. I could just. EAT. HER. UP.

Others:….

Blackout2010: Sounds like your screwed either way…Oh well do you prefer to be on top or bottom?

Senna: You both suck!

Light Mirokumaru (bows sincerely): I apologize your ladyship.

Senna: Stop that it makes harder to stay mad at you!

Dark Mirokumaru (snidely): If you can't stay mad at me, then you can admit to loving me!

Senna (snapped): That's it your finished! (attacks her)

Blackout2010: Whew! Girl love is scary!

(Informative: An honest reason end)

(Omake: Intrepid Genre journey)

In a wide room all the characters are gathered together and sitting down at a table with Blackout2010 sitting at the head.

Blackout2010: Thank-you all for attending this meeting. Now I would like to congratulate you all for another job well, done.

Everyone: [cheer]

Blackout2010: Yes, now settle down. What I wanted to ask you all is this what genres have we covered and what genres need to be covered still.

Subaru: Well, the obvious should be fantasy and action.

Aizen: Mystery, and science.

Blackout2010: Ecchi!

Senna (angrily): Yeah believe me I know!

Ichigo: Comedy.

Soifon: Kung-fu I suppose.

Unohana: Romance.

Blackout2010: Ok that's good, so any ideas on how to incorporate other genres so that their something for everyone.

Hichigo: What about magically girl?

All the men stop and think…

[imagination]

A group of five girls were running towards the spot where their dreaded enemy the super dark overlord Aizen would show up for their final battle.

Coming down from the clouds, the great ruler of infinite darkness adjusted his glasses as he eyed his archnemesises. "You've come Shin-scouts."

The leader Yoruichi pulled out her transformation device "I hope you're ready to lose, dark one let go girls!" and with a command the girls transformed into their…magical form.

(Censor explicit changing scene)

With their actions done the girls announced who they were. "Shin-scout yellow! Nun sense!" declared Senna as she cluthed her Shakujo staff, while her miko uniform danced in the wind

To her left Unohana had finished transforming and was wearing a pink nurses outfit with a stethoscope around her neck "Shin-scout pink! Sweet medicine!"

To the far right hand side of the female entourage was Matsumoto who was wearing a school uniform and miniskirt that barely covered her figure "Shin-scout black! Star pupil!"

Beside the leader was the now decked out Soifon wearing a maid outfit with a tea tray in her hand "Shin-scout blue! Honey bee!"

Finally the female team's leader finished and looked at her adversary in her red night club outfit "and finally the leader of the Shin-team, red! Lucky Neko!"

The girl all then pointed to the overlord with their index finger and declared in one voice "and in the name of the Shinigami we shall punish you!"

[imagination end]

Hichigo (huge smile): I'm telling you if that doesn't boost ratings nothing will!

Blackout2010 (trying to ignore the death glares of the female staff): Food for thought…anyone else…please.

Mayuri: Well I think…

Blackout2010: NEXT AND QUICKLY!

Shinjiro: How about a high school?

[Imagination]

The lone carrot top of Yasogami high, stretched his muscles as he approached the cafeteria line where Renji and Toshiro were waiting for him.

The white haired teen looked up at his friend "Are you ok Ichigo-san? You look beat."

Popping his shoulder in place the junior addressed the pint sized senior "I just got finished with Kenpachi-sensei's gym class." He stated which got some concerned 'oohs' from the two friends since they knew the guy was rough. Really rough.

"I think I'll skip that class and one after it." said Renji as he moved forward keeping their place in line

"Oh? Why?"

Renji sighed frustratedly "That show off, Uryu the archery team captain, is such a whiz kid. Hell he was teaching Yamamoto-sensei some things in history class earlier."

"You pay attention in that class?" Hitsuguaya taunted since he sat next to him and usually saw him drooling on his desk when he wasn't making eye contact with Rukia beside him. "I got it worst then both of you, I got Mayuri for Science class after this. Last week he picked some random guy, and made him throw up his lunch so he experiment on him, I hope the guy pressed charges."

The school bell rang telling everyone that lunch was over!

"What that's BS I just got here! Forget next class I'm skipping."

"Same here."

"Me too."

[Imagination end]

Blackout2010: Well…it's rather tame.

Omeada: How about a harem with all the girls and myself!

Blackout2010 (speechless):… (I'd kill myself before reading that, actually I'll kill him should he try it)

Shaolin: I still have that book, and I am still not happy with you. So keep your thoughts that affect me and any other female to yourself Omeada.

Senna (slyly): How about a Yaoi harem (7)

Yoruichi: That's a good idea.

Blackout2010 (considering): Well…

[Imagination]

"Alright, by uncles Ukitake and Kyoraku." The young voice of Toshiro Hitsuguaya bidded to his uncles as he departed for school. As he walked along the street he found his childhood friends the Kurosaki twins, Ichigo and Hichigo. The pair stopped and gave a smirk to their pint sized friend.

"Hey, their Toshi-kun. Still as short as ever I see." remarked Hichigo, which ruffled the feathers of the teenage boy

"Shut up! I don't need to hear that from you." He declared back

Hichigo laughed before he kneeled down to eye-level with the young but handsome man "No need to take my words so badly Toshi-kun." He said seductively sweet "I wouldn't want you to be any more than 'personal sized'."

Toshiro knocked his friend's hand away from his face but couldn't back the blush on his face "Stop that Hichigo. Honestly why can't you be more like your brother."

Hichigo's face fell a bit as he looked over to his counterpart and saw a satisfied smirk on his face which annoyed him, but one came to his own face as his eyes started to go down to the bulge in his crotch area. He turned back to mr. pretty boy infront of him "Oh, I'm pretty honest and straight forward with what I want unlike others." He said getting his brother's undivided attention

Before a fight could break out a loud whistle sounded bring their eyes over to source of the ear piercing noise "Indecent interaction between students is strictly forbidden!" yelled Shinjiro who was wearing the school clothes like the other just with the hall monitor arm band on his right arm. He walked over and grabbed Toshiro by the collar and began to drag him off in the direction that was not the school "I need to take you in for questioning."

"Oh, hell no!"

"Get back here!"

The two boys chased after their friendly affect- aquaintence. Not seeing the shadow of to older boys, one named Gin Ichimaru and the other named Kaname Tosen. "That boy with the white hair is quite handsome."

"Shall I go fetch him for you?" asked Kaname

"No. Let them have their fun after all I always get what I want…"

[imagination end]

Blackout2010 (honest): they'd be at it like rabbits.

Toshiro: I think I'm going to be ill…

Senna: Serves you boys right.

Blackout2010: All right take five everyone so we can cool our heads before continuing.

Everyone departed the room.

(Omake: Intrepid genre Journey end)

* * *

Directory guide to understanding the numbers and meanings!

1. This is how the wrestler Alberto del Rio speaks in his promos. It's certainly…over the top. Though I still say he can't hold a candle to Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson. All bow before the great one m(-_-)m

2. The idea actually originated from Sakura Wars: So long my love. One of the character's had a lecherous samurai sensei, and was taught by him that if she ever reached a problem that she couldn't solve, she should grab her chest and massage it to clear her head. Shinjiro was deeply disturbed after hearing that, but didn't comment.

3. I know it's not 100% what happened in bleach canon, but I wanted to have some fun with, it's not like I haven't messed with much in this story.

4. To clarify. Soifon hasn't forgiven Ichigo's actions, she still (mostly) hates him. She's merely taking a step forward to feeling a sense of closure and allowing herself to accept the loss as a lover, before continuing to live her life (well…afterlife). She has not gotten over it.

5. Juri Han is a character of street fighter 4, she's very…loose. So most fans interpret her as perpetual rapist, which given her occasional interaction could hold some water.

6. Lyrics from the song 'One night stand' by Ligeia, given the character it fits.

7. As I've said I try to be fair, so since their has been a lot of man fan service, I should give something to the females. I could only stand to write that because it was hilarious.


	17. Sussano reaches for the truth

Author's Announcement:

Firstly I would like to address something with everyone that I know will come up at some point or another so, if you could please open up another tab and click the review section and look for Kalisticksmaster, you can read along. I am not trying to tear this person down but merely wanting to address something I know is going to come up, and wish to do now (s/he just happened to open that can of worms). So I would ask that you don't skip the unknown review section since it's primarily related to it. And you use the other tab to keep track of the arguments (read as debate/defense). After the chapter is over if you wish to comment to me or him/her that's fine (if you don't that's fine as well). Remember, you guys help me more than you think. So I just want your honest opinion (won't necessarily change anything) but I will try to be more cognizant of things, and certain rules. Remember I am not tearing this person down whatsoever and will NOT tolerate, belittlement of said person. You can have your opinion but don't make any personal attack of any kind, after all I prefer to perform what I preach…most of the time (hey I'm honest).

To unknown reviewer known only as 'Kalisticksmaster'

Firstly interesting name, sounds kinda sciency-mathy.

Moving on, ahh no need to feel guilty, all is forgiven (I guess…). If it's for actually leaving a review now, don't worry I've gotten into a story before and kept hitting the next button and after a few chapters realize that I forgot to review. Or their's just really nothing to comment on, it was good and answered whatever question I might have had. So it's up in the air.

Ok now unto Subaru Kujo. As I've said before just because someone seems radically over powered doesn't mean their unstoppable, you just need the right key to victory, though I guess I should elaborate.

1. I've read a bit to what a mary sue's personality is like (Thank god tvtropes!), and clearly deem her a failure in that regard. Back in chapter one, Subaru wasn't overtly hostile towards Ichigo, but really didn't care about his safety either (which she later explains is a fault of hers). When the deal was made she clearly stated that it would be more of a dishonor on Soifon's record to have this fail rather than be concerned (like a normal person) about the new recruit and make sure he fits in and adapts. So now we'll move unto the more physical aspect.

2. For the information that could destroy soul society. It was for all intents and purposes a lie (or at least a great exaggeration), meant to make Ichigo back off. She does also answer to Soifon and Omeada since they are her superior officers, unless it's Onimitsukido related then she only answers to Soifon (which was explained to Ichigo like in 2-4). Also Soifon would and is, the most knowledgeable in terms of relevant information, Subaru would be the one who know the most in general since she has to sift through and figure what's important and what's trivial, to give TO Soifon, not that she could remember it all since that'd be unbelievable, and I don't think she has photographic memory at least to my knowledge. Besides knowing how Yamamoto likes his tea doesn't help on the battlefield (unless this was a crack fic).

3. You do hold some amount of water with the captain being on a different level but hear my side before we make any final judgments. Firstly, any normal -maintained- sword should be able to cut cloth (Haori), if it can't it's either a VERY faulty sword or extremely durable cloth in which case you don't need armor (but that's isn't the case). Secondly, if their such a huge power difference, then why is it that Rukia Kuchiki was able to KILL two arrancars, one of them being an ESPADA, if she was essentially a non-name officer, and the other two are about the equivalent to a Captain with Vizard powers (D roy maybe exception since he was fraccion but still…).

3. (cont.) And then there is the fact that Aaroniero Arruruerie (9th Espada aka Jar head), had his resurrection in full release and she STILL killed him in the end (not to mention he stated to have eaten approximately 33,560 hollows [OMG!] and 1 fuka-taicho[Kaien by that one hollow]). If there really is a vast power difference that always in full effect (which Tite Kubo seems to ignore every now and then), Rukia should have died there, as her San no mai, Shirafune should not have penetrated the glass surrounding Jar Head, and should have ended up her hurting herself with recoil damage. While at the same time in Karakura Ikkaku Madarame who possessed Bankai got his ass kicked by Fraccion, the fraccion wasn't even in release mode ok. This guy defeated the third seat of the most powerful division with no added power, how does he lose whereas she wins? Even before then when she fought against Grimmjoww, she was one-shoted by the unreleased/weakened 6th Espada, while elsewhere it took full power of about three captains and one vice captain just to defeat FRACCION.

3. (cont.) In fact let's go even further back to when Ichigo defeated Kenpachi Zaraki, if what is stated about canon to be true then Ichigo shouldn't have lived [I didn't say win I said live, which he kind of died but not what I meant], before or after the power bonus of death. I say this because Ichigo was only a soul reaper for about 2 months (give or take), with one of them being with Urahara, in that time he was even with Renji at 1/5 power, but dispatched by Byakuya. Ok, he awakens his Zanpaktou and get's stronger fine, please remember the fact that Kenpachi Zaraki BEAT the previous captain (albeit a lazy one) with just a sword ok. He beat a Taicho who I assume can use Bankai with just his sword. Answer me this 'How does that work?', Ichigo couldn't even hold a candle to Byakuya without going Bankai, how was he able to live let alone defeat against an opponent who did go full force (which is practically Bankai for Zaraki) and actually hurt him, without knowing Getsuga Tensho, Bankai, and being weaker at the time. I get the fact that he did get some power up from dying, but logically speaking, that would be like saying he got powerful enough to defeat Bankai Yamamoto with just Shikai since that is about the power difference at that time. You also can't use the defense that 'well Isshin was a previously a captain/royal guard member so that's where he gets it' you can't use it because at the time we didn't know that. So as much as I'd like to conform to the rules established it's literally impossible since, even the author doesn't follow his rules established, so what can I do but follow them to an extent, I can't do it to the tee. I'm not trying to sound like an A-hole whose going off on a tangent (though I suppose reading it as is, I would have to disagree with myself), but you gotta work with me here and see my side of things. I don't make judgments on something until I've looked at it from all sides and viewed all the evidence, so if it's not your thing, I can't help you but I do need some wiggle room. And please continue on.

4. Subaru could only at base line (scratch damage though depends on where their struck) hurt Soifon and maybe Toshiro when it comes to uphill fighting, and it get's limited to only Soifon if Shikai is used. Bankai no, about 75% chance of hurting herself and 25% that no visible affect happens. She has also clearly stated she isn't 'built for a fight', she fights underhanded, since she has virtually little overall strength and nonexistent defense, she relies on her Zanpaktou to cover her weakness and attack, though it's still more a defensive measure since it's more attuned with doing her job than actual combat.

5. This one was kind of a last minuter, but you stated that Gin is a prodigy. That really doesn't mean much in SS. Reason being on Bleach wikia, in just about every Reaper profile it states that their either 'Master swordsman', 'Expert Swordsman', or 'Sword specialist' (just an example). I'm going to quote a Disney/pixar movie that best summarizes what I'm going to say "And when everyone's super. HAHAHA! No one will be.- Syndrome 'The Incredibles'" If everyone was a master or expert on something, then logically speaking everyone is simply average. Two sword masters would have an incredible fight, a city of sword masters, well there'd be so many incredible fights you would start to comment on some being more boring than others. In the fic, everyone has various ranges of skill example. Senna has three modes of fighting: Staff, Sword and Dual. With Staff she's probably above average given it's her choice weapon, Sword maybe average or subpar given she just recently got it, Dual horrible/Beginner she's only started it. Ichigo: Sword = Great, Hand to Hand=Good (I'm trying), Kido=So-so (really only healing). See he's not a master or expert at everything, hence the difference. So being a prodigy in canon terms doesn't really mean much considering everyone is supposedly good at everything, which you can even go look for yourself, and tell me how many times you see one of those three repeated.

So long story short with no Zanpaktou, she equals a fragile speedster, with she borderlines glass cannon territory, but still she knows a minor healing kido and one offense kido, so she has to fight underhanded to win depending on circumstances. Ok now that the part that makes me sound like a douche bag (I'm really logic oriented) over let's go to the positive part (grass is always greener after all)

I'm glad you found the 'training' between Kisuke and Seen funny, I wanted to put some comedy in cause it felt like forever since I actually had a good smile/laugh while making this. Yeah, you might have a point with the extra pairing, I do acknowledge that if I did do it, it would either be nowhere near the depth or detail as Ichigo and Soifon, or that it would just be kinda skimmed over in the epilogue (if and when I get there). At the very least there will be a one-sided Senna/Mirokumaru as to whether it's reciprocated I don't know, though it makes me wonder if Senna would have just finally given in for the sake of sanity. Only time will tell…

Final note, I couldn't tell how far or close they are to being in character, so I just kinda decided to portray them in the way they struck as the most memorable with maybe some deliberate changes. I'm sure that some people might not like that but I guess I'll cross that bridge when we get there. Anyway thanks for the review and sorry if makes me sound insensitive, I just prefer to look at everything from any and all possible angles, and that fact that Tite Kubo ignores his own rules on occasion has left me with somewhat of a gap to fill.

[Now resuming normal unknown review response section]

To Afrothunda

Well, I pretty much condensed a lot of information into one, and had to at least some things. But if you're happy I'm glad. As for Summaer school, yeah but it could be worse.

To Hitmanforyou

I can't recall off the top of my head if I answered back to you. But if I didn't here you go. Rest assured that they will meet eventually and that I hope you as well as everyone else will throughly enjoy, I put a lot of effort into the meeting scenario I had written, now I just need to shuffle a few things around lay some down, and things will really connect and hopefully be memorable!

Now unto our matinee advertisement section!

* * *

Blackout2010: Alright! Everyone out there I have an important announcement to make! Due to popular demand this story will now become a gigantic harem/mass orgy lemon fic! There will be: Lemons, three-somes, four-somes, whatever comes after four-somes, Yuri, BGB, GBG, Orgies, BDSM, Submission, Yanderes, Tsunderes, Incest, Dominations, School girls, Maids, Mikos, Futanaris, and last but certainly not least tentacles, with possible insemination! So come one and come all and truly enjoy such spectacular new story!

Ichigo: (Is he ok?) Blackout have you gone mad?

? :What are you talking about?

Ichigo (turns around): Blackout! But then whose that?

Blackout2010?: I'm the real me that persons a faker!

The PA system crackles on

Aizen: Greetings, followers of the true heir to all things eternal. It is I, your god and king, Sosuke Aizen-dono. Now I would like to ask you to quiet it yourselves, as no doubt hearing my voice has sent you all into an inspired fanatical frenzy ready to riot, but I must ask you to wait and listen.

Blackout2010: This guy is so full of himself…

Aizen: I regret to say that I seem to have misplaced Kyoka Suigetsu, and with it the land you all no doubt dream and envision with me ruling above all is slightly delayed. I would ask of you not as Aizen-dono the great or the revolutionary but as the man, to assist me in locating her. For all the non-believers out there, if you happen to find it and return it, I will offer you the chance to kneel before me and swear eternal loyalty within my ranks.

Ichigo: Wow…just wow…

Aizen: Thank-you for listening to me, the words of your god. I am here, I am waiting, and I will not be hindered, so break your chains and follow me, praise thy lord.

Random Voices: All hail Aizen-sama! All hail Aizen-sama!

The PA system cracks off…

Blackout2010:…(turns to the opposite) hand it over…

Blackout2010?:…fine

The fake one hands it over revealing Dark Mirokumaru

DMiro: I doubt anyone was gonna believe it anyway.

Blackout2010 (relieved): My reputation is safe…

Ichigo: Since I'm not needed I'm gonna go…[walks off]

DMiro (disappointed): Ah! Brother wait, you didn't try and hit me or punish me! Come back I've been bad, hit me! Giving the cold shoulder doesn't stoke my fire!

Blackout2010 (pulls out a mirror and looks):…where did she come from?

Senna: Hey blackout!

Blackout2010 (turns): Senna, you are such a kinky freak, it's not even funny!

Senna: W-what? I don't get it! What did I do?

* * *

When Sussano reaches for the truth…(6)

(Six days later)

"Good, good much better!" Keisuke said as Ichigo's Zanpaktou pressed against his own causing the manager to exert more force to avoid being pushed back from the blade's collision.

The two Shinigami continued their dangerous sword ballad, with their only onlooker being Tessai, as he was currently having Ein train his body by out maneuvering Ururu and Jinta while using Keisuke's latest invention, 'the shoes of running fast'. The tanned man could only wonder how the man bought into the idea without seeming even mildly suspicion, he silently guessed maybe Ein just didn't have a sense of humor and took things too seriously, Tessai shrugged as he continued to hold up the barrier keeping this team and the female team inside, and keep the reiatsu exposure to a minimum.

Speaking of the female half, Yoruichi was currently monitoring Senna's spiritual pressure output, teaching her how to let it out more freely which would result in her strikes and cut being that much more effective, a good post workout exercise. While she was definitely no Ichigo, in terms of raw power and skill, she did put just as much effort into her studies, and provided a rather unique wind powered Zanpaktou. Having explained to Yoruichi that the good Mirokumaru would be teaching her how to utilize her weapon and teach her abilities, the cat goddess decided to focus on fighting and training her body, while trying to incorporate whatever abilities she picked up in the time span of a week.

"Come on focus more! If my knives can still break your concentration as you levitate than how are you going to center yourself in a panic or cushion your enemies blows!" Yoruichi yelled out to the meditating girl who was riding her staff about 20 feet in the air.

"Sorry." She apologized as she started to dig deeper and bring out more energy, while ignoring the cuts on her arms, legs and shoulders from the various throwing projectiles.

Several more hours past before Keisuke called time as Ein had returned from his journey from the Samgawa riverside and back with the in hot pursuit Jinta and Ururu, who had used specially made Gigai which would kill their presence and allow them to chase unhinged much to the older man's chagrin.

The two tired but dedicated protégés stopped their current activities, and went over to the man that could only hear spirit and see the Gigaied Tessai. The older man was drenched in sweat and clearly out of breath from the activities he'd been enduring alongside the two kids, Ichigo had to admit he was pretty tough for a human at least.

"M..mas..ter…finally (huff) (huff) done!" the sweat covered man said with a huge grin despite his exhaustion, it had certainly been a long time since he ever needed to run

Tessai nodded his head in a masterly way, while he inwardly wondered how the man had lost the two speed demons not that entirely matter this point since they had kept him preoccupied for the last day of training.

"All right boys and girls, you can have the rest of the day off, so Senna return to your body and don't disturb me as I need to go check up on a few things, make some preparations, and then we'll be on our way. Please go to sleep early because we have important work tomorrow." declared the clad in green blond, as he sheathed Benihime. With his announcement made Keisuke didn't waste another second in departing the dubbed SS infiltrators.

"Weeeell, I think I'm gonna go take a nice shower and maybe a cat nap!" said Yoruichi as she stretched her arms as she walked away, as she departed she looked over her shoulder and at Senna "And don't forget to meditate before going to bed, remember we need as much strength as you can muster for this to work!"

"I won't." Senna said to her other sensei

'**Of course pussy-san!'** the dark half mockingly cat called, which caused Senna's mood to drop again since she had quickly come to the realization the darker half was much more vocal when she was outside her inner world.

"Senna. I need to head back home, to prepare a few things, so I'll be back tonight. Stay safe, and enjoy your day off." The ear pierced father figure of Senna informed his daughter as he followed in the general direction that he came from, hoping to find the stairs in the vast desert of desolance.

Once all the previous company was gone, the dark haired girl turned to her male counterpart who had remained otherwise silent thus far "Hey Ichigo, can I talk to you?"

"You kind of already are." Ichigo teased lightly

"Haha! Very funny." She said mockingly

"Glad to make you laugh." Ichigo dryly deadpanned, which made Senna bury her face in her palm

Fighting back her irritation, Senna continued to try and get back on track "I wanted to ask you some things, if that's alright." The moon cleaving wielder merely turned to face Senna fully and gave her his undivided attention "Tell me, the spirit of your Zanpaktou, does it ahh, I don't know, are they hard to get along with?"

"Hard to get along with?" quoted Ichigo _'If you only knew the half of it sister.'_

'**Fuck you!'** the all white Zangetsu yelled out in protest

'_Hey I didn't name anybody, but the fact that you take offense is noted.' _The carrot top quipped, and returned back to Senna to ignore any retort the shadow might have "Give it some time and you should be able to hash some things out, but if not you might have to fight him or her and win their respect."

Senna's face remained neutral as she continued looking at Ichigo, her mind wandering a bit before returning "Thanks, I guess. (Sigh) oh well, I have a score to settle with her anyway."

The slightly tan girl pulled her Zanpaktou close to her body and clenched it with both hands and closed her eyes as if to attune herself to the spirit more. Casting his eyes down, Ichigo saw the bandaged left arm of Senna "Hey are you ok?" he asked as he pointed to her wrapped arm

Senna opened her eyes and looked down before breaking out in a awkward smile "Oh this? I just kinda had a cramp in my arm. See some of my wind power forces me to spin my Shakujo in a circular motion to generate an attack, I wasn't all that good at it for the first three days so I had to go really fast to have any use. But I managed to work with Mirokumaru and understand her more, so by the fourth day I didn't have to go nearly as fast, now I can do it rather easily, though I guess I didn't put enough ice on it to avoid getting a knot. Not like it matters since, we'll be taking it easy the rest of the day."

"Yeah." agreed Ichigo as he started to walk away from the younger teen "I'm gonna get some food you want some?"

"Sure."

So the two teens left the training field together quickly and easily navigated the indoor design of the Shoten and arrived at the Kitchen where they were surprised to see Uryu, getting ready to head out somewhere. "Hey Uryu-kun! How have you been?"

"I've been well Senna-san. Just doing my own training for the invasion tomorrow." The pale teen's eyes scanned up and down the still Shinigami formed girl "You seem to have gotten stronger." His eyes then shifted over to Ichigo "As have you. I supposed success might not be beyond our reach."

"It'll be tight, but I think we can pull it off." Ichigo stated throwing his two cents in, using this chance to bolster their morale as they went in, which seemed to work by the smirk on Uryu's face

"You're right, as long as we focus on getting the Hogyoku and saving Rukia, we shouldn't have any problems, aside of course from the 13 captains."

The female in the conversation looked to Ichigo "Hey Ichigo who exactly are the captains of Soul Society, I want to know their names, so I can try and avoid them."

"Well the best way to identify a Taicho is to see if their wearing a white Haori. If they got one it's a captain, in which case try not to act suspicious, since you should otherwise blend in with the other Shinigami, but more than likely the division's members are going to know if your part of their squad or not and attack you."

"But how come their going attack me if I blend in?" asked Senna in confusion since he just said a captain wouldn't recognize him, instead of Ichigo answering her it was Uryu "The reason you'll be attacked is because once we enter Soul Society, it will only be a matter of time before the captain's declare that anyone not of the division will be taken into custody minus captain's and Fuka-Taicho's since they are easily recognizable. So you'll be alone making you fall victim to that order, while the groups of Shinigami hunting us will be exempt since they can prove what division they are."

"Exactly. That's why you should try and avoid hanging around a place for too long. They'll just keep coming and if a Taicho see the wake of destruction behind you they'll follow it and find you."

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Senna's face at the odds "Ok I'll be careful. So whose are the thirteen Taicho is charge."

"Yes, can get that information as well so I can pass it unto uncle." Uryu requested in accord with Senna

Ichigo crossed his arms "Unless it's changed it should be in order: Sou-Taicho Yamamoto, Soifon, that fox-faced bastard who I don't know, Unohana-chan, The asshole Aizen, Byakuya Kuchiki, Komamura, Kyoraku, Tosen-san, My friend Toshiro, Kenpachi something, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, and Ukitake-san. Out of all of them you should avoid 1,2,3,5,6,7,11 and 12 as they're either the strongest, ruthless or plain psychotic of the bunch. With Unohana, Kyoraku, Tosen, Toshiro and Ukitake being the more merciful should you get caught in a battle against them."

Senna nodded her head as she would keep that information close to heart when the operation began "Got it, thanks."

"Yes, thank-you Ichigo. That was most informative, I'll be sure uncle knows." said the Quincy as he departed from the room.

Seeing that their guest was gone, the pair returned back to the original reason for their coming, which was food. Quickly preparing some food, the two enjoyed a nice quiet late afternoon/evening dinner. After finishing their food the washed their dishes and retired for the evening to conserve their strength.

(Next morning: Day of departure)

All the members of the infiltration team had woken up early, and were enjoying their last breakfast in the human world. Every one of them didn't feel the slightest bit of nervousness, as they were filled with confidence and vigor that came from the intense training that they had put their bodies through.

After finishing breakfast they enjoyed some small talk before heading down to the training field once again for their departure. The teams saw a circular gate looking thing that seemed to be about 6 feet across in each direction, which was hooked up to a small ramp. Next to the upward walkway, was an assortment of various objects, packages, and scientific doohickeys.

"Ok, boys and girls. I would like you to take a moment to make sure you got everything, while I start this machine up." said Keisuke, as he walked over to the strange electrical equipment near the bottom.

"Well I'm plenty ready!" Senna declared aloud as she stretched her arms feeling great.

"Ms. Kurosaki." Tessai said catching the girl's attention "If you could force yourself out of your body, while I take care of it, that way your body won't die of starvation."

The woman smiled "No problem." and forced her spiritual body out of her earthly body, before handing it over to Tessai who held her like a sleeping child.

"Just don't try anything with it Sensei, she is still my daughter and is still underage!" warned Ein, who was decked out in a all white business suit with a brief case in his hand, feeling slightly wary with leaving her with an older man. Tessai gave his word that he would do nothing along the lines to the scruffy pierced eared man.

As Keisuke continued pressing buttons in rapid succession and flipped some levers on the device he turned his head over to Yoruichi who was standing next to a stereo that was placed their the day prior by Keisuke. "My oh so lovely assistant Yo-chan if you could please hit the play button."

The brown goddess looked at the stereo real quick and with a shrug, kneeled down to pressed the 'play' button

[Ride of the Valkyries- Richard Wagner]

The music got the gathered's attention. They then turned their attention back to Keisuke who was pressing all the button's like a madman. The green clad ex-Taicho, started to laugh in a highly exaggerated tone as he flipped one more switch causing the device at the end of the ramp to crack with static electricity. The electrical current between the circular portal solidified and turned into a vibrant green light and expanded to encompass the opening completely.

"It's alive! It's ALIVE!" Keisuke exclaimed in a maniacal fashion as he erupted into a mad case of laughter and threw his hands up to high heaven causing the three trainees to sweat drop at his stupidity.

Yoruichi tilted her head with a bemused smile "Are you done Keisuke? We have things to do you know."

Urahara's laughter died down as he returned…to normalcy? "ahah…huh…yes. (Ahem) Please you may stop it." he said

[Ride of the Valkyries end]

'_**Hey Ichigo you sure you want to throw your lot in with him?'**_ Hichigo asked skeptically, since that display did not make him anymore endearing

'_I would reconsider if I had a choice.'_ The carrot top admitted reluctantly

Beside Ichigo his fellow trainees Senna and Ichigo we're having similar mental thoughts

'_Did I step into a sci-fi manga?'_ the Shinigami garbed girl asked herself since people never acted like that, at least the sane ones she had acquainted herself with

'**What an idiot…'**/'He's certainly something' the two sided Zanpaktou agreed in their own ways

'_He knows how to set the mood'_ the man in the business suit said in his head mildly amused by the actions, though embarrassed to have witnessed it

"Uncle I thought we'd agreed to use Beethoven for our departure music." Uryu gripped as he adjusted his glass with his free hand since he too had a briefcase. The thinkers of the group could only face vault and just decided that their weirdness must run in their family tree.

Keisuke merely laughed at his grand nephew's observance of detail "Yes, well I had a change of heart." He tried and justified. He then pulled his hat off and looked to the recovering trio "All right the portal is up and running so let's go. Tessai you know what buttons to press once were on the other side."

"I do and good luck, sir." Tessai said giving a farewell to the infiltrators, as they all disappeared into the gateway, following right after the other. Once Uryu had finished entering in, Tessai flipped a few switches and pressed the abort key, permanently closing the gate for his side.

(Dangai Precipice world)

Coming out of the portal the group, immediately stopped to ensure that everyone had made it through. "So is this Soul Society?" asked Senna as she and her father looked around the black surrounding nothingness, that seemed to form together before becoming undone, which seemed similar to a cave during an earth quake

Ichigo spoke up to answer the question "No, right now we're in the Dangai Precipice world. Just think of it as the road between the human world and Soul Society."

"Well explained Ichigo. Now if there are no more questions let's hurry we don't want the other end to remain open for long."

The team continued down the path at a moderate running pace to minimize time consumed. As the approached the light at the end of the strange dark tunnel, Keisuke gave the command for them to stop. "All right, Ichigo, Uryu try and minimize the amount of spiritual energy your releasing, since the gate here is gonna be easily seen by other in the Rukongai and we don't want to much heat this early in." He turned to Yoruichi "If you could transform, that would be greatly appreciated since you stick out quite a bit."

The group took the advice and adjusted their spiritual powers, while Yoruichi kittyfied herself and jumped unto Senna's shoulder to enjoy the ride. "Alright let's go." Said Ichigo as they finished

Stepping through the gate the team noticed the old feudal era town around them…and that they were dangling twenty feet in the air with no support underneath them. All the men quickly took notice of this and with the exception of Ein flash stepped to the ground in relative safety, while Senna was dangling in mid air with her free hand on her Shakujo as it slowly levitated downward in a safe landing.

'_I'm really glad I picked that up so quickly.'_ Senna mentally congratulated herself as her feet softly touched the ground

"Oww…" the crater making man known as Ein grunted out as he tried to dislodge himself from his man made pot hole.

The rest of the team gathered outside of the spot Ein landed and had a make shift meeting "Alright, so from where we are, we should be just south of the south gate guarded by Jidanbo." Affirmed Keisuke, as he looked over in the direction of the Seireitei and noticed the Seki Seki rock wall was down but Jidanbo wasn't outside the gate, meaning someone had come out earlier.

The blonde Genius turned and saw that Ichigo had also seen the sight and was feeling a little edgy now, since he hadn't expected reaper on reaper combat so early in. "We need to get out here." Ichigo said matter-of-factly

"Don't worry we have a safe house, where we can discuss things." Uryu stated as he tapped Senna on the shoulder to break her appreciation for the authentic looking Sengoku era town.

Picking up Ein the team disappeared in a burst of speed towards the safe house. Not a moment later did two individuals arrive on the scene "It should be right around here!" yelled Shinjiro as he lead the way to the spot, where that giant rift opened in the sky over Rukongai having saw it in the distance and felt some strong energy signatures.

Subaru looked around the nearby surroundings and saw nothing particularly out of the ordinary; she closed her eyes to get a feel for the spiritual energy as well. After a moment she reopened them and frowned since she couldn't really make whose it was, and noted it didn't seem to go in the direction of the Seireitei. "Shin, do you think you could tell where this energy is going? My senses seem unable to differentiate between the energy signatures."

The samurai shook his head "That's not really my area of expertise, but I think it's going that way." He pointed out of the town and seemingly to the great wide open area "But this energy signature is fading quickly, and it's really scrambled. Follow me, let's see what we can find."

(Ichigo and co.)

"So what does this place were looking for, look like?" Ichigo asked of Keisuke, since they had stopped their flash step trekking and resumed walking, until they came to a hilly valley that seemed to be a great distance away from the feudal city.

"Trust me. You'll know it when you see it." said Keisuke as he continued to move his head from the left and right in searching for Kukaku's place.

"Relax Ichigo-kun. Take in the sights, it's not often that you get to see such beautiful scenery if that town is anything to go by." stated Senna with a cheery smile that expressed her excitement in being here

Ein turned to his daughter "Ehh, you forget he's from here so it might not seem all that special to him." He said correctively

"I guess…" The daughter said back

Mean while the super genius of the group was still trying to remember the direction to the place _'Let's see she likes to move around once a hundred years, so she should still be there.'_ He worked in his head as he continued leading the unknowingly lost group. His eye then caught a familiar land mark and soon recovered his bearings "Oookay people we just need to turn right here at this rock and go east and we'll be there. So let's pick up the pace and get moving." He instructed to them, while Ein grabbed hold of Senna and rode a float her Shakujo.

Within a matter of moments the strange team of companions we're standing before an extraordinary building. Though for Ichigo, Uryu, Senna and Ein, they agreed that it being extraordinary wasn't exactly a compliment. The building hand two large muscular arms sticking out of the ground holding what looked like an advertisement that said 'Shiba Kukaku, the fireworks master of Rukongai!'. Behind the gate of manly arms and the shack like house was a huge shaft that almost seemed to divide the sky from where they were looking.

"People…live here?" Ichigo asked in a deadpanned way

"Well of course, Ichigo. It clearly has a sign announcing the presence of others." Yoruichi said in her masculine cat voice, as she sat on Senna's shoulder

Unbeknownst to the team, they were being watched by two individuals who kept an intense focus on them. When the gathered people seemed to walk towards the house, they pulled down on the lever that was disguised as a tree limb. The lever caused the ground underneath the team to flip underneath them and send them to the basement floor for interrogation.

(Elsewhere)

"Huh?" Shinjiro said aloud, before wincing as he touched his head from the sudden severing of Ichigo's groups spiritual trail

"W-what is it!" asked Subaru worriedly

"I-I lost it!" he exclaimed. He closed his eyes to try and find any clue but the reishi particles were far too diluted to be reconstructed into finding the path. The dark haired man sighed as he looked around the surrounding area and saw hills, plains, trees, forests and general nothingness in most directions.

Subaru shook her head "That's alright we'll split up and look." She pointed her arm to the left towards the forest area "You go that way, while I check out the area over there. If you find whoever or whatever it is, try to determine if it's a friend or foe, before engaging. When you're done searching your area flare your spiritual energy to let me know, and I'll do the same."

Shinjiro nodded his head since it was sound plan so far "Alright. Just be careful yourself" he warned "and if we don't find anything, we can go back to our walk." He then added with a friendly smile

"I will." She said with a lazy waving of her hands as she started off in her own direction. The man of the pair quickly stretched his arms before quickly proceeding into the forest area keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

(Ichigo and Co.)

After falling through the false ground, the team started sliding down some kind of chute until another trap door opened and they then crashed into what they assumed to be the basement of some kind of underground complex.

The strawberry blond of the group was the first to get up and assisted Senna, while Yoruichi was pleased to have the teenager off her body. Uryu was working the kinks out of his neck, while Keisuke was laughing next to Ein.

"Hahahaha! That was so much fun!" declared Keisuke, who was then promptly shut up by Ichigo's fist

"You knew that was going to happen didn't you?" the Shinigami accused in a gritted tone

"Course!" the blond said chipperly as he sat back up, which was met by another fist to the face.

The antics between the two were cut short when the shoji door on the far end of the room opened up and two giant twin looking monks. The one on the left was wearing a yellow muscle shirt with matching martial arts pants and had a red hat on his head, his assumable brother wore a white muscle shirt with matching pants and the same red pointed hat on his head.

"Who are you evil trespassers?" the duo proclaimed in one voice

Ichigo moved forward to answer "Look we're-

He didn't get to finish when the pair started spattering many questions at him in rapid fire succession

"Are you villains who seek to rob our master's home?" asked the yellow one

"Are you Rogue Shinigami who have fled Seireitei?" the white one inquired

"Are you a salesman who has gotten lost?" the first one said again

The constant questioning and not allowing him to at least answer started to wear Ichigo's nerves. After about the fiftieth question, he got fed up and hit one of the two giants in the face "Will you shut up, and let me answer!" the male teenager yelled as tick mark throbbed on his head

"B-brother dearest!" the one in yellow cried out as he went over to his kneeling brother who was clutching his face and sobbing from the pain of being hit by the bad man who invaded their master's home.

The infiltration team merely sweat dropped by witnessing such a scene between three men and weak heart. Thankfully they supposed another person appeared at the door "Aggghh, someone shut that blubbering idiot's trap!" the enraged woman yelled out as she appeared

The woman was taller than Senna, and was just about as big in the chest area as Yoruichi. She was wearing a revealing red top with a strange spiral design that looked like a reverse question mark. Wrapped around her head was a strange cloth that exposed some of her rough black hair. One of her arms was apparently removed for some reason as a wooden prosthetic arm was where her right arm should have been.

The no doubt rough woman looked over at Ichigo "Did you cause this Shinigami?" she asked quickly nudging her head to the crying men

Ichigo looked over and said in a even tone "Yeah, sorry-

The woman quickly slammed her fist into the man's gut and kicked him to the other end of the wall shocking Senna and Ein of this woman's strength "Sorry doesn't cut shit!" she yelled as Ichigo picked himself off the floor, also not expecting this kind of strength from the woman even if she was a Shiba "This my house and you're on my property, Shinigami. So you'd best get the fuck out now, before I change my mind about not killing you this instant!"

"It would be appreciated if you'd refrain from killing Kukaku." Yoruichi spoke up as she walked over towards the intimidating woman

The fiery bombshell looked down at the floor in disdain, as she stared at the cat, a malicious grin started to break across her face "Well, Shiroganehiko, Koganehiko, you brought me Yoruichi." She then kneeled down to the cat's level "So tell me what brings you to this part of the woods? Last I heard you were on the wrong side of the law." She then looked over at the rest of the group and noticed Uryu and Keisuke "Huh, looks like most of the gang's here." She then turned back to the black cat "Sounds like something exciting is gonna down."

The black cat turned away and started to head for the door "Let's have a small chat."

Roughly an hour later and room relocation and the situation was explained to Kukaku Shiba. "You're kidding?" she said humorlessly "Why should I get involved with Soul Society again?"

"Were not asking to get involved Kukaku." affirmed Keisuke "We just want you to do one little favor."

The noblewoman of Shiba took a quick swig of her sake bottle as she stared at her two friends "And what about those kids out there?" she asked, since Yoruichi and Keisuke had asked them to wait outside while they dealt with the fireworks expert

The woman mode cat girl spoke up next "Most of them are going to be going with as they are exceptionally strong, the only exception would be the elder man of the group whose known as Ein."

"So I'm babysitting him?" she asked skeptically with a raised eyebrow

"Of course not, he's free labor for you and feel free to kick his ass to keep him in line, until we return." offered Keisuke, willing to sell the man into practical slavery for this favor

The fake armed woman had a look of intrigue at the prospect of someone else to kick around aside from her idiot kid brother and his boar riding gang. "Well, I guess. But first…" she then stood up and looked out the window "You better do something about that strong reiatsu signature heading our way, otherwise nothing I do is gonna help this little invasion of yours."

"We'll get Ichigo and the others right on it." The blonde keeper of Benihime stated as he got up from their negotiations.

(Outside the room)

The remained of the team were gathered in a medium sized room, Uryu was sitting at the small table his brief case open which had some small black vials, and some needle and thread to sew with, which Ichigo did crack a joke at. The two Kurosaki's were talking with the other two twin's that worked as servants in the Kukaku home, while Ein sitting on the ground of the far side of the room, also peering into his rather large brief's cases contents.

The shoji door opened and Uryu's grand uncle stepped out "Ok, everyone I need your attention." He said clapping his hands together twice to make sure they were listening "I got the first part of the plan set up, however we got a soul reaper heading our way. At the current rate of pace he or she is gonna be here within a matter of minutes." He turned to where Ichigo was sitting "Ichigo, I want you to head out with Uryu and Senna to find this person and dispose of them."

"You want me to kill one of my comrades?" Ichigo questioned, not too keen on having to kill his allies "I get the fact, that we're gonna have to fight them, I have no problem with that, but isn't killing them gonna assist Aizen in the end?"

"That's why I said dispose. Honestly, you could kill the person if you want it's at your discression, but I need them to stay away or at least not interfere with the plan or alert Soul Society to our presence."

"Fine." He said as he pushed himself away from the table he was sitting at "Let's go." He commanded to his team as he grabbed Zangetsu

(Shinjiro)

"Where the hell am I?" the samurai in Shinigami clothes asked himself as he passed by some more tree that looked remarkable familiar like the last pair of trees he'd seen like twenty minutes ago. The man let out a tired sigh, as he stopped and rested for a moment "I can find my way around New York City itself, but I get lost in the country side that's familiar to my native homeland." The third seat then dropped his head in shame "Uncle would be so disappointed in me if I was still alive, and he found this out." He shifted his gaze over to some of the nearby foliage "And for some reason, I can't sense anything around me! I just hope Subaru isn't flaring her energy and I can't pick it up…"

Unknown to the lost Samurai he was being observed by Ichigo and company, who had managed to avoid a similar fate due to the fact Uryu was highly familiar with the area nearby Kukaku's place, at least this time around. The strawberry leader of the group frowned at seeing his sempai.

'_Great, Shinjiro of all people.' _He mentally cursed at the predicament, he wasn't expecting having to fight a familiar face so soon. He closed his eyes and steeled himself _'No, this good. This will weaken the other reapers a bit, since they'll lose one of their big guns, and just maybe…'_

"Wait here. (1)" commanded Ichigo who didn't wait for their reply as he dropped down to the forest floor behind the samurai. The crunching of leaves and branches rang in the ears of Shinjiro who instinctively turned around hand on the hilt of his Zanpaktou ready to perform a quick draw to fend off any would be attackers or hollows who got the drop on him.

Taiga's breath escaped him as he saw the form of Ichigo Kurosaki rise up slowly from his landing, and stood up tall with a somber look on his face the green leaves of the tree he had fallen from fluttering in between the two men

"K-kohai?" the older man choked out, seeing but not believing who was less than ten feet away

"Hey, Shin." replied Kurosaki as he pulled out Zangetsu from it's resting place, already anticipating the fight between them. A small necessary evil for the sake of the afterlife.

As if on cue, the other's swordsman's face changed from peaceful surprise to vengeful hatred "YOU!" he hollered as he drew his Zanpaktou and slammed it against Ichigo's Zangetsu, who was holding out rather well against the angered man.

"Listen to me Shinjiro! It's important!" Ichigo yelled against the grinding steel as he pushed back Shinjiro whose sandals skidded against the dirt floor, trying to at least reason somewhat with him.

"Important?" he quoted as his sword's blade touched the ground as he lowered his arm. He had to close his eyes and try hard not to laugh _'What does he know of importance? He's probably going to blabber on about ego.'_ he thought bitterly, before returning Ichigo's gaze with a hard one of his own

With the woodland area clear, with the exception of Uryu and Senna above them, the two swordsmen continued glaring at the other waiting to see which would make the first move. After no further attack had been made, Shinjiro calmly moved his hand to his sheath and spoke "You don't know how I feel about you right now Kohai. A part of me is overjoyed to see you alive and well, but the other part…" he undid the band tying the sheath to his side "the more dominant half" he finished as the sheath fell to the ground with a dull clatter "wants to rip you apart for all that you've done!"

"It's not like that Shinjiro." Ichigo said with a distinct frown, trying to save the situation

"Enough! I don't want to hear it!" Shinjiro yelled out as his anger started to boil over, which he then re-raised his Asauchi at Ichigo as he sunk into a battle stance. Memories of all the times they shared flooding in between them and the hopes and dreams they had shared, Shinjiro shrugged them off since he had placed absolute trust and faith in Ichigo, and hoped one day he would lead the Soul Society to prosperity.

A dream that he came to the conclusion would never happen now, and would damn Soul Society to fire.

"Do you remember what I once told you?" he said back in a quiet voice "I said that if you ever hurt Shaolin or broke her heart I'd fucking kill you…I swore it on my Yamato Honor, and I AM NO LIAR!" he gripped his sword and pulled it back enough to where it pointed at Ichigo "Curse those who cross you! Muramasa! (2)"

The man's blade emitted a red light as the blade itself became coated in a very dull dark gray that reminded one of a sword that was never given any maintenance and was merely dragged from one battlefield to the next. Muramasa lost about six inches in length, which seemed to emphasis it as a close range weapon, while gaining a seemingly dark aura about the sword.

Ichigo swallowed the lump in his throat that had formed from nervousness, since he knew if he wasn't careful Muramasa would really screw him up with its special ability.

"On guard!" the blood thirsty samurai yelled as he charged forward determined to end the man he once called friend. Ichigo counter by swing his zweihandler at the shorter blade stopping the enraged man in his tracks though he knew it would take more than that to stop him.

Pushing his weight down he brought Zangetsu closer to cleaving the man's neck, seeing that the sword was approaching the samurai quickly flipped the blade over and stabbed into Ichigo's shoulder making him wince in pain as it entered and was violently ripped out, a dull gray streak covering the wound completely as they broke apart.

Having been struck Ichigo countered by kicking away Shinjiro sending him rolling across the ground to which he flipped over and landed back on his feet, with just enough time to raise his guard up against Ichigo's renewed assault. The two swordsman's blades bashed and clanged back and forth as nether could get an edge over the other.

"Hrrrah!" they both yelled as they returned to a dead lock, each one glaring into the other's eyes, one filled with hate the other with determination.

'_Time to use that!'_ Ichigo stated as his reiatsu began to flood his blade and push his sempai back, throwing his shoulders forward he launched his opponent backward, as he still continued to guard against the crescent wave until he slammed into one of the many trees around them causing an explosion of reiatsu.

"Whoa." Senna said in awe of her brother for such an attack

'_He certainly could match most of our opponents. I almost feel sorry for whoever gets in his way.'_ Ishida noted having known firsthand the power of Ichigo

"Sempai's tough. He's not down yet." Ichigo said to himself as he raised his guard up

Sure enough out of the smoke came a still clothed but panting Shinjiro "Is that your best!" he asked mockingly, his blood still boiling hot. He then flash stepped by Ichigo and slashed him on his right shoulder and arm before slashing his back.

Ichigo quickly wiped around as he tried to cover his blindside while seeing out of his peripherals that the wounds were covered in a large gray area and probably noted one going across his back, now he had to be careful, as he was now approaching dangerous territory with Muramasa.

'_Alright, if remember correctly. I should be fine so long as he doesn't make contact with one of those grayed areas again.'_ Ichigo reminded himself, since during the year long stay and getting to know Shinjiro he'd become very familiar with the blood thirsty half of Shinjiro's Zanpaktou and it's cutting ability.

"You recall what Muramasa does don't you!" Shinjiro said as he blocked and parried another one of Ichigo's blows before trying to go for one of the various gray spots only to be denied by the young swordsman skilled bladesmanship

"Of course!" the strawberry grunted back _'Who could forget a blade that cuts you once for each and every grey spot on your body at the same time!'_

"Good! That's means you'll forgive me for fucking up your corpse!" he screamed as he continued his blade duel with Ichigo, though he noticed it was becoming something of an uphill battle for him _'Damn, was he always this strong? A year ago he was practically forcing me to use Shikai, and now…now…he's beating me.'_

(Elsewhere)

Far away from the battlefield, Subaru Kujo had stopped her walking and decided to sit down and release her spiritual power. Her investigation and chosen path had ended being something like a circle as it took her back to Rukongai and after questioning some of the soul, had come to the conclusion that nothing odd came this way. So she would wait until Shinjiro was done, before the two would perhaps return back home. While it was still mid day they did have quite a walk back. _'I wonder what I should do for Shaolin-dono.'_ The third seat thought as she laid back waiting for her husband's signal

(Ichigo v. Shinjiro)

The two men were going at it, though the fight seemed to still be going in Ichigo's favor despite the both of them bearing all kinds of cut marks and scars on their body. Shinjiro's hakama was a mess as it was drenched in blood and sweat from the fighting against this incredible opponent, his normally bobbed hair was pressed against his forehead. Ichigo was looking slightly better as he was missing only the right half of his hakama and his shoulder area, though he was still cautious as he had five gray streaks on his right hand side, one his cheek, the huge one on his back and the hole like one on his opposite shoulder. He was deeply grateful that he managed to stop Shinjiro from connecting to one of those spots.

So far…

Gathering his strength Ichigo slashed one of the nearby tree's horizontally before bringing his blade back and knocking it away like a baseball. Shinjiro quickly ducked over to the side so as to avoid the wooden projectile, and ran to finish this fight.

The pair's blades we're about to connect when Shinjiro changed things up "Kaze Kabe!" he yelled as the wall of wind strengthen himself in front of him and absorbed the blow whilst keeping him in place, while the samurai of the 1920's finally slashed his mark on the man's arm.

"I got you Ichigo!" Shinjiro yelled as all the gray marks on Ichigo's body lit up "Steel Flash!"

Ichigo let out a howl of pain as, all the gray marks on his body exploded with blood and pain, as if he had been re-sliced in all of those areas at once. The strawberry Shinigami staggered forward and fell to one knee, as he tried to catch his breath but wasn't given the chance as Shinjiro tried to put him out of his misery.

Little did Shinjiro know he would once again fall to clever deception, as Ichigo had done back a year ago "Sorry Shinjiro!" he yelled as he shot his elbow back into the vulnerable stomach of his friend, before spinning around and kicking him so hard he flew into one of the nearby trees and bounced off it

As Shinjiro struggled back to his feet he raised his head to see Ichigo standing several yards away with his sword raised up to the sky, white reiatsu blowing upward and encasing his body "But I can't lose here!" he then brought his sword crashing down as the white light went surging too the weakened samurai and engulfed him

…suga Tensho! Ichigo mentally heard the word, bringing him closer to finally learning the full name of the attack he had used much more readily

(Subaru)

Subaru shot up from her lying state as she felt a huge spike in spiritual pressure and enormous light in the distance that she gauged was where her husband would be. As she got up preparing to leave, she cast a glance a Seireitei in hesitation as to whether she should go inform them. _'No, what am I thinking.'_ She refocused on the task at hand _'I'll go get Shinjiro, and hurry back.'_ A morose thought then panged her _'if he's still alive…'_

With that she left in the direction of the fading light pillar.

(Ichigo and Co.)

When the ray of light was over, Ichigo saw that after being slammed back through a tree by the exploding white energy from Zangetsu, the samurai hit the ground hard and fell into a near crumpled mess. Taiga's body began to stir slightly despite the massive damage he had sustained from the move, though it was only enough to lay on his side which left him defenseless as he couldn't grip his sword, and watch as Ichigo slowly approached him, his Zanpaktou resting against his shoulder. The teenage Shinigami continued walking forward in silence until he stood above his sempai and removed his blade from his shoulder.

Shinjiro looked into the brown eyes of his former friend "I..will not…surrender to…you!" he said defiantly, before spitting in the face of Ichigo _'Damn. We were right about his potential but not his heart.'_

The spat upon man merely wiped it away without a second thought before kneeling down and extending his hand towards Shinjiro's body. Within a moment a light green energy pulsated from it and flowed unto the hurt samurai's body. _'Healing?'_ the confused Samurai confirmed at seeing the man start to treat his wounds

The pair sat in silence with their audience above them looking on wonder what would happen next. The quiet work of Ichigo was broken when he spoke up "Shinjiro, it's about time you listened to me. I didn't betray Soul Society, I was framed by the real traitor."

Shinjiro's tired eyes kept their linger gaze on him, but he kept his mouth quiet even though many thought were swimming in his head about what he meant and what he knew. "The traitor I speak of was also the one, who framed Keisuke and Yoruichi." Ichigo turned his head to stare into his friends eyes "Their not a fault. Believe me, I know how you felt when you saw that one person you loathe the most, but it's misguided. Shinjiro-sempai, I need your help, please, come with me and I'll answer the questions you have my friend."

"I-ichigo…" stuttered out Shinjiro, as he started to re-see the man he called friend not the one accused of being a traitor

"Come with me, Shinjiro. Soul Society is in danger from a traitor within." Ichigo warned desperately trying to convince him to help out

'_His blade didn't radiate any evil…the core of his soul hasn't changed but it felt more convicted then before.' _the wounded but fast mending samurai thought positively to himself "…fine. I'll trust you, friend."

Ichigo loaned his shoulder to his friend as he steadied himself so that they could return to Kukaku's place and they could talk and explain the situation in more detail, while also rest. An hour later and they team returned back, though Ichigo was outside giving a synopsis of what had occurred after he left Squad two that fateful day. Shinjiro merely took the information in, with occasional nodding of the head signifying his attention still focused on Ichigo.

"And that's what happened." Finished Ichigo as he looked into the surprisingly calm face of his friend, who seemed to be dwelling on the information, as his lips moved from side to side as if he wanted to say something but he couldn't

After his lips stopped swishing back and forth his hand pressed itself against his leg as he sat on the patio of Kukaku's place "Alright. I'll help for now Ichigo-sama. But I have to ask in earnest, do you think you can take down Aizen without so much as knowing Bankai?" he questioned quietly "If he has the power to overthrow Soul Society, then he must be ridiculously strong, what chance do we have?"

Ichigo remained silent, as he really didn't have an answer to that question. As things stood he could argue that he was strongest person on the infiltration team since Keisuke and Yoruichi had been out of fighting for the last fifty years, and only starting to get back into practice. Senna was about a fourth or third seat in terms of skill now, while Uryu couldn't really be placed since he fought differently.

The strawberry was going to open his mouth to try and reassure him, when the voice of Keisuke Urahara interrupted "That's what the Bankai training is going to be for." He stated from the shoji door, as he stepped outside having nearly finished his plans for the infiltration. He walked over and handed Ichigo what looked to be a small map that showed an X mark near the second division. "Ichigo, I want you to head to that spot after causing a little bit of havoc, there either Yoruichi or myself will be there to start your Bankai training." The blond gave a bob of his head in Shinjiro's direction "The kid here has a point, this mission can't just hinge on us. We need your help and right now, you're our best chance at stopping the execution and saving Rukia and obtain the Hogyoku."

The ex-Taicho then turned back to Shinjiro "As for you Taiga-san, we're gonna need you to also cause some havoc and if possible get a few other Shinigami to help us out." He said with a serious face before wiping out his fan and grinning "The more the merrier after all."

'_Help out? OH!'_ Shinjiro mused to himself, before remembering Subaru who was probably still out there looking for him "Ichigo-sama, Subaru she's here with me. If we go find her maybe we can convince her to help us out as well." He said with a grin at slowly reuniting the gang

Ichigo smiled "Right lead the way."

And with that the two flash stepped off, in search of a way ward wife.

(Ichigo and Shinjiro)

"Ichigo-sama, would you hang back a bit, while I calm her down and restrain her, we don't need any more violence today, and I'd rather not hurt my wife." The samurai requested as they sped through the country side following the still blasting her reiatsu spy

"Got it. I'll suppress mine, and won't move in till you restrain her hands." He replied as he slowed his speed down considerably and started to mask his spiritual signature underneath Shinjiro who started to broadcast his, while the once Kohai hid amongst some tall grass.

Not moments later did, an agitated Subaru show up to where Shinjiro was, her mask down and tears streaks going down her face, as if she'd been crying. She ran over towards Shinjiro and buried her face in his chest and pounding her fist against his still ripped Hakama "You idiot! Do you have any idea how worried I was about you! I've been looking for you for past two hours, where were you! I…I thought you died!"

Shinjiro's relieved face turned into a bitter frown as he didn't mean to do that, though he didn't have a lot of say in the circumstances "Easy, easy. Su-chan. I'm alright. I'm not going anywhere." He said gently as he stroked the back of her head and pulled her in closer

She stopped gripping his clothes and pulled back so she could wipe away her tears. It was then that she noticed that he looked like a wild man with his ripped clothes; several closed cut marks and dried up blood "You're a mess." She said softly as she appraised him "What happened?"

"Let's sit down." The man said guiding the both of the two the grassy hillside. "But first I need you to give me your wrists ok."

"My wrists?" she said questioningly at his rather bizarre request through she still extended her arms out to which he clasped them firmly before flaring out his reiatsu

"What are you-" she didn't finish as Ichigo Kurosaki former fourth seat of the second division appeared in her line of sight behind Shinjiro. It took only a moment for her eyes to blip between the two of them and her own anger started to rise. "Ichigo." She said maliciously, wishing that the man would drop dead again.

"Calm down Subaru." The husband firmly told his wife, which made her look at him like he had grown another head

"Are you insane, Shinjiro?"

Shinjiro hardened his steely glare at her which caused the spy to flinch since he wasn't one to stare down someone without reason "Please, Su-chan. Just listen to me. Ichigo wasn't a traitor. It was part of Aizen's plan."

"W-what? Aizen? But that doesn't…" she quickly shut her mouth as she saw the softening of Shinjiro's eyes and quickly looked towards Ichigo who still looked the same as always. She lowered her head and stared at the grass _'Shin-kun isn't one for lying…so we were fooled?'_

"Do you have any tangible proof?" she asked as she began to settle down which in turn caused Shinjiro to release his grip on her hands, since he knew she wasn't going to try and trick them

Ichigo sighed as he scratched the back of his head "No, all I really got is here say, and the fact that my Senkaimon unit went missing right after running into a Taicho with silver hair and creepy smile, but I know there's more enemies than just him, after all one man can't overthrow Soul Society."

'**Not to mention that bitch Grand Fucker and what he said back in the cemetery.'**

"You mean Gin Ichimaru." She said stating the man's name, to which Ichigo confirmed _'So…he's still him, which means…'_ Subaru allowed herself to smile "There's still hope."

Shinjiro smiled as well having caught her meaning "True, but he needs all the assistance he can get. Which is where we come in, as vassals of the Kurosaki-Fon household; we must serve and protect our lordship and his wife (3)."

The other two could only dumbly 'huh?' at the third seat's words which brought a sad frown unto the Shinigami's face "I thought you said that you were going to marry Shaolin, was that not true?"

The female third seat perked up at the news "Really?" as she looked at her husband before turning back to an embarrassed Ichigo

"Y-yeah, but I left the ring in my room." He said bashfully. To his surprise when he glanced back he saw that both of the third seats were on their hands and knees bowing before him in submission.

"Fear not, Ichigo-sama, we will do our best to assist you in your utmost endeavors."

"W-what?" Ichigo said saying the only thing that could explain his confusion 'Ichigo-sama. What the hell's wrong with them?'

'**Would you look at that, hey king you picked up two little pets, you gonna keep them!'** Hichigo mocked to his light side

'_Shut up.'_ He bit back to his inner hollow "Look you two please don't call me Ichigo-sama ok. Ichigo is just fine."

"Of course Ichigo-dono." replied the still kneeling samurai

The strawberries eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the next honorific "Ichigo." He stressed

Subaru was the one who responded next "Of course, sir."

"Ichigo." He said growing more frustrated now

"Hai, Master." Shinjiro replied as he tried to hide his smirk behind his still bowed head

"You two are doing this on purpose aren't you?" he asked the seemingly obvious question

"Whatever are you talking Goshujin-sama?" the female replied back, her head still bowed though she too was having fun messing with Ichigo.

Ichigo finally having enough put a hand to his forehead and shook it, clearly annoyed by his newly acquired vassals…who were idiots. "Just follow me, and don't cause any trouble until things are fully explained ok?" he said turning away to head back to Kukaku's place

The samurai and spy combo stood up fully "But, of course, Your Excellency." They said as they started to tail behind Ichigo determined to annoy him as much as time permitted.

"Just stop talking to me." He semi-ordered, since he know had to deal with Hichigo in his mind scape and his constant quipping about the events and adding –sama to his king ending.

While Ichigo was busy dealing with his problem while leading the two back to home base, Shinjiro turned to back to Subaru and spoke in a low whisper. "It seems everything isn't the same, but it is at the same time."

The pale girl nodded her head "True, but we'll know for sure when we get to where Ichigo is taking us. In either case, time is short and most definitely not our side."

The dark eyed samurai touched his wife's hand "Let's hope we can stall things enough for Ichigo to become what he once was, otherwise this is going to be for nothing, and sis will still die."

"Pray for a miracle…" she said in quiet concern as they continued following their leader and friend.

Having continued walking the trip back was mostly quiet and uneventful. As they approached the main building using the front entrance, the two third seats stopped and marveled at it one feeling inspired by such a design, the other dreading of who or what they were going to meet.

Approaching the Shoji door, Ichigo knocked "Hey it's me, and I got some more help."

The door slid open and the once blonde Keisuke Urahara had dark black hair and regular Shinigami clothing. "Ahh, good you're just in time…I just came up with a slight adjustment in the plan, that'll work wonders for us." He then looked back to the new Shinigami he hadn't met yet, before turning back to Ichigo "Bring them inside I've already fed Ein a sleeping pill so he'll be out for at least a day and a half, plus with being trapped in Kukaku's basement, we won't have no problem discussing the plan."

"As long as you tell me why you dyed your hair," Ichigo said as he and his new servants followed him inside.

As they walked towards the meeting room Keisuke leaned over towards Ichigo "So you did explain to them what's going on right? They're not gonna try and kill Yoruichi." He asked since he didn't know how much Ichigo had talked to them, but Ichigo had told him about the others in the anti-Yoruichi squad.

Ichigo turned his head slightly "Well, I told Shinjiro and he spoke with Subaru, and they haven't done anything hostile since then, so I'm guessing they won't try anything but I don't think Yoruichi-san and them should stay around each for too long."

"I'll take it into consideration." He said as he opened the door revealing the rest of the infiltrators. As everyone took a seat around the table and looked towards Keisuke, he unfurled a map showing the topography of Seireitei. "All right boys and girls, let's go over the plan one more time. Also pay attention because I decided to change things up."

"Like what?" asked Senna from her spot beside Uryu and Kukaku

Keisuke looked over to her spot and smiled "I'm glad you asked see originally, I was gonna have Kukaku-san launch us using the flower crane cannon in the back but I decided against it after we got Shinjiro."

"Me?" said man questioned as he wondered what he inspired from the once blond Shinigami

The mundane looking scientist nodded "You see now we have a better avenue of entry. What we're going to do is this, Shinjiro after this meeting is over I want you to go here." He moved his finger from the corner of the page and moved it to the east gate "Talk to the gatekeeper and tell him that you and a bunch of Shinigami are going to be coming through here tomorrow, and to open the gate for you, if he asks about orders tell him that your leader sent a hell butterfly ahead, but we just wanted be sure you'd be expecting us."

The samurai nodded his head as he could do something like that rather easily. Next the leader pointed to Kukaku's place on the map "Once that's been pre-established, everyone is going to hit the south gate."

"We're hitting Jidanbo's gate? That's not gonna be easy." Uryu commented as he was familiar with the rumors surrounding the impenetrable south gate guarded by Jidanbo the south wall

"Normally yes, but Ichigo and Senna should be more than enough," pointed out Uryu's granduncle "Besides the both of them, or at least Ichigo, is stronger than me back when I was their age. Besides we need Ichigo to hit that gate more specifically for the gate keeper to let it be known who's still alive."

Ichigo spoke next "I think I see where this is going which explains the hair dye."

"Right, I had my dear nephew bring me some human world hair dye and after modifying it a bit, it became instant hair dye. After hitting the gate I'll put some in your hair, that way when we reach the east gate, all the Shinigami will be looking for an orange haired Shinigami, not a black haired one."

"That's all well and dandy, but what the hell am I supposed to do?" asked Kukaku in slight irritation

Surprisingly it was the human mode Yoruichi who spoke "What we want you to do is tomorrow, to launch the flower crane cannon and have a cannon ball hit the barrier above the Seki Seki rock, that way it'll throw them into a panic and think either we successfully infiltrated but got separated or we're attacking from the outside in which case they'll send some reapers out to look for us."

"But why won't they just send people after initially seeing us at the south gate?" asked Senna since it seemed rather slow responsive on the enemy reapers part.

"The reason is news only travels as fast a Soul reaper or if you're lazy a hell butterfly." Ichigo explained "Jidanbo can't leave his gate so after we force him to send a hell butterfly to alert Soul Society of our presence and leave which he'll assume is an arrogant declaration of war, we'll sneak in through the side, and since most of us are wearing reaper gear we'll be let in and crane cannon will be a flashy but mere distraction."

"I see we'll be inside long after the east gate keeper hears such information." Said Subaru deeply impressed by the plan and sheer genius behind it on Keisuke and Ichigo's part. "But what happens after we're in?"

"Umm, who are you? And why are you here?" Senna asked since she didn't know the ninja-looking person beside the guy she knew as Shinjiro, and even then she barely knew him

"We're here to help Ichigo." Shinjiro answered as he scratched his cheek in embarrassment "Don't worry we won't cause any trouble."

Senna nodded her head "Alright." She then turned back to the shinobi person and extended her hand "Hi, I'm Senna it's nice to meet you sir."

The third seat pulled down her face mask and tried to speak in a calm correcting tone, as she lightly shook the girl's hand "Subaru Kujo, and I'm Shin-kun's wife."

An uneasy silence passed between the pair, as the both of them continued to stare at one another, while Senna sweat dropped at her unseen mistake "Ahh…but you…ummm" she tried to put the ideas in her head into socially acceptable words

"Don't worry I understand." Subaru replied kind of knowing her apprehensiveness for the hard to spot social blunder

Back at the end of the table Keisuke clapped his hand "Great, now that everyone's friend let's continue the plan. But Kujo-san raises a point, 'what happens afterwards' firstly we'll divide into two man teams, me and Uryu, Senna and Subaru, Shinjiro and Yoruichi and lastly Ichigo you get the mystery fighter that Kukaku promised." He then turned to Kukaku "Which speaking of where is he?"

The wounded fireworks master tilted her head away and noticed the time on the clock "He'll be here in 3…2…1…"

"Don't kill me I'm sorry sis for being late!" a large muscular man yelled as he crashed into the room's shoji walls while riding a giant boar like creature that had the Kanji for 'Bonny' on the side. The boar came to a screeching halt as it sent it's rider across the table, above a ducking Ichigo and straight into the hard wall.

Ichigo slowly got up from his chair and gazed at the man who was now on all fours shaking the comb webs and migraine that he no doubt gained from the harsh landing. The partner of the guy looked up towards the ceiling and spoke as if he was talking to another person above them that no one could see "Please kill me now." He said in a soft plea

His request however was denied as the rest of the group saw the rider get up fully. The man was a little shorter than Ichigo with dark black hair like Kukaku's but it fanned out in the back, while two side burns remained visible. On top of the man's head was a white bandana with red explosion-like marks and just underneath the man's cap was a pair of goggles. The man's clothes was a white tunic and black vest with a red obi, and a hilt exposed the hilt of some kind of weapon.

The ones who arrived from the human world immediately noted that he'd look exactly like Ein, if his nose was smaller, skin a bit tanner, dressed in a white business suit and had a slightly rugged expression and goatee.

'_Wonderful…'_ Ichigo thought with a face palm

The still nameless boar rider turned around having dusted himself off and looked at the gathered crowd. He was about to speak when his temper flared at seeing so many Shinigami gathered in his and Kukaku's house "What are you stinking soul reapers doing here?" he asked in disdain

"That's enough Ganju." commanded the female Shiba as she leaned on the table with her good arm "You're gonna helps these people out, for the good of the universe or shit like that. You're gonna put up with it and deal however…" she proclaimed turning back towards Keisuke "feel free to kill as many reapers as you want."

Ichigo slammed his fist against the table "Now hold on what's this about killing other Shinigami, we're just here to save Rukia and stop Aizen that's it."

Keisuke sighed as he took his hat off and began to fidget with it "I'm not saying to kill everyone you meet, but it does go into the next point in the plan."

"Which is?" asked Senna since she wasn't all that eager to be killing other people. Hollows she was fine since they'd go to a better place, but actually living humanoid people, she' couldn't bring herself to do that.

"The disposing of our opposition. Aizen's got the numbers game working in his favor, but because of the various precautions we've taken such as dawning reaper garb, and going through the side after most of the enemy is going to be concentrated at the south gate for a day or so, that won't matter. Once inside and we've all gone our separate ways, I want all of you pick a few fights and beat up some of the soul reapers. By doing this we'll send all the squads into a panic since they won't whose an enemy and whose a friend, which gives the edge since we know who our allies our and can talk our way out of trouble, which is why every team has an experienced Shinigami with them." He said glancing at Ichigo, Shinjiro, Subaru, and mentally nodding to himself "After that has been done I want everyone to make their way to the penance tower with the exception of Ichigo as I want him to get to a specific place for specialized training."

"I'm guessing you mean the Bankai training from earlier." he said repeating what was said before when he got handed the map detailing where to find some kind of cave. The shinigami then looked over at the other two Soul reapers "What about them?" he asked

"I want to make sure this works first besides, their semi-recognized people they'd be able throw things into further pandemonium if people saw they were traitors and on a more hopeful note, maybe they can get a few defecties to our side. We need all the help we can get." Keisuke answered

Shinjiro turned back to Ichigo "The gesture is appreciated, but I'm rather at odds with Muramasa unsurprisingly. Though the other half is more aligned, we both agree on not having to fight."

"I don't possess the capability to use Bankai, at least according to Norn." stated the samurai's wife from her chair "Not that I would be much help."

"Oh?" said Keisuke "And what exactly do your Shikai's do?"

Shinjiro looked at his wife and gave a 'why not' gesture, before the both of them got out of their chairs. Shinjiro went first "Well, I'll explain the first part of my Muramasa even though I hate the maniac. Muramasa was the second part of my Zanpaktou I awakened since it was the more conflicting part, Muramasa ability is that it leaves grey streaks upon it's ravaged victims and upon making contact again on one of those streaks well…" he trailed off and extended his hand towards Ichigo "You know the results. Though the good news is that you only get struck on each mark once, but it happens at the same time to all."

"Thank god for healing kido." He replied sagely

"However Muramasa is an evil bloody thirsty lunatic-"

Unknown to the explaining Samurai the two Kurosaki's sweat dropped _'Where have I heard that before?'_

"and doesn't make a distinction between enemies or allies, so I could cut one of you and leave a gray streak which would light up along with the other when I activate it's special skill. Let see…oh he also unfortunately boost my aggressive responses to situations." He summarized with a thoughtful look "Any questions so far?"

The Quincy of the group spoke up "Is there any way to get rid of the gray streaks if we're cut?"

Shinjiro shook his head "No. I'd have to re-sheath Muramasa to make it disappear which would also make the enemies disappear." He then stopped and thought about it a little harder "Well I suppose if I went unconscious or died it would stop too but…"

He closed his mouth having finished that explanation and waited a second for any more questions. When none came he open his mouth again to lecture he supposed "The second part I'll show you now." He stepped back and drew his sword "Show them their humanity, Masamune." He said quietly as the blades edge flashed and small sucking sound could be heard.

Everyone looked at the sword which still looked like an ordinary katana and didn't change at all, and then looked around the room to see nothing had changed or happened, to which the teen calmly walked over to where Keisuke was and looked at him. "Could you try releasing your Zanpaktou, Urahara-san."

Hat and clogs then proceeded to do as instructed changing his cane back into a sword form before saying the release command. The result was nothing. The blade didn't so much as release the light showing it had changed into Shikai state, and his power output remained at the same constant level that it was prior to him walking over next to him.

"I think I get it." the scientist said aloud bringing together the various hypothesis of his head together and combining them

"Yeah as you can see, Masamune seals and negates abnormal power around me or directed towards me. So pretty much right now Keisuke you're only as strong as your endurance level, natural strength and hand to hand skill, while I retain my ability to use Kido, and flash step." Informed Keisuke as he returned back to his place beside Subaru "However, it's not perfect since the area of effect is only about ten feet around me, and once you're out." He alluded to which Keisuke tried again and was rewarded with Benihime ready to sing an opera of red

"Right, once you're out then you can just release your Zanpaktou on the spot. Also unlike most Shinigami, I don't get any stronger for releasing my Zanpaktou I remain however strong I was at the time of release. It also doesn't really work on people who already have their release out like Ichigo, but it does stop them from using certain long range attacks circumstances permitting." The male third seat finished his summary, before dropping down into a bow at the hips and resealing his Zanpaktou, as he stepped behind Subaru who looked towards Ichigo

"Master would you please stand beside me, oh, and grab that pen while you're at it." she requested, while Ichigo got up from his chair and walked over beside her. Once he was there his task accomplished, she looked at her left arm and maneuvered her right hand into the sleeve and pulled out the hilt of a short sword "Lament your fate, and change the outcome, Norn." She chanted as the blade activated before shrinking down to a small hand held balisong knife with a curved black handle

"Good." She took a step back leaving a small gap between them "Now everyone I want you to look at the pen in Ichigo's hand." She looked back at Ichigo "On three I want you to release it." she requested to which he gave her an alright "One, two three…" she counted down

When Ichigo dropped the pen he felt something cold race over him. His eyes then widened when he saw that the pen was floating in mid-air "What the?" he asked as he passed his hand underneath it a few times to make sure nothing was holding it up, he then turned to Subaru who was still quiet but seemed to be concentrating on something "You're making it float?"

"It's not floating Ichigo. Look again." She said

Kneeling down so the pen was eye level, he strained his eyes and then saw it, it was gradually falling "You're slowing it down." He stated his observation of the phenomena

"Not entirely, while I could do that if I wanted to, it's not what I'm doing right now. For a hint look at the audience."

Standing back up he turned to the gather individuals, and looked at them for a little bit, he didn't see anything off with them. They looked like they were looking on expecting something, he blinked as he tilted his head before glancing behind him and then staring back. He kept his gaze on them for a few more seconds until it hit him.

'_Their eyes, they're not blinking at all.'_ He discovered and then turned back to Subaru, who noticed he caught on "You're speeding us up aren't you."

"Correct. Norn's power allows me to speed up or slow people or things down within three feet of me up to about 100x their normal amount, provide what I wish to influence doesn't exceed that range and the target of 100x times is only one and it's small, and the effect is diminished by the amount of objects or people I wish to influence. So the more people I focus my attention on the less the result. Though it works well for me since I can speed up or slow down to help our allies while hindering the enemy."

"Rather practical. You can avoid most hits if they aren't aware of your Zanpaktou's ability, while using the scientific equation of force equal mass times acceleration to increase the power of you own."

"Correct, however I can't keep this up forever since I'm limited to my own perseverance and energy levels, and I am also nowhere near as strong as you or Shinjiro nor am I built for battle. But I will assist, like Shinjiro, to the best of my ability for as long as I can." She commented as she bowed before her superior "Let's bring things back to normal speed. (4)" She said returning back to her stand position

Another cold wave washed over Ichigo's nerves as he saw the floating pen quickly accelerate and tap against the floor and roll away.

"Huh? Did I miss something?" commented Senna as she could have sworn she saw Ichigo's body blur for a moment before rubbing her eyes

"Perhaps it didn't work?" Uryu said since his keen eye didn't see anything happen with the pen, and was going to get up and investigate it to see if maybe there was a cut mark they didn't see.

"Please keep this information a secret as I am still apart of squad two as are you Ichigo." The pale girl asked the orange haired teenager who said he would.

Keisuke scratched his head not understand what happened but shrugged it off, since if Ichigo was cool with whatever happened he wouldn't push it and decided to finish the meeting "Well the talent show was nice, now to put the finishing touches on this meeting. No matter what happens try not to draw too much attention to yourself, because each team is on their own, but if you do end up going too far, then just keep going all out that way the other can slip in through the cracks and save Rukia, which in turn stops Aizen's plan, while we build an effective counter measure in Ichigo, but still our chances look grim. So try and remain focused on getting to that tower."

Everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement. "I'll right, Taiga-san, you're off. Everyone else, get some rest, Kukaku take care of him, until we can get back." Keisuke dismissed giving a few last minute order and reminders.

The team got from their chairs and exited the room, while Shin went to go send his request to the gate keeper. Keisuke and Uryu returned back to their room, to make sure the Tenshintai was still in working order and to check their equipment, Yoruichi walked with Kukaku out back to go talk with her on the patio about something that seemed to be bothering her, while Subaru followed Ichigo and Senna to another room, since it looked like Ichigo wanted to talk to them about something.

(Yoruichi and Kukaku)

The two busty women sat outside the building looking at the Seireitei in the distance a bottle of sake in between Kukaku's fingers while Yoruichi was sipping from her dish shaped cup. "It's been far too long since we last spoke." Yoruichi said dreamily

Kukaku eyes moved away from the white city in the distance to the nekomata beside her "Heh! No kidding." She took a quick swig from the sake bottle "Can't believe the trouble you got yourself into."

Yoruichi grinned a cheshire grin as she moved her cup to receive some more sake "I'm surprised you're sending Ganju. Especially after losing Kaien." She stated seeing through the thinly veiled discomfort

"Ganju is his own man now. Yeah, I signed him up, but he needs to get past the petty grudge against the reapers." She set down her bottle and leaned back her arms cushioning behind her head "I admit it's because of my shallow outlook that I broke away from Seireitei, I was young and stupid. After practically raising Ganju on my own, I can't help but wonder what woulda happened if I at least thought things through."

Yoruichi quirked an eyebrow "You're regretting it?"

"Not necessarily. I absolutely love the freedom I got, but I'm just saying I could have been more aware of how my actions would affect the people around me. I just want break Ganju of that by having him work alongside you guys. You're reapers but you're different." She smirked to herself as she closed her eyes "You absolutely suck at what you do, and don't really follow the rules but you're trying to save the afterlife, and I think that's something Ganju needs to put things in perspective for him. I don't forgive Soul Society for causing the death of Kaien, but I do know he was just doing his best…" she opened her eyes and glanced at Yoruichi "besides that guy looks like Kaien, and since hair is going to be dyed black, I think he might just be quicker to accept and move on that's why I wanted him to be on his team."

"Were you always this compassionate? I wonder if you're really the premier fireworks expert of Rukongai." Yoruichi teased since she knew on the inside Kukaku was kind of a softy, not that she let show with her commanding presence

A tick mark formed on the D bombs head "Ah shut it what do you know! I'm Kukaku fucking Shiba, and when I want something done or I want to do something, I don't let anything get in my way. I'm the number one fireworks MASTER in all of Rukongai, and I'm gonna give those damn reapers a show they'll never forget! (5)"

The two quickly shared a laugh before returning back to their drinking and enjoy the time to catch up on things. Yoruichi could only hope her meeting with Soifon could be as easy as this, though she wasn't willing to place any bets on it.

(Ichigo and the girls)

Steeping through the room that Ichigo was staying in, the girls sat upon his bed while he took to the nearby chair that was in the room. "Thanks for coming, there's actually a few things I wanted to discuss in private." The high powered fourth seat said as he turned his attention towards Subaru "I wanted to ask you something that I've been keeping in the back of my head."

"I will answer to the best of my abilities, Ichigo." She said flatly

Ichigo leaned against the nearby table while facing the girl "I know for a fact that you're older than me, and you've been in the second division for a while, so you might be able to answer a question I have. What I want to ask you is are there any birth records regarding in the number of children born from my mother Masaki Kurosaki? I ask because the only real 'hospital' would be the fourth division, and I doubt mother would have any birth records regarding it, since she never mentioned I had a kid sister."

The pensive third seat stopped and thought about it "No. I don't really know anything about that. Masaki-san, was long retired before I joined up, so I wasn't around then, but perhaps Unohana-taicho might know something regarding that, you've mentioned she was a family friend and considering her profession, she might have been at the delivery. Just something to keep in mind, when this is over."

Ichigo turned his eyes towards his to be determined sibling "Yeah, I wasn't expecting much but at least I got some kind of lead."

Senna frowned "So you haven't accepted it?" she said sounding a little hurt

"It's not that." He refuted, trying not to seem cold or distant about her reason for joining "I just I'm worried about you. I won't be there to watch your back, and it…scares me. We really just met, and we got a lot of time to make up for, I was trying to take an active stance in helping you and me, understand our own family."

Senna smirked shyly "T-thanks that-that means a lot."

"Don't worry, I'll ensure she goes the safest route to the penance tower." Subaru promised to Ichigo "But, I will have to report on occasion but she should be able to handle herself."

The ribbon wearing girl gave an affirmative nod as she kicked her legs up and hopped of the bed a big smile on her face "Just you watch Brother, I'll show you how much I've grown, since we first met!" she declared proudly thrusting her thumb at herself

Ichigo smiled care freely "I don't doubt it at all…now let's all get some rest."

"Good night, Ichigo/Night Bro!" the girl said as the left the room to go rest themselves

(That night)

As the sleeping form of Ichigo shifted over in his bed dreaming and hoping for the success in tomorrow's endeavor, the form of a man stepped out of the shadows. The man was slightly taller than him, with tan skin and a slight beard that went into a goat tee. His hand swept down from his spiky black hair, and rested itself against his cheek with an O tattoo on it.

The man was smiling "Hard to believe you're as strong as you are and haven't even fully awakened to my side yet." He closed his eyes and allowed a slight chuckle "I know I'm not the best dad, but I've had my eye on you ever since I sensed you in the human world. You probably never noticed though, since you always have your head in the clouds and scowl on your face." He then quietly walked beside the bed and kneeled down before shaking his head "I thought I lost you and Ma-chan after that fire and only found your sister. I wish I could have been the dad I once was…but I want you to know I'm always proud of you, and expect you to be the man of the house." He softly ruffled Ichigo's hair before standing back up his white clothes brushing against the side of the bed. He stopped before exiting the room a brown katana with a red hilt at his side "I don't plan on messing with your big hero moment, but I need to go fishing, if we see each other again. I promise to be more honest. Stay safe son."

As he exited the room, he wandered down the hallway, and opened another door and saw in the bed this time was Senna Kurosaki. Walking towards her he saw, that her eye lids were twitching as if she was living something, the man deduced it was probably training of some kind to send her in with confidence. Shifting his gaze from her face he looked at her hand that had the strange barely visible tattoo of a snake biting itself.

He placed his hand against it and closed his eyes "Mirokumaru." He said in a whisper "I know you can hear me inside of her, continue in making my daughter strong enough to survive the upcoming battle, but know that if you don't stop corrupting her body with your seal, I will have no trouble killing you. You work for her because you are a part of her, do not forget this, as you're body will also soon decay should you take over. Don't think I'm asking you to go easy on her, just bear it closely to mind." He then pulled away, but as he did Senna tossed over slightly

"mmm…tentacles…" she muttered out while her face turned into a frown from what he guessed was a kinky nightmare, which probably was response from his recipient

"Hmph. She at least has her mother's creative mind." He mused before stepping back and disappearing from the room at incredible speeds.

* * *

Blackout2010: (sigh) finally that's over and done. Now, I need to focus on school cause I've been slacking off on writing this. So it may be a very long time before this gets updated again, I don't know. But I ask for your patience. Anyway I'll be trying to write when I can and will still be responding back to all the vocal people out there. Lastly thank-you everyone for helping me reach the 150 mark, you guys rock! So until next chapter, I'm out.

* * *

The following out take/Omake was based on my own cognitive criticism of myself as I write the things down on the word document. I like to spin things that bother or annoy me into a way that entertains me. The concept behind it was the willingness and understanding that might have seen as unbelievable regarding Subaru not being suspicious of them, and going with them so quietly.

(Out take/Omake: Critical taste)

"You know I just realized something." Said Subaru as she continued following behind Ichigo and beside Shinjiro

"What's that exactly?" asked Ichigo from over his shoulder

"I didn't even bother to question if you two were really you and not some kind of shape shifting monster." She stated bringing the trio to an abrupt halt

"What the heck made you think of that?" Ichigo the de facto leader said aloud wondering where she would have gotten off to say something like that

The girl crossed her arms and said "Well I mean a giant rift opens up into the sky, Shinjiro and I separate, a giant explosion of reiatsu appears where he would be, and then suddenly the both of you are on understanding terms it seems…odd."

Shinjiro cocked his head back to Ichigo with a contemplative look "She does have a point."

Ichigo now turned around fully to address the sudden concern "Well, why don't you have Shin here, tell you something only you two would know. Would that help?"

The other man agreed "I don't mind."

"Very well."

The girl turned back to her supposed husband, and began to think of something to ask, but as the more she tried to find a question to ask, the more she couldn't really determine what would be something personal "You know what, why don't you share something and we'll see." She offered

"Share something huh? Hmmm…" the samurai brought his hand to his chin and looked up to search through his memory bank "I know. On your back left shoulder you have a birth mark that can only be seen when your topless!" he said with a dramatic point.

'Whooooa…' Ichigo thought

Subaru on the other hand closed her eyes and counted to ten in her head to stop herself from slapping Shinjiro across the face for his statement even if it was true. She was about to voice her confirmation of the statement but she took too long, and Shinjiro took her silence the wrong way.

"Not good enough? Then how abooout, oh! Your cooking is absolutely horrendous!" he said with a kid like smile

"W-what do you mean my cooking is horrible!" she asked hotly, she then pointed an accusing finger back at Shinjiro "You always told me that you enjoyed it!"

Shinjiro scratched the back of his head "Well, I do enjoy receiving your occasional lunches and dinners you make but…

"'But' what! I try very hard on making those dishes!" she said her temper starting to pick up for once

"I think that might be the problem…" Ichigo commented throwing in his two yen.

"What do you mean 'might be the problem'?" she asked turning back to her superior

Shinjiro sighed despite his still grinning face "I regret to say that while I do enjoy receiving such meals, consuming them is another matter all together."

"It-it it can't be that bad."

Shinjiro shook his head in disagreement "You burnt rice, Subaru. You burnt, one of, the main agricultural products of Japan and China, and you're Japanese yourself."

Subaru cringed under the criticism "ahh…w-well…"

Shinjiro calmly placed his hand on her shoulder in seemingly understanding "It's ok. I know for a fact your too busy at work to keep your nose in a cookbook, that's why I'll try and cook more often, after all I really can't rely on your for that particular request."

"Gee, thanks for rubbing it in!"

"Actually I've tried his cooking, it's pretty good." Ichigo commented further putting concrete evidence against Subaru's claims

Said girl looked back at Ichigo incredulously "Even you, your Excellency?"

"Yeah." He said ignoring her jab back at him

"Ha ha, don't worry. I don't mind being the cook for our invasion, I got nothing better to do when we're not fighting." Taiga joked lightly

"Fine then." The only girl of the trio said begrudgingly "but you're sleeping on the couch for all of next week, and you can cook for your own damn self."

Shinjiro winced at the stinging comment and tried to calm the wife back to him only for her to brush him off. "Come on let's get out here." The superior of the two said slowly enjoying that things were going back to the normalcy he once knew.

(Out take/Omake: Critical taste end)

* * *

Number guide to explanations

1. I was tinkering with the idea, that the three of them should all attack him at once, but I decided against it. Reason being, Ichigo is more than a match for him at this time, since he's between Fuka and Taicho, besides Shinjiro really wouldn't fight at full power if he had to go against a girl, which would be an unfair advantage for Ichigo's side, and I didn't want him to seem overpowered with being able to fight off Ichigo, Senna (3-4 seat), and Uryu (fuka?).

, I know that Tite Kubo actually did make a Muramasa of his own (this was well after the fact I already made mine however, and wasn't aware of his). It does in fact have different abilities since mine was more based of the Wikipedia story of Muramasa and Masamune, and my own general knowledge of it's rumors. It can be found here: .org/wiki/Masamune#Legends_of_Masamune_and_Muramasa

3. That wouldn't be all out of context given Shin's background. But in case it's hard to understand. Shin and Su are the vassal (servants) to Soifon (master/mistress), if Ichigo were to marry her, he would be their master as well by marriage.

4. For Shin and Su's Zanpaktou and ability, I'm sure someone is going to give me some level of flak. Anyway, if you have a question or want explain it to you in simpler terms or break it down further PM me or review me (whatever let's me contact you). And I'll go over it and help you understand. Oh, if any of you out there want to use their Zanpaktou for your stories, Fanfic, whatever, go ahead just give credit where credit is do, that' s all I ask,

5. If it seems like she got over it quickly, I apologize. But if I were to try and give depth into her inner psyche and go into long explaination and character development, I'd never get to SS, heck if I were to do that for everyone I'd just be entering the Karakura arc now.

6. These were the two songs that helped inspire me (well along with everyone else (^8^)) the titles are: 'Sussano' by Daisuke Ishiwatari and 'Reach out to the truth' Shoji Meguroi


	18. infilTraitors: Devils in plain sight

(Author's warning)

Blackout2010: Greetings everyone out there, I have a slight word of caution. In this chapter there's mentioning of religion.

Ichigo: Really?

Hichigo (cult mode): **FUCK YEAH! SATAN APPEAR BEFORE ME, I INVOKE THY NAME. SO BLESS UPON ME TO SPILL THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT TO FILL YOUR GOLDEN BABOYLONIAN GOBLET…**

Blackout2010:…

Ichigo:…

Blackout2010 (sweat drop): Y-yeah, you know a just small mention of religion. (serious) All that I ask is that nobody get offended, this is a work of fiction…about fiction. This isn't a religious debate since I'd probably lose and it's not to say one particular religion is correct, I just happen to know the most about Christianity so it's easier for me to relate to. So I'm not discrediting Buddha, Vishnu, Shiva, Odin, Horus, Izanagi, Jehovah, Satan (I guess), Brahma, Allah, Virgin Mary, and any other holy deities of the major religions who I probably don't know of…

Ichigo: So what? Shinigami aren't considered a religion?

Blackout2010: Iiiiii'd say SS is more a totalitarian government as opposed to a theocracy, but that's just me. Let see anything else...oh right. Now for the most part as you read each characters perspective of things, I did my best to have it be in chronological order. HOWEVER please remember that certain events and scenarios are taking place simultaneously, remember we are no longer staying with one perspective. Cause and effect whatever Ichigo does might affect Senna and if Senna kills such and such this prevents Shinjiro from meeting that man, meaning Uryu wouldn't get Shin's message detailing where to meet up after running past block 36 so on so forth. Just kinda FYI.

(Author's warning end)

* * *

Author response to the unknown reviews:

To Metalhead1000-san

Thank-you for the review and by chance did your name come from 'Jak 2'. I ask because the main enemy of that game are incidentally called 'metal heads', I mean the other theory is that you enjoy heavy metal, but I wanted to shoot for the less obvious.

As for my grammar, honestly I have no idea how I passed English class. (^.^)''

I mean I've greatly improved from when I was back in high school. I've managed to learn how to correct comma splices: by using either semicolons or periods, but my biggest weakness without a doubt would have to be parallel sentence structure, run on sentences, and fragment sentences.

I could not for the life of me figure out parallel sentence structure even to this day. As for the run on sentences, believe it or not, but I actually write these chapter as if they were a manuscript that needed to be completed before it could be performed which is further complicated by the fact I also do write it exactly how I would say it out loud.

I have very interesting conversation with myself as I try to insert myself into how each character would say the lines I wrote down, which I guess fortunately or not makes me have to go back and rewrite it in a way that it could be seen, while again adhering to what need to happen in the fic. Everything is one big jigsaw puzzle! \(0_0)/

To the person in ch.15 who didn't bother leaving a name

Thank-you for that.

To Kalisticksmaster

Thank-you for that interesting information, I wasn't aware of that. Don't worry so much about the debate, it's cool. You have again legitiment reason for saying what you did, it's more or less Tite Kubo on that one.

Truthfully I do agree with you and I admit I would probably commit a lot of crimes if I had the power to kill people just for being within a couple dozen feet around me, I would also probably utter to those that survived that 'you're cool enough to hang with me' but that would never happen so I digress.

For the fighting thanks, I'm constantly trying to outdo myself sometimes I succeed other times I fail, I just happened to get lucky, fighting really isn't my forte which is why the speed is utterly killed here aside from schooling, there too much violence in this section or sections I should say.

To Kingblaze123 (back in 1)

I admit I originally thought you were BrazeRancor consider your names weren't all that far apart. But I know your not him so anyway I'm getting off track, I'm glad you are liking my story, though if you wanted to read a completed rather than a continued IchiSoi story I suggest you find either Death Goblin's 'Made for each other' or Tsurumaki's 'Bleach: Interlude Beneath the Sakura Tree'. For ones that are currently in progress I suggest Leon Tasume's FF 'Strawberry and the bee', maybe Open Source Artist's 'Lex Talonis' you just really need to adjust to a few changes and it's otherwise fine to read. Those are just me throwing the lines out there, I'm not the first person to create an IchiSoi story and I really really hope I'm not the last either.

Anyway here to the continued existence to this fic, later!

* * *

Quickly approaching the viewers from the distance are three men, the ones on the left and right are were wearing a petticoat with blue colors and vestments with both pale colored trousers and were Caucasian looking fixed atop their heads was some white wigs. The man in the middle was without a shirt with tanned skin and long dark hair that reached down to his back, he had a serious expression on his face

Finally the man on the left steps forward

Guy: Greetings everyone out there, we'd like to take this moment and welcome you to Soul Soceity. My name is Benjamin Franklin.

Middle guy: Sitting Bull.

Last guy: The first president of the united states of America, George Washington.

Ben: Right-o! Now please engage in the meaningless fighting while I talk to the viewers a bit about what caused all this.

They turn to each other

George: But of course! (grabs his Zanpaktou) Cut down, Cherry tree!

Bull: Strike. Thunder Hawk.

Ben: Now as I'm sure you're all wondering where the cast is along with blackout2010

The camera shakes up and down

Ben: Well you see…blackout2010 had a heart at attack as a single thought occurred to him. Which was…

(flash back)

Blackout2010 (leaning against a desk): I wonder…if soul society is where all the good people go when they die does that mean…? (epiphany)…does that mean? (starts to smile) No…no way!...That's means that all the cool people in history could help out our protagonists! This friggin' awesome! (suddenly grabs his chest and falls to the ground)

(flash back end)

Ben: As you can tell he couldn't handle it as his mind was in overdrive…to emphasis his point here is what he envisioned for the prefic banter

(War Council room)

"Gentlemen." A short man in a wheel chair exclaimed in his southern gentile accent "It is time to for the confederation to rise up and take back what is ours. But first…" he moves his hand to the map on the wall "We must eliminate our competition."

He moved his hand to a X above their position on the map "To the north we have King Leonidas and his Spartan army. They are supposedly a force to be reckoned with, HOWEVER! They are merely mindless barbarians, I mean hell just look at this guy, he runs around in a loin cloth, obviously he can't keep his junk in his Greek trunk."

Another X to the east shows up "The east we have the combined forces of the samurai and Chinese han Dynasty, now I may be crippled but I know that a gun can beat a Ka-ton-no any day of god's given week. So we can easily come to the conclusion they will not have very good tactics."

Some of the gathered chuckled

The wheel chaired bound man quirked an eyebrow as a picture of Masamune Date showed up "I'm not kidding here people, look at this guy, he's got a damn crescent moon on his head. He certainly looks like a winner! They believe their honor will carry them, so I say let them have the honor of getting there ass kicked by us, I bet they'll probably smile and enjoy it!"

The group recompose themselves

"Now for our last targets the amazons to the south." A picture of some Amazonian warriors show up on the screen "They are supposedly undefeated and untamed (smirks) obviously they have not met me in bed yet…" turns back to the projector "Gentlemen is time for individuals such as us to rise and dictate. We are the disunited Society of Souls and we will not stand for such unbecoming behavior of our rivals."

One of the guys in the back stands up "What about the weird cult called hail Aizen-sama?"

The man looks back at the other person "Another dooms day cult that probably sucked off that Nostradamus guy for a prophesy!"

(envisionment end)

Benjamin franklin: Yes, it was quite the spectacle indeed. (glances at his watch) Ah! Where does the time go? I must be off to have my spot of tea with Zhuge Liang. Please enjoy your stay, tata!

* * *

Ch 18. infil-Traitors: Devils in plain sight.

The time was 8 am in the morning of this important day. From his spot Ichigo let out an exhalation of air, he honestly couldn't say at the moment if he felt nervous at the moment as he leaned back in his chair Zangetsu resting at his side as he spun and twirled the blade against the wooden floor. As he looked away from his hole drilling sword, he saw Senna at the far of the room talking with Yoruichi having mentioned that her Zanpaktou spirit was rather quiet since yesterday and was wondering if it was normal to which was answered with a change in temperament.

As he tilted his head he saw in the corner of the room Shinjiro sitting in a meditative position with his Zanpaktou resting in his lap. Ichigo figured he too was mentally preparing himself for this rather monumental and outright insane task.

"Here you are." said Subaru as she presented a cup with tea in it and gave it to her lord before walking towards the room other occupants and handing them their choice of drink that she had fetched while Uryu made in the nearby kitchen.

The strawberry blond took a few sips of his tea and let out another excited breathe, his sensitive hearing picking up the sounds of approaching footsteps _'It begins.' _He acknowledged serenely turning his focused sight at the door

The door slide open to reveal Ganju Shiba, now garbed in a greenish shirt and head band with black pants with a cleaver like knife hanging on the side, and Kisuke Urahara who had a serious look on his face and a brief case in his hand "Good Morning everyone." He said in a business-like fashion as he stepped through the door "Ein's appears to still be sleeping downstairs, so the sleeping pills did their thing so it's time to move out, everyone knows the plan. Make some noise and get to the tower save Rukia." He turned towards the soon to his weeklong apprentice "Ichigo, no matter what happens don't take too long, after Uryu and I startle the twelfth up, I'm gonna be there as quickly as possible so don't delay, time isn't on our side."

"Roger." He said as he pushed himself off his chair gripping Zangetsu firmer with his fingers, as everyone else also got up and grabbed their gear, a look of determination on their face in spite of the risk this suicidal mission entailed. Ichigo merely smirked as he quickly glanced around the room at all his allies and friends _'I'll protect all of you.'_ He vowed silently to himself promising to ensure they all survived if he could help it_ 'Hichigo, Zangetsu get ready to work overtime!'_

'_**You don't need to tell me twice King! I've wanted to have crack at some of the people you've been working with for a long damn time!'**_

'_Ichigo, trust in us and we will become the harbinger of your victory.'_

"Let's move out people." commanded the dark haired leader of the infiltrators. As the team left the grounds of Kukaku's place, they were seen off by the ruler of the establishment as well as the monk twins, who promised to fire the flower crane cannon about four hours after she saw the south gate open. Once they were out of sight and heading towards Rukongai's Jidanbo gate, the woman started her preparations in priming her masterpiece

Not having a need to be careful now that all nearby enemies were cleared out, the team made great time getting to the edge of Rukongai, and were pleased to see that the wall that separated Rukongai from Seireitei was gone which meant that no one had left or gone looking for Shinjiro or Subaru.

As they began to approach the wall, Kisuke used his hand to gesture for everyone to get behind some of the nearby building making eye contact with Senna and Ichigo, bringing up the rear the scientist nudged his head around the corner in the direction of the white city then turned back around to address the group "Alright you two, you're on." He said using his index and middlefinger to point out the Kurosaki's

The pair nodded before taking off towards the white concrete sector. As Ichigo, the leading man's, foot made contact against the tiles, Senna looked up to see some golden Domino shaped objects fall from the sky. "Ichigo!" she warned coming to an abrupt halt to brace herself from impact

Ichigo kept going, knowing the way Jidanbo was when it came to entrances. As the Seki Seki rock wall fell down a giant shadow loomed over the gigantic wooden door. The male Shinigami drew Zangetsu, and looked up as the man making the shadow, leapt down and crashed against the floor, knocking Senna off balance and stare in awe at the sheer size of the guy.

The man was easily as tall as the damn wall itself, with huge muscular arms with a metal gauntlet on his left arm. He was clutching two enormous axes in his hand and had a red tassel-like hat atop his crown. "So you still live, eh? Traitor!" he bellowed out having seen the man as he approached the gate with what he assumed to be an accomplice of some kind

"I don't have time for this!" yelled Ichigo as he sunk into his battle stance, knowing time was of the essence in gaining entrance.

The Giant snorted "Heh! Very well." He was about to engage when he saw that the girl got up and was now approaching. "Not so fast!" he bellowed swinging his gigantic axes and creating a wall of debris that not a single soul could hope to climb at least in time to save the strawberry in front of him.

Or so he thought, What Jidanbo didn't count on was the girl to suddenly appear over the landmass riding her Shakujo like a horse over the wall of debris and drop down beside his opponent. "Now hold up!" he yelled a tick mark appearing on his head as he pointed the head of the axe towards Senna as if she just committed a grave crime "You obviously don't know the rules, how dare you interrupt our sacred duel!"

Senna just looked at him and blinked dumbly, she then turned to Ichigo who was staring back at her with a mirroring expression. The pair turned back to the giant at the same time and both threw their combined four yen into the pot.

"You're fighting a traitor in a duel of honor? Are you…stupid or something?"

"Jidanbo, I don't have time for this, so let's cut the crap so I can beat you."

The rage boiling inside the huge man exploded, never had he even been so insulted by a dandelion headed brat, and some random female country bumpkin. "Oh yeah! Well you're both stupid!" he said firing an insult as he raised his axes "Take this!"

The two Kurosaki's watched as the weapon came approaching before simply raising their blades against it. The gigantic axes slammed into the flimsy metals and kicked up a huge cloud of dust obscuring his vision of the two, though he was quite sure that they didn't live through such an ordeal.

"Achoo!" a small sneeze came from down below Jidanbo who glanced back down with now growing fear since the only living things down in that direction shouldn't be still living.

"Gazoontite." said Ichigo now coming back into view one hand on Zangetsu while he looked over at Senna who also was holding back the attack with her sword with one hand as her free arms was rubbing her nose.

Senna sniffled and breathed out to clear her sinuses against the flying dust particles "Thank-you, Ichigo."

Jidanbo's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he saw that they didn't even look the least bit hurt or even winded for that matter. He continued starting at the pair before he laughed out loud "AHAHAHA! My eyes must be deceiving me as you clearly must have dodged it since there's no way you could have stood against my colossal strength!" he exclaimed as he tried to play off having hit them with his weapons for no effect

"You're kidding…" Ichigo said with a sweat drop, since Jidanbo was clearly both in denial that Senna could deflect his weapon, and seemingly forgetting that as a high ranked seated officer, he could kill Jidanbo if he really wanted too.

"Wow, your weak." The other Kurosaki muttered deeply disappointed that for such a big guy he lost out to such a tiny girl who was no bigger than his thumb "Are you not feeling well?" she asked concernedly

Once again another tick mark appeared on his face from the slight unintended jab "I am NOT! I was just going easy on you. Now I'll show you my true strength!" he roared out as he re-raised both his axes and his muscles started to bulge and he stopped inhaling air as he held it within his large frame. Feeling at his best he then brought them down repeatedly and declared the name of his attack "Dual Ax Finisher: Jidanbo Ten strikes of the thousand year festival!"

The two reapers continued to look on as the axes came down only allowing themselves a small feeling of annoyance before otherwise gripping their weapons tighter so as not to lose them.

(Other side of the wall of debris)

Once the giant's attention had been diverted due to the fighting the rest of the team moved closer and we're sitting down using the rubble wall as cover to prevent themselves from being seen by the gate keeper. Kisuke had the briefcase his grand nephew brought opened with a small black vial being held inside the grip of his latex gloves

"So does he do this often? I wasn't one to leave Seireitei much." asked Kisuke to the two resident soul reapers who were still with them.

"Not sure." said Shinjiro "It's not like we fought him before, though I do think they are kinda taking their time." He answered as another slamming noise was heard along with what he thought he heard was number twenty-eight being called out by Jidanbo

Kisuke sighed and with his free hand banged against the wall separating them from the fight "Hey hurry it up in there, we got places to invade and people to destroy!"

(Other side)

"Yeah, yeah!" Ichigo groaned out in annoyance as he blocked yet another strike which was number fifteen in the series so far. _'I wonder if I should tell him he's already past ten.'_ He glanced back at Senna who was also getting tired of this festival "Senna!" he called out to the beauty who briefly glanced at him, to which he nudged his head in the direction of the axes. The girl nodded her head in response.

As the twin hatchets came back towards them the pair of reapers pulled their arms back and together sliced into one of the axes each. The toothpick by comparison swords crashed into the enormous blades stopping them cold. After a moment or so, the sound of cracking could be heard, as the axe heads shattered and exploded into thousands of shards that Ichigo expertly dodged while Senna used her sheath to knock down as they approached her persons.

"N-no way." The giant said dumbly as he backed up against the giant wooden wall, his eyes not believing what he saw. No one had ever defeated him before in battle. It was at that moment that he started to feel fear for his life, the fear of it coming to an abrupt end.

With the threat eliminated Ichigo put his blade away and stared at the terrified behemoth who was quivering against the door "Calm down damn it!" he then looked away in annoyance "I swear everyone's all 'kill on sight', does anyone in Soul Society believe in me?"

"You, your not going to kill me?"

"Of course not when did I ever say I would!" barked Ichigo as his temper peaked "Look just do what I'm about to tell you ok?"

The giant nodded his head as he kept his gaze on Ichigo still worried that he might still be attacked anyway. Recomposing himself Ichigo spoke in a much calmer tone "I want you to open the gate and send a hell butterfly to the Sou-Taicho, telling him that earlier today a man with bright orange hair, a Zanpaktou and Hakama attacked you, and then retreated back into Rukongai."

Jidanbo's eyes widened at what Ichigo was telling him. The giant may have been a bit slow on some things but he wasn't stupid enough to misread something akin to a declaration of war, and an arrogant one at that!

"Please Jidanbo, do it for me." The male Kurosaki said with a frown

"But why? Why did you of all people turn your back?" the rumbling voice of Jidanbo questioned since something wasn't making much sense since nobody would nicely request something when attempting to declare war, as it would weaken the intimidation factor.

"I can't give you the full details Jidanbo since I don't know if they'll do something to you, but I can tell you that I didn't turn my back." Ichigo replied as he looked away his blade's edge touching against the ground.

"We're here to stop the real enemies, big guy. The ones who framed Ichigo and his mother into looking like the bad guys." chimed Senna hoping to clarify it just enough where he could understand but still be left in the dark, since she didn't have a clue if he could be trusted or not.

The building sized man took in a breath before nodding his head "Very well. I will do as you ask." He then turned around to face the wooden door leading to where the pair wanted to go "You could have easily done away with me, and the fact that you do not, means there is some truth to your words Ichigo and girl." He then brought his hand down underneath the gate "But know that some people might not be so friendly with what you have to say, some people like the captain of squad two." He said calmly making Ichigo's face pang from the jab

"I know." He said more to himself as the giant began to open the gate to the Seireitei _'I'll have to think of something for that…'_

(Kisuke & Co.)

The creaking of the huge wooden door rang into the group's collective ears. Kisuke stood up from his spot and ordered the group to be ready to move once the message was sent and the pair returned from the other side.

(Ichigo and Senna)

As the man's muscles started to bulge out from exertion, the wooden gate began to rise up. As it continued to rise upward the three individuals saw a less than pleasant sight being revealed from the feet up. Less than two-hundred yards away was the grinning form of Gin Ichimaru, Taicho of squad three.

"Well, well, well what have we got here?" he asked aloud as if he was addressing numerous others around him, even though he was in fact alone. He stopped his walking and looked at the angry face of Ichigo and the girl beside him "Ahh~ Ichi-kun, how have you been? I heard that you were feeling a tad bit 'dead tired' back in the human world."

"No, thanks to you traitor!" yelled Ichigo as he drew Zangetsu, his anger rising rapidly at seeing one of the major factors of these events standing with that arrogant smile and cool façade

Ichimaru feigned a hurt look "Why whatever are you talking about? You'd accuse me of being a traitor? A Taicho? Tell me which one of us is fighting to destroy the current government regime while the other is here to enhance it and protect it, Hmmm? I swear if that's not the pot calling the kettle black I don't know what is."

As the man grinned menacingly from his perch the miko turned to Ichigo and whispered quietly "Pss…Brother is this guy dangerous or can we take him?" Senna asked her brother as she held her weapons in both of her hands similar to a crude X.

"No, not as we are." Ichigo whispered back but not daring to remove his eyes from the captain "This man is a Taicho, one of the highest spiritual officers in our army, he outranks even me."

"Are you two done whispering to each other?" The silver haired snake asked from his spot as he pulled out his Zanpaktou "If so allow me to remove you from these hallowed grounds." The Taicho then pointed his sword in their direction "Shoot to kill, Shinso." He declared causing the blade to shoot out at a rapid speed towards the trio.

Reacting on instinct Ichigo shoved Senna out of the way with his free hand and gripped his blade hard in a reverse grip using the large sword as a shield as the Zanpaktou crashed into him and knocked him off balance, sending him to the ground. "Now for you, Mr. Gatekeeper" Gin said in an almost cheerful manner as he twisted his wrists and cut into Jidanbo's shoulder and forced him to the ground as he let out a loud cry of pain that rang throughout Seireitei.

The massive door slowly began to fall back down, Jidanbo's good arm not having the strength to keep it up on its own. As the smaller Shinigami got back unto their feet they saw Gin less than twenty-yards away with his red eyes revealed and a smug look on his face. The man leaned over and said "Try and make things interesting for me, Ichigo."

The loud clunking of the door as it fell into place was the sound that marked the moment of Ichigo's anger to take over. With a loud roar he swung his sword firing off the beam of light at the wall that crashed against it leaving a noticeable burn mark.

"Brother, calm down!" chastised Senna as she got beside her brother to get his attention "We don't have time to lose we need to get the plan underway or we'll be in big trouble!"

The male Kurosaki's eyes flitted to Senna's passive face before stealing back to the door. With a calm inhalation he steadied himself and glanced back to his sister "You're right. Let's get out here." He then turned to Jidanbo "I'd heal you Jidanbo but there's something I need to do first, just send out that hell butterfly with what I requested."

"Got it, now get out of here." The giant bellowed as he clutched his arm taking time to catch his breath before sending word to the Taicho's.

With a quick nod the two Shinigami quickly hopped over the rock wall, where they met with Kisuke and company. After a quick recap of what just transpired and Kisuke assuring that Gin won't dare make any noise since that'd probably compromise Aizen's position, they flash stepped to the direction of the east gate.

Once the gate was in sight, the team stopped and Kisuke took Ichigo behind a building and applied the hair gel changing his vibrant but identifiable orange to the common conforministic black. As the now hair dyed duo walked back to the group they were met by an eerily silent Ganju who stuffed Yoruichi inside his green jacket, as he and Ichigo planned to initially play out the Shiba was a new show around, which would be dropped after Ichigo picked up a certain someone that he'd yet to mention to the green clad warrior.

Shinjiro nodded his head as he led the group to the gate keeper of the east. As the rather large squad approached, the gatekeeper's sharp eyes spotted them as he turned his massive muscular body towards the person he had met the day prior.

"So you and you're group return." The shaggy haired giant known as Kaiwan stated in a dull flat tone, he then pointed his tree sized finger towards Ganju and Subaru "What are they doing amongst you're group?"

The now dark haired Kurosaki raised his arm up to flag the giant's attention as he walked closer to Ganju "He's with me. I was sent out to scout for some talent for Shino academy, as part of my patrol route," he jutted his thumb at Ganju who grinned like an idiot to help believability "He's the only one I've found so far."

The wild looking giant nodded his head as it did seem logical since patrol routes around Rukongai sometimes entered from one gate and came in through another, and there never really was any particular set pattern or order in which it was to be conducted. Taking a small moment, the gatekeeper sensed the spiritual power and potential within the little man, solidifying the story. "And you?" he said turning his gaze towards the spy of the group

The spy step forward and bowed to Kaiwan and spoke still bowed "I had just received a recall order from Soifon-taicho via hell butterfly. I am currently on my way to find out why, when I ran into this group and accompanied them since they are entering you're gate. I hope that is acceptable."

The pale giant scoffed "Bah! It's fine, less work for my friends Jidanbo and Danzomaru. You may all enter just give me a moment." The mountain man turned and began opening the gate up after raising about twenty feet up, the group passed through silently, only giving the audible noise of a thank-you for Kaiwan's assistance.

As the enormous door closed behind them, the team broke up into their two man squads and with a silent nod or lingering stare, they separated each going to a different direction all aiming to get as much of a head start as possible before, they would be forced to engage in fighting.

(Kukaku's house)

Kukaku Shiba stood at her front patio overlooking Rukongai, when her eyes caught sight of Jidanbo and the gate opening in the distance, she wheeled around and barked out to Koganehiko and his brother to ensure everything was in order while she herself walked towards the missile silo and began her ritual to prime the flower crane cannon for launch. None of them saw the shadowy figure leave from the Shiba estate and enter into Rukongai following his feet to take him to the place where Ichigo's spiritual pressure still lingered, as well as hers.

(Route to Masaki's home)

On the streets of Rukongai, a ear pierced man in a white business suit with vertically standing black hair and a steel briefcase in his hand strolled through on route to his destination. He was given rather odd looks by the people of Rukongai for his strange clothes, but he didn't bother paying even slight fraction of attention to them.

No, he was focused on reaching his destination. Turning a few more times down the following intersections he arrived at his destination and was mildly surprised to see a pair of Shinigami outside of the building. As he approached the building the death gods overlooking the place took notice of him "Halt." The one sitting on the railing said as he dropped from his perch down to the gravel road to stop the weird looking intruder from taking another step further unto the premises, while his buddy went down via stairs showing a bit more class.

The man in the business suit stopped as the men barred his way "I have business here." He said placing his briefcase down unto the ground knowing he wouldn't need his Zanpaktou that was sleeping inside of it, even if things did turn ugly.

The red haired partner of the gray haired rail sitter stepped forward with an arrogant smirk "Well, I guess you'll just have to reschedule. This area is off limits by the orders of the Sou-taicho." He then feigned a mock look of wonder and brought a hand over his mouth "Oh! But you must not know who that is stranger." He then pointed to the Seireitei in the distance "He's the guy in charge of this place, and placed us in charge to make sure no one goes in this place since it's under investigation. So either back off or…" his smirk returned as he tapped the hilt of his Zanpaktou threateningly "face the consequences."

"Are you done?" the tattooed man questioned in an annoyed tone as he crossed his arms "I'm really not in the mood to deal with insignificant pest, who are getting in way over their heads."

The middle aged gray haired Shinigami quickly took offense to the spirits words "What did you just say to us you arrogant little-"

His rant was quickly cut off by the tan man in the white suit "I was giving you a choice of getting out of my way and living or me single handedly wiping you from creation." He then closed his eyes in slight frustration "But it seems you've made your choice."

The red haired man quickly pulled out his sword "Oh yeah! Think your hot shit, Billy Badass? Come on Argyle, let show-" his confident words were lost in his throat as he turned to his partner and saw that his entire right shoulder was missing from his body actually dangling a couple feet back in the air, and the now named Argyle didn't even seem to realize it.

The man was about to speak to get his companion's attention when he felt a painful strike crash into his rib. With a violent convulsion of his body he tilted his head enough to see the man they were threatening with his hand inside his body.

The tattooed man looked into the other man's eyes apathetically "I'm not allowed to interfere with the major scheme of things, but then I already told you that you were insignificant, even the spirit king agrees." He then leaned in close to the man's ear "That's why the bastard won't save you from me." And with his peace said grabbed hold of one of the Shinigami's ribs and yanked it out of the man's body, sending blood and flesh splattering out, the man crashed to the floor dead, his partner shortly collapsed in pain as well his mind now recognizing his crippled state, and bleeding out from the area of where his limb should have been.

His pain would quickly come to an end as his partner's killer would turn his index finger before launching a beam of energy that engulfed his body leaving no trace of his body behind as the smoke cleared. "I have no pity for those who obstruct my path." He remorselessly claimed using the other dead shinigami's wardrobe to clean his bloodied hand, since he would no longer care wherever he was now.

With it sufficiently clean he picked up his briefcase that carried his weaponry and looked at the door, a small bit of worry and fear with having to reunite with his wife especially since he had run out with infant Senna, after she had heard the truth of himself…and their children. He closed his eyes as the memories of that night and the following day played out, leaving him emotionally pained.

He breathed in a deep inhalation of air to clear his head and steady himself _'I've already gone through so much, and now that I know she's alive I can't run away again. It's time to face the music.'_ He then disappeared from his spot and reappeared in front of the door. He then tapped the door lightly careful not to use his immense strength to startle the one who should be living here. "Masaki-chan. It's me, open up."

When no reply or sound came to him, he mistook it for her anger at him instead of the vacancy that it was. "Please, open up I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you for a really long time about that little fact." He then lowered his head slightly hoping that she might hear his sincerity "But, I was afraid that we would lose the status quo. That you would hate me for what I was…am…a monster. That's why I fled that night and, when I guess you left with three year old Ichigo to look for me the following day, some stupid souls decided to loot and destroy our old house. I just happened to arrive to find our sleeping daughter and save her before making the decision to flee Soul Society, I couldn't fight back the fear that perhaps someone overheard such information or worse." His hand started to slide down the metal door and fell back to his side "I immediately assumed the worst, I knew I couldn't risk anyone having heard such information…for what could happen to you or the children, so I had no choice but to flee, but I had assured myself that by raising Senna into a moral capable woman, one that would make you proud, when we reunited on the other side you'd see that I wasn't a monster, at least by human standards. M-maybe I was wrong to assume what you would think, but having witnessed the way this particular world is, and knowing how you lived all your life here before I came back into it, I couldn't be certain." He closed his black eyes and hung his head in shame, as he re-raised his shaking clenched fist "So please Ma-chan open up and forgive me, we promised to always be open, so at least talk to me now. Say you hate me, tell me that you never want to be near the children again but don't let me hear silence, it is too unbearable." And tapped it against the door

When contact was made by his fist the door fell inside the house's foyer, it's busted hinges no longer able to hold it up, which deeply surprised the sadden man as he barely touched it. After a moment's deliberation he moved one foot unto the metal door and stuck his head into the doorway before stepping inside the dimly lit apartment fully.

"What is this?" he questioned as his eyes, after attuning to the dimly lit corridors, examined various scratch and claw marks along with sword marks. Realization soon dawned on him as he remembered seeing that particular monster Ichigo was fighting so hard ferociously in the cemetery outside Karakura, from his perch thousands of feet above them. Quickly dashing inside the man entered the building and came to what he could tell was the kitchen and dining room…or what was left of it.

His eyes widened just a fraction as he saw the disarray the room was in. The round parlor table was flipped over and broken with the base leaning against the wall, while the circular oval had traces of blood stains on it. Scattered on the ground was various tabloid and news articles that he assumed must have been out when the struggle occurred.

Looking away from the broken chairs and various broken pieces of metal, he saw that all along the walls there were scratch and slash marks as well as slight indentions that seemed to be from blunt force damage and impact. _'Masaki-chan…'_ he thought already having a mental picture of what no doubt transpired here, but it also left many questions

"I don't get it." he muttered as he turned back to face the door that lead into the building. '_That door was broken from it's hinges on the inside. If this place was under investigation, why would they bother putting it back up? It'd just fall back over again.'_

As he continued to ponder the man leaned against the wall with his arms crossed _'and Masaki-chan while friendly and child-like wouldn't just let anybody waltz through here, and considering her strength to be taken down is virtually impossible by some random monster.'_

His thoughts then started drifting to various scenarios that could lead to this and made him wonder how it was his son wasn't killed either. It then hit him like a ton of bricks "Shinigami." He said as everything made sense now "Ichigo's a Shinigami, which means…Aizen. I wouldn't put it past the man to say that he was a friend of Ichigo's but…" his sharp eyes turned back to the wall an noticed the three streak marks "These are without a doubt claw marks, which means that the monster Ichigo fought is Grand Fisher."

The man shook his head "That's a name I haven't heard in a long time. I had actually spent the better part of my existence looking to eradicate that confounded creature to protect Ma-chan. I didn't know that's what it looked like previously, it seems I failed." Letting out a tired sigh he half turned around and looked up towards the ceiling "It seems I will have to take a little more drastic measure since you seem so unwilling to move. Damn your so-called mercy, willing to wipe away life to start 'anew' as you call it. If you had just gotten rid of one man this would never happen, but I suppose it's all for your amusement in the end, just another twisted little game. I became your proverbial devil to humor you and I accepted the pact of servitude, and to let things play out because I had no choice, but if things end as they had again with my son powerless and slain once again, I will lead Aizen to you, and kill you before killing him."

He then fiercely turned his back around as he stood in the doorway "This marks the second time you took her away from me, you owe me." As he turned to walk away a voice rang in his head causing him to stop

_Truly, creation zero? 'I owe you?' Remember I could have easily done away with you but I felt pity upon you and showed you mercy and bestowed upon you an important role in the grand scheme of the universe, my opposite, my destroyer, my servant, and my constant reminder. Hmm…I've taken your words into consideration and had a small change of heart so if you still feel that way then heed my words. Go back to Kukaku's house before heading down to the Seireitei, you will find Aizen, join him and perhaps then maybe you might find your prey, what you do afterward is up to you, it's the beauty I've given of free choice. Just remember to let things play out. I wish to see how things would play out a little more fairly in this game of chess and will not tolerate an unfair advantage on either side._

"Some 'god' you are." the man said bitterly to the voice "You certainly are answering all the prayers of the desperate people struggling out there!"

_Hmhmhm, I am like a stern father to his children. I cannot bear to be forced to destroy outright and for all eternity, but I do wish to see their possibility to grow, which can only be achieved by letting them suffer and endure hardship. Hmph, besides…to create and destroy with but a whim and without having to answer to anyone…is that not what it means to be a god?_

"I suppose, but then who am I to answer?" the man then left to return back to Kukaku's place and put an end to the charade, leaving the spirit king to plan the path that 'Ein' would follow. The divine being smirked coyly as it knew just what to do in both punishing his devil for his impertinence whilst maintain the balance of order.

(Three hours after entry: Ichigo team)

"Come on, Ganju." Ichigo gritted out for what he guessed was the tenth time today, as he led him in the direction of squad four to kidnap Hanataro so they could have access to the sewer system which would greatly assist in getting the two of them to Rukia, and if successful in getting her out, hinder Aizen's plan while he trained for Bankai to take him out.

"R-right." The robust man said rather meekly as he kept his eyes planted square on the back of the now night black locked Shinigami. During their entire stint so far Ganju had never felt more nervous around someone else, even when they were stopped and questioned by the occasional Shinigami walking on by as to why Ganju, or the Rukongai scum by the ruder ones, was here, did he feel such nervousness. It was beginning to irritate him _'Come on Ganju focus! This guy AIN'T Kaien. He looks like him, but he's just another stinkin' soul reaper.'_

Turning down some more of the corridors, Ichigo and Ganju soon came upon a rather shady alleyway that wasn't easily noticeable. "Alright we'll stop here for now." commanded the fourth seat, as they would move out again in a straight shot to grab Hanataro once the panic and chaos really started.

"Fine." replied the green clad Shiba as he plopped down beside Ichigo and rested his head against the white wall of the Seireitei, sending occasionally glances to his 'partner' who sat down cross legged and performed Jinzen to commune with Zangetsu while awaiting the Kukaku special.

(Senna's team)

The only estrogen filled team continued on their route to the eighth division looking as relaxed as possible to seem as inconspicuous as possible. However deep inside Senna's mind scape the hollow, currently taking a back seat and letting the light side be in control, was stewing in her own negative thoughts revolving around last night.

'_**It's always about her…'**_ The dark Miko thought to herself bitterly _**'What makes father think she's so much more special than me? I'm still his daughter too.'**_

Her anger started to rise within her having remembered being so harshly chastised by her parent _**'I am her, and she is me. So why does he favor her more!'**_ Barring her teeth her golden eyes turned away to the nothingness inside the light half _**'That bitch…**_**' "Rrrgh HOW DARE THAT SLUT THINK SHE'S BETTER THAN HER MISTRESS!"**

As Mirokumaru made the declaration in Senna's mind, an unexpected result had occurred within the real world around Senna. The two Shinigami continued walking, until Subaru only heard her own foot steps against the white concrete floor of the Seireitei, turning back around she saw Senna with her head directed to the ground standing as if she was in a trance.

"Senna?" asked the spy trying to garner the girl's attention. When no response was given she turned around fully and examined her from where she was "Senna? Are you ok?"

Senna still kept her head down but this time spoke "ahh, y-yeah, just a head ache." She said to the spy _**'Interesting'**_ commented the one who was actually in charge of Senna's body without her knowing _**'I didn't know I could do this. Maybe I'll have my day in the sun sooner, or perhaps…were meshing faster than anticipated.'**_

"Are you sure?" Subaru said warily since her voice seemed to be a little colder than before. Turning her head in the direction they were going she assumed they weren't too far from Kyoraku's division but she wouldn't make any promises since they had been going rather slowly "Would you like to stop and rest, it'll be one of our last chances."

The female Kurosaki lifted her head up but smiled with her eyes closed in case they had changed "Sure." She answered _**'I suppose this little turn of events will satiate me for the moment, I don't wish to cause this other person to kill me now that I've found this little outlet.'**_

Mirokumaru then began to rein her anger back into the inside of the light half's head, and allowed Senna regain control. Senna being none the wiser immediately clasped her forehead and fell to one knee, which greatly worried the spy about her master's sister's health.

"Senna are you alright!" she asked as she rushed beside the girl and loaned her shoulder

"Y-yeah." She said weakly. Her smile soon gave way to a concerned look "Umm…what were we just talking about, I can't really remember?"

Subaru looked into Senna's face with a calculated look, as she saw that Senna was genuinely serious in her slight moment of lapse. Seeing that nothing else was wrong with her she wrote it off as possibly fatigue since she was no doctor "Let's stop until the cannon is launched. We can't have you collapsing."

(Yoruichi's groups)

The samurai and cat team continued trekking in their own awkward silence. They were currently on route to squad six having briefly joined Ichigo in his respective direction mostly at Shinjiro's bequest to maximize Ichigo's safety before separating to the fastest route he knew available to the penance tower.

"You do know where you're going correct?" asked Yoruichi as she sat upon the man's shoulders curled in a furry ball of fluff

"Yes, now be silent as feline companions do not talk." hushed Shinjiro as he continued walking forward sparing just a small glance to the cat on his shoulder to goad her into remaining quiet

The cat opened one of her eyes and stretched her neck "Come on, I'm just trying to lighten the mood and have a friendly conversation." She purred

"I understand your reasoning, but I just don't wish to partake in it as my mind is currently preoccupied with something else."

"And that would be?" pried the black cat

The man turned down another corridor "My sister, the one you left behind." He said quietly, which brought a sour look unto the cat's face

"I thought you, Ichigo and that other one already understood that it wasn't our fault."

Shinjiro nodded as he continued at a leisurely pace, not sensing any other Shinigami nearby "Yes, I've been aware of this for a while now." He said in confirmation to her claim "I was just thinking about my own guilt…" he stopped walking and looked at the cat who jumped off his shoulders and looked up at Taiga "For a while in the beginning after you left, it was Subaru and I who actively encouraged her to take revenge against you, we fed her flames of anger, and I suppose in our desperate struggle to ensure she kept her sanity from the grief, helped turn her into what she is now." The samurai scratched the side of his head "Though I do blame you in the fact that you could have at least sent a hell butterfly to her prior to leaving to at least say 'you didn't abandon her' or something...anything."

The cat tilted her head as she scratched her ear then stood straight up on her hind legs, like a statue "True, but there isn't much I can change about what happened in the past. I made my choices, and failed to consider others, I admit I could have done something like that, but I'm not going to let it get to me. I'll deal with it when I get the chance." She then started to slink off "But you should be careful, spend too long thinking about the past and you will never live in the present."

As the cat continued walking Shinjiro shrugged "I suppose." He muttered as he continued to follow the cat's lead "So Yoruichi what do you plan on doing? Ever since we separated from the main group you look like you've wanted to ditch me for a while."

The cat turned to look at the face of the serious looking samurai who was awaiting an answer to his question "Well, you're not much fun to be around, and I don't have a lot of time to spare in messing with you. I've got a few things I need to get done, and visit maybe a captain or two to see who I can convince to come along quietly with our plan, and those who won't I'm going to have to put out of commission."

"I see so I take it your leaving now?" Taiga asked though he had a good guess all things considered

The cat hummed before it jumped up to the top of one of the man corridor tops "Yeah," she said as she looked over her shoulder "Don't take it the wrong way Shin-kun, but your just not my type a guy, waaaay too uptight and rigid like Byakuya-chan." She then smiled her catty grin "See ya!" and disappeared over the wall

Shinjiro looked at the spot Yoruichi disappeared from and shook his head disappointedly "I know I'm happily married but for some reason, when SHE says that I'm too uptight, it gets to me." Ignoring the slight feeling of shame from literally being brushed off by something close to a lower species he continued on route to squad six.

(Yamamoto: 3h &30m after intrusion)

Sou-Taicho Yamamoto stood at attention with a visibly angered look upon his face. Not even two hours ago, he had received a hell butterfly from Jidanbo of the south gate. He nearly had a heart attack from what was detailed in the message, along with the actions of Taicho Gin Ichimaru, which was precisely why he had called an emergency meeting to order, and was now only awaiting the arrival of Ichimaru.

After a matter of minutes the ever smiling Taicho finally slinked into the room "Sorry I'm late, I got a little tied up with my troops and giving instruction, (sigh) Kira's got a long way still." He then glanced at the assembled crowd of stern looking Taichos "My, my all this for little old me, I hope I didn't keep you ladies and gents waiting too long."

"You are fashionably late to this meeting," stated Yamamoto coldly from his spot "But since part of what I have called you all here for, of which pertains to you as well, just stay where you are."

Having addressed that little detail the ancient Shinigami took in a deep breath of air before he spoke again "Ladies and Gentlemen of this assembly, I just received word from the gate keeper of the south gate, Jidanbo, that we were under attack by an unknown force, but from what was described, it is obviously Masaki Kurosaki's faction making itself known now."

Unohana felt a small jab at his words, still in conflict with the decision but acknowledging that since there was nothing to the contrary she was to be labeled a traitor, though in her eyes she was still her Sensei. Recomposing herself she asked "Are you certain of this? What was it that Jidanbo described that draws to the conclusion that it is her forces?"

"The assailants who attacked the gate was a boy and girl."

Now it was Byakuya who would speak, his mind jumping to one man "This boy…" he spat "doesn't happen to have orange hair and a sword as long his body correct?" The silence the Sou-taicho gave in response to the question was all the answer that the gathered team needed.

"It seems you are losing your edge, Byakuya Kuchiki." Soifon said coldly even though she was feeling quite mixed on the inside, since she had wished for this chance to see him again and didn't know if this was miracle or a curse.

Byakuya turned an impassive eye to the woman "My blade has lost none of its bite, though I will rectify the situation, if it would please everyone."

"Oh? This is getting interesting. A man who can survive being decimated by a Taicho, sounds like my kinda fellow." Zaraki mused with infernal grin at this latest development "Heh, Why don't I go deal with this little problem that fancy pants can't seem to handle."

"All of you silence." commanded Yamamoto as he banged his cane against the wooden floor of the hallway, regaining their attention "I am going to pardon Kuchiki-Taicho's failure in the regard that this woman who was seen with Ichigo might possess the ability to resuscitate the dead or I suppose in this case dying, which might have something to do with Masaki if we can capture her, it may give us more insight to the situation."

"Thank-you Sou-Taicho, I will have a word with Fuka-Taicho Abarai later since he claimed to have dealt with a female individual which now makes me doubt his loyalties particularly of his own relationship to the one we have captured earlier on that mission."

"Your devotion to the law is quite inspiring Taicho." Gin complimented in a smooth tone as he clapped his hand together "You're a model to us all."

"Speaking of devotion." said Aizen as he looked to the only captain not standing in line before pushing his glasses up with his index finger "Why is it that we were told Ichimaru-Taicho, had something pertaining to him and yet he has not been brought up so far."

Yamamoto nodded his head "Yes, thank-you for returning us back to the point I was going to make about our Taicho in front of us. You see detailed in the report from Jidanbo, he clearly stated that you, Gin." He poked his staff towards the man "attacked the intruders with your Shikai and then attacked Jidanbo, wounding him while simultaneously failing to kill the intruders he also says he heard you say something about 'making things interesting'. You also failed to make a report about that incident, so tell me what do you have to say for yourself?"

If it was possible the side of the man's lips curved upwards from being put on the spot. "Weell let's see I suppose I should start at the top with the first accusation, otherwise you might get lost." He opened his eyes for just a minute while still maintaining the smug look on his face "Wouldn't want that…" he then closed his eyes and crossed his arms with a look that said 'I'm thinking here' "I happened to be taken stroll in that side of Seireitei after finishing my paper work, which I am proud to say I got done in record time, when I happened to see the gate rising. So figuring I should be a respectable role model I went to go give congratulation for our hard working Shinigami returning, explaining why I went off in that direction. It was there that I saw the boy and girl entering."

Taking a small breath the third Taicho continued with his childish grin still in place "I recognized the man since he was the hot commodity of last year, and I had wanted him in my division even though he ended up going to Soifon-chan, in the end."

"Get to the point, Taicho." demanded Soifon not appreciating being called Soifon–chan or any other deviation of the affectionate phrase by anyone she didn't even remotely like.

"All right, all right." He said defensively as he brought his hand up to ease the girl off his case "Back to where I left off, since I saw the guy I decided to stop them. I figured since I was in Seireitei and thus at full power Shinso would be more than enough, to kill him as to failing to report it well...I didn't want to smear the Kuchiki name by saying 'Oh you missed a spot'. As for the gatekeeper, can we really trust his words? After all he did open the front gate to our most hated enemy."

As the words left the man's mouth, the assembly took in Ichimaru's account and despite it's suspect nature, the man in question sense of professionalism notwithstanding, they had to bring a light upon Jidanbo and his actions, since they too were treasonous and Gin did act perhaps not the best of actions but certainly well enough to avoid most punishment for his oversight.

After mentally weighing things and after seeing how it would take more than marginal effort Yamamoto opened his mouth and give a verdict on Gin only to immediately close it as the building started to shake and a ear piercing screech was heard throughout the hall. All the captains looked to see Fuka-Taicho Sasakibe running frantically towards them having barged through the double doors. As he dropped down to his knees an abnormally loud thunderclap rang

"A thousand apologies, Taicho's but we seem to be under attack. Roughly fifteen minutes ago, a large star like object appeared in the southern sky and it has just now come crashing into the seki seki shield." The very tan man looked up at his captain "What are your orders!"

"Calm yourself, Sasakibe." ordered Yamamoto who narrowed his eyes as he thought up a good course of action for now "All right, captain's Soifon, Ukitake, Ichimaru take some of your men and send them to the other side of Jidanbo's gate. Investigate for any suspicious individuals. Lethal force is authorized. Is there anything else that you can report?"

"No, sir. Nothing unusual except that the attack was a golden sphere that seemed to flatten before breaking apart.""

"No chances can be afforded to be taken. I am also going to authorize that all Shinigami are to carry their Zanpaktou's as well as allow them to release their Shikai. In addition, I want all of your men to increase patrols and if they find anyone even remotely suspicious to arrest them, we have little room for anymore mistakes. Remember to try and capture the ring leaders particularly the woman or boy mentioned by Jidanbo. I will inform you if I make any changes to my orders, otherwise you are free to act at your discretion. You have your orders dismissed." The head Shinigami commanded as he turned around to return back to his office to try and think of what might be coming next since they knew nothing of their enemy thus far.

As the Taicho's started to file out, Toshiro Hitsuguaya as well as Soifon happened to overhear a snippet of conversation between Aizen and Gin as the former passed the later

"You certainly know how to slither out of danger, don't you Gin." said Aizen with a calm smile despite being less than pleased by his subordinates actions

"Perhaps, but if things always worked out perfectly, it'd just be sooo~ boring. I prefer to liven things up a bit if that's ok with you." The silver haired devil said with a sub seated grin

"I will be keeping a much firmer eye you now." He said as he passed by following behind Unohana and Soifon

"Whatever makes you happy, just watch yourself."

(Toshiro)

After the meeting had ended, Toshiro quickly returned back to his office as fast as he could to put this new found information to good use. As the miniature man entered his office, he immediately called Rangiku to his side.

"What's up Taicho?" she said with a cheery smile as she approached her captain's desk and took a seat on the edge of it

"I may have just picked up another lead." replied the small man as he looked at the bombshell with a brooding stare "You might not like it, but at the Taicho's meeting Gin Ichimaru and Sosuke Aizen had a brief conversation as they passed by each other."

Rangiku's smile decreased at what he was saying "Are you saying that they had something to do with what happened to Ichigo-kun?"

Despite the pretense that Rangiku brought, Toshiro didn't falter "I understand that it seems strange, but Aizen along with myself suspect Gin of being the culprit. However there's this huge gap that makes no sense. If what that second division member said is true, Gin met Ichigo prior to this, so then why attempt to kill him? To make it seem staged?" He asked analytically trying to work out this puzzle

"You think he was showing off?" Matsumoto queried "But to who exactly?"

"That's what doesn't make sense. According to the meeting the gate keeper opened up, it would be more productive to let them in and never report it, and yet he did." sighing the Taicho got up from his desk and walked around it allowing his mind to try and play out anything that could be of use

As the fuka-taicho watched the tiny man work his brain she decided to throw in a simple short term solution to give the confidence needed for a breakthrough in the investigation "Well, why don't you observe Gin then if he's on your mind so much." She said simply bring the other person's attention back to her "I don't want to say it but If he is a traitor and he's under watch by Aizen-Taicho, shouldn't you keep an eye out to make sure nothing happens between them?"

Letting the words filter through, the intelligent man did agree with her words and started toying with the idea that maybe Mayuri tinkered with her brain thus why she was rather spot on "That's actually a very good idea." The man then smirked approvingly "A very good idea indeed, Matsumoto."

The orange haired bomb shell clapped her hands together and sent a wink and smile at him "Great, so you do that, and I'll investigate the nearest Sake bar, you hear all kinds of rumors there!"

Toshiro moment of happiness was abruptly shattered as reality seemed to kick back in for Rangiku. He was about to bark out an order against her usual antics but a thought came across him "Alright, I'll let you go to the bar to 'find some rumors' if you bring Hinamora to me."

"Oh?" The woman smiled brazenly at the implications "Looking for some alone time Taicho?" she teased seductively to the boy

"NO MATSUMOTO! I was just worried about something!" he shot back taking down her claims of intimacy despite his flush of embarrassment "I was just worried that Ichimaru if he is a traitor might try and lash out against Momo for being Aizen's Fuka-Taicho."

The worry in his voice from the scenario, made Rangiku grimace since it was a distinct possibility and while she didn't like to suspect Gin for being a traitor, she wouldn't dare deny his outlook on life was always changing and that he seemed oddly fixated on shaping people. "Alright, I'll be back." She said quietly as she turned to the office door, after opening it and stepping through. She looked back at the frowning face of her captain and decided maybe it was time to lighten the mood before leaving "Oh, captain. I put the latest report in the first drawer of your desk, it kinda needs attending." She informed before disappearing

'_That's odd…when does she actually work around here?'_ the man thought to himself having seen the woman off. Still he supposed that if she actually decided to do something, he shouldn't ignore such s blessing in disguise. Pushing his easy chair back he clasped the knob of the first opening and pulled it out.

Peering into the drawer his eyes suddenly began to twitch in annoyance and anger at what he saw. Instead of a stack of documents like his lazy fuka-taicho had promised their lay a single flat circular device that had one word written on the packaging.

Trojan.

"MMMAAATTTSUMOOTOOOO!" the voice of the irate Hitsuguaya rang all throughout the tenth division barracks

(Soifon)

Having vacated the meeting hall with that odd bit of conversation the cold captain walked through her barracks and back to her office to put together this strange occurrence. _'Not once, but twice have captains failed to kill him…'_ she mentally recited trying to hide her annoyance that two highly distinguished captains failed to do a task like that, though she did have some understanding as the boy in question was quite good at doing impossible things.

"Still Ichimaru should have made sure that the boy was dead before leaving, so then why?" she asked herself as she stepped into her office. Removing her Haori and throwing it to rest on the back of her chair, she sat down to mull over what she heard.

As seconds and then minutes continued to tick by with no answer in sight, the woman decided to forgo it, as it seemed that Aizen was already on top of it so she shouldn't get too involved, besides she as well as Ukitake and Gin himself had orders to mobilize their men. Reaching down she pulled out her roster for all members of the stealth and punishment force and members of squad two to decide who would go out for the mission.

She started to read down from the top of the list. 'Soifon' she read before immediately grabbing a red pen and slashing her name off the list since she had other duties to attend and couldn't afford to waste her time on guard duty unless it turned out to be the front line of everything which she wouldn't bet too much on since the enemy forces size was unknown at this crucial point in time. Coming next in line was 'Omeada', here she had a mental debate with sending him off to his possible death which was a neat prospect, and would get the clan proposal off her back, the only opposition that she could come up with was it being ethical decision or even a logical decision. It was however shot down when the female remembered it was joint-operation with three and thirteen meaning more competent people to make up for her lack of competent fuka-taicho so with a dark smile she circled his name, and continued which brought the woman to 'Subaru'. She frowned as it had been about a day and a half since she last heard or even seen the spy, which did worry her about the third seat's well being.

'_Certainly not like her to skip out on work and not inform me, I'll need to have chat with her later…'_ she concluded as she crossed her name off the list since she couldn't very well send out someone who wasn't around and couldn't be contacted via normal means, which brought her to the fourth name on the list.

The bluenette let out an exasperated sigh as she moved her arm to rest her head against it and stared at the name with a mix of disdain and calmness "Ichigo." She uttered

Breaking her gaze away she pushed herself out of her chair and started to pace around her office space casting the occasional glance back at the roster, standing perfectly straight for a second to look at it as if to say something before suppressing it and continuing her aggravated pacing. "Damn it." she said as she stopped her pacing and shot a dirty look at the documentation almost as if she was sending it to the person she was thinking about "Y-you don't hold sway over me! I am Captain Soifon of the second division, I am the leader of the Onimitsukido and I am without exploitable weakness. I don't hesitate. I stand vigilant in protecting the law of Seireitei, I do any order without fear and I…" her voice trailed off as a cold shutter seeped through her body _'have never been more alone.'_

'_No, no, no!'_ she mentally yelled at herself for her pathetic self-pity and obvious show of weakness "You are my enemy, I won't hesitate to eradicate you, I will find you and eliminate you and all of your allies Kurosaki or my name isn't Soifon!" She proclaimed ferverently, unwilling to allow herself to rest while he was still out there. Returning back to her desk, she slammed the intercom to life and called for Omeada to get his large ass in here for a mission.

One of great importance.

(Kukaku)

"Hahaha! Would you look at that!" the grinning lady of Shiba exclaimed from seeing the damage the flower crane cannon was capable of doing against the Seki Seki Barrier around the Seireitei, she was very impressed indeed.

"What shall we do now Kukaku-sama?" the twin in yellow asked from his kneeling position looking up only with his head

"Heh. You really have to ask!" she then flipped her head to the side the rough black hair swinging behind her as her very dangerous grin grew by the second "We're gonna go down there tomorrow when the reapers send out a scout party and kick some Shinigami ass!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" the twins replied in unisonance

"No. You will stay here, and I will go now." A voice called from behind them to stop them from intervening with his plan

Turning around it took the fireworks master a moment for her to place the voice and the face when it clicked "Hey you're…"

(Ichigo's group)

"You still with me Ganju?" Ichigo asked as they ran down another corridor moving as quickly as they can since all the attention would be diverted to the south gate leaving them a clear path to abduct one Hanataro Yamada.

"Yes, I'm with ya! Dandelion head." he muttering the last part

Still turning down the corner the duo saw a pair of Soul reaper's heading their way laughing and joking from the direction of the fourth. The one on the left was a bald man with some red war paint extending from the upper portion of his eyes, his mouth was hanging open as the laughter came from his throat, his standard issue hakama parted in the center to provide a resting spot for his hand as he walked beside his comrade. The other man? That Ichigo and Ganju saw was a very effeminate looking individual with a pair of feathers protruding from a lock of his black hair and from his left eye brow. He was clad in Shinigami attire except that around the neck an orange turtle neck of sorts stuck out.

"Haha! That was so much fun screwing with those wimps right Yume-" the man stopped mid sentence as he looked at the black haired Shinigami in front of him and his fellow in green "Who the hell are you guys?" the bald guy asked

"The Shinigami here was just taking me to the fourth division." Ganju said using the lie that was thought up to get them past most patrols

The effeminate looking one squinted his eyes before turning his head in disgust "Oh my where did you pick this horrendously ugly cow? And that smell…did you get him from a manure farm?"

"What was that!" Ganju snarled hotly as he barred his teeth while Ichigo had to stop himself from laugh aloud

"Ugghh…it's look at me." Yumichika scoffed disgustedly "Ikkaku can you kill it for me, I feel it's gaze is causing blemishes upon my countenance."

The bald man now known as Ikkaku laughed even harder "Sure, why not. I was looking forward to a fight today," he moved his eyes over to Ichigo as a devilish grin started to spread across his face causing Ichigo to take step back and grab Zangetsu's hilt "And I think I lucked out."

"Attacking a fellow Shinigami is a crime you know…" Ichigo warned trying to get the guy to back down before he complicated things

Too bad for Ichigo, Ikkaku wasn't one to back down over technicalities or the law "So what! A man's gotta know when to put his pride and life on the line. 'To enjoy fighting and do it till ya die' that's the eleventh's way." He replied pulling out his sword from it's sheath while using his free hand to hold the sheath in a battle stance

"Ganju stand back." Ichigo warned to his comrade who gave the strawberry a wide berth "Fine, if I can't convince you, I suppose I'll have to beat you into submission."

'_Be wary Ichigo, if you use too much power you will certainly gain Shaolin, Toshiro or Retsu's attention which will result in your death.'_ Zangetsu warned since they were the most familiar with his spiritual signature and probably hadn't sent out all their soldiers yet.

'_Got it.'_

Yumichika boredly turned his eyes away from the two combatants and peered over to Ganju "Hmmm…I suppose if you want something done you should do it yourself." He started to walk over to the man his hand lightly touching the hilt and pulling it out from it's sheath "Bloom for me, Fuji Kujaku!"

Ganju took a back step as he watched the metrosexual's sword change from its single edge into a curved four bladed scythe attached to the hilt of his blade.

Understanding the man's purpose Ichigo tried to get between Ganju and Yumichika only for him to be forced to jump back as Ikkaku swung his sword preventing him from interfering "Sorry, but he's not your enemy."

"I won't let you kill my charge!" Ichigo gritted as he tried to think of some way to save Ganju. As the man's words of the eleventh division's motto resurfaced in his mind he decided to at least jump for straws "If you want a fight so badly then I'll do it, but if your friend there doesn't stop messing with him, I'll be distracted and lose."

Ichigo's word clicked at the man's reasoning center. Madarame could tell this person was strong, but he seemed to be diverting more attention towards the guy in green beside him rather than him the guy who was trying to off him. "Hey, Yumichika wait up a second!" He called to his friend stopping him in his tracks and thankfully taking his eyes off the ugly pig as he so put it

"Yes~?" he said with a sparkly smile

"How about a little wager? I beat you and Yumi here gets a crack at bandana man, you win we'll let you walk right on by!"

"Agreed!" said Ichigo while Yumichika muttered about leaving something so disgraceful to taint the world but was ignored by the hot blooded men.

"Fine then but first tell me you name!" the eleventh division member demanded as he slammed his hilt into his sheath holding it horizontally in front of his body

"…Hachi Yojimbo." lied Ichigo taking a moment to think up some kind of alias since he didn't anticipate being asked such a question, usually only getting a 'where you heading?' or some variation of the question.

"You're lying." Ikkaku spat disgusted that the man wouldn't tell his real name like an honorable warrior "Are you trying to disrespect me? I asked your name because I deserve to know the name of the man who killed me, should you do it here. Your lie is insulting my integrity!"

Ichigo's eyes looked into the angry face of Ikkaku "Sorry…I didn't mean to do that…but associating with me is rather…dangerous. That's why I lied to you."

"Fine, I can take that answer then Mr. 'Hachi Yojimbo'." He said with a vicious smirk at the idea that this guy might be like his captain who left a trail of bodies in his wake "My name is Ikkaku Madarame third seat of squad eleven, so don't be mad when I kill you! Extend Hozukimaru!"

The man's weapon and sheath lit up as it started to grow outward and became a large naginata with a wooden handle that extended of the full length of Ikkaku's arms with a small tassel of red hair dangling from the back end. Sinking into his stance the spearmen lowered the edge of the naginata close to the ground showing he was ready. Ichigo cast one final glance to Yumichika before charging Ikkaku.

Ikkaku quickly gripped his weapon and charged back raising the weapon in a quick upward arc, that Ichigo dodged by shifting his body to the left. The bald man grinned since his opponent had fallen for the ruse of his weapon "Split apart!" he yelled

The Naginata separated into three parts and with a quick lashing of his arm struck the neck and shoulder area of the orange haired Shinigami with the hard wooden parts while the blade left a scratch mark from pulling away from his clothing.

Allowing himself to touch the wound he was relieved that it wouldn't be anything severe. "Seems your weapon's got it's own bag of tricks." said Ichigo as he steadied himself while Ikkaku spun his weapon around his shoulders quickly before hardening it back up into its naginata form

"You ain't seen nothing yet!" he declared as he lunged the spear forward which Ichigo countered by striking against the wooden part just underneath the naga's blade keeping it away from him. As it separated again, Ichigo ducked under the sweeping return of the weapon and brought his sword up in an attempt to slash the bald man, only for said man to spin his weapon like a nunchaku around his shoulders knocking Ichigo's attack back.

Seeing an opening Ikkaku whipped around his three sectional staff and tried to smash the man against the side of his head. Ichigo's hand however let go of the hilt of Zangetsu and grabbed the weapon and with a quick yank pulled the man in before delivering a kick to his mid section.

As the man got kicked back he returned the favor by pulling on his end of the Zanpaktou sucking the blades edge through Ichigo's hand and cutting the man, forcing him to wince and shake his hand to numb off the pain.

Pulling his blade back into it's spear form the older man couldn't help smirking at his opponent "Well, well, you got some nice hand to hand moves, I'd say you're from the second ain't ya 'Hachi-san'?"

Ichigo didn't reply as he raised his guard up once again, which caused Ikkaku's grin to grow even wider as he thought he was starting to get to him "Well fake name aren't you gonna answer? Or does the cat got your tongue?"

"You didn't bother fighting fair with your Zanpaktou ability, so I think it's fair that I don't give you any more information." Ichigo said with a smirk

Ikkaku was slightly taken aback before he busted out loud laughing "Ahaha, that's pretty good. I guess you got a point." He took his eye and stared into Ichigo's own eyes and saw a certain fire inside of them, a fire that made him more excited by the second "Tell you what let's decide this right here right now!" he quickly spun his weapon over his head before bringing it down the blades edge shimmering in the light

Ichigo sensing that Ikkaku spiritual pressure was rising decided he needed to end it before it go too large and people started to take notice "Fine." He said as he turned sideways a bit and flipped Zangetsu into a reverse grip and had it lean against his hip while the blades edge wrapped around the backside of his body.

'_Let's see this should be the stance for the Yamato quick draw.'_ Ichigo imitated having been taught just a little of the fundamentals of the Yamato style of combat from Shinjiro during his year long stint

"Here. I. COME!" the man yelled as he jumped high into the air as he brought the naginata down ready to run his opponent through

Focusing all his attention on the incoming enemy, Ichigo's breathing slowed down a bit and with expert timing quickly drew the zweihandler and slammed into the edge of Ikkaku's weapon knocking him off balance in mid air, and providing Ichigo the stop necessary to pull back his sword for his real attack.

Quickly pumping energy into his Zanpaktou Ichigo slashed at Ikkaku knocking his dangling body back several yards but not using enough energy to force out that beam like attack he had been using on a more frequent basis. Ikkaku let out a groan as he slammed into the ground and toppled over to his stomach his Zanpaktou laying just out of arms reach.

Take a quick inhalation the third seat propped himself up only to feel the cold blade of his opponent against his neck. Turning his head Ikkaku shot an excited grin to his executioner "Your really something, you know that." He turned his head away and bowed his head "You beat me now get it over with!"

To his surprise Ichigo pulled the sword away and motioned for Ganju to come to him, feeling slighted by the dark haired man's ignoring off him, he yelled out "Don't you dare turn your back on me!"

"Shut up." Ichigo said with a chilling look "I let you live because killing you doesn't help my cause. Be thankful." And continued to walk on by continuing his journey to the fourth while nursing his small wounds via healing kido

Ikkaku looked at the form of the man and his guy as they started to put more distance between them. Taking a small glance at his naginata the man quickly jumped to his feet and called out "Hey!"

The pair stopped again and turned back to the man "What?" he said with a hard edge signifying his annoyance now

"Give me your real name. I want to know the name of the guy that beat me."

Looking into his eyes, Ichigo could see that the guy would probably hound them if he didn't give some kind of response which would kill their inconspicuous nature so far. Taking a few more seconds to mull his thought over Ichigo turned back around and yelled back "Only way to beat me is to go through Soul Society, because I'm going to defeat everyone from non-seated officer to captains to get the real culprits. You can train yourselves on them until we meet again, as for a name…I'm Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki, son of the miracle worker."

With his peace said the two men quickly fled down the road to try and make up the lost time in having to deal with this slight distraction. Seeing the forms of the men disappear down another alleyway the untouched Yumichika walked over and picked up Hozukimaru from the ground "Hmmm…that man certainly lives up to his claims of being dangerous." He then smiled as he extended his hand that had the weapon out to Ikkaku "His pristine words radiate such beauty, add to the fact that he is going against such formidable powers merely accents his elegance. I must admit I never thought I would find someone who matches so closely to our own beauty."

"Heh! Your damn right Yumichika!" the grinning man beside the fifth seat proclaimed, the words of Zaraki telling him of how lucky he was to be able to survive ringing clearly in his ears "Let's go talk to Kenpachi, I'm sure he'll be looking forward to this kinda blood-shed."

"Hmmhmm, then let us be off."

(Evening: Omeada)

Marechiyo Omeada looked on boredly as he sat against the Rukongai side of the Seki Seki wall, while the rest of the Shinigami from various other squads waited for any further possible attacks. It had been little over three hours after being called into his spitfire's office, mostly because since Jidanbo was unable to open the door they had to go the long way through the west gate and travel around the side. The large man let out a contented sigh as he recalled being selected for the mission against the evils that threatened the union between them

(Flash back/Omeada Vision)

Upon entering the office of squad two's captain Soifon. Marechiyo Omeada caught sight of the smug grin she was sending his way. "Omeada-kun, have a seat I have a mission just for you." As the man took a few swagger filled step to the chair in her office, he propped his feet up on her desk and sent her a confident smile

"So what can THE Marechiyo Yoshiayamenosuke NikkōtarōemonOmeada do for you beautiful?" he asked in smooth tone, that judging by the look on her face, she couldn't help but feel impressed by how cool he looked and had to remember her place and stop herself from squealing out loud like one of his legions of fan girls, but she knew he probably wouldn't have minded the outburst.

"As your brilliant mind has no doubt figured out, and your ears have almost guaranteedly heard, we were under attack earlier today, specifically from the south gate. I was ordered to send some of my forces and name a commander for my squad."

The large man let out a groan that seemed to stem from dismotivation sending worry through the female captain of losing her star fuka-taicho and fiancée's attention "I don't know Taicho. I got a bunch of other things to do are you sure no one else can go?"

The captain shook her head "I'm afraid not. You see my options were: choose my horrendously incompetent, unforgivably ugly, and dipshitted fourth seat who, fortunately for me, is going to be killed for the traitorous vermin that he is unlike you." sending the man a small wink making his smile stretch a bit more and continued with her deductive reasoning "My third seat Subaru, I would have gone with this one and chose not to disturb you, unfortunately she isn't here at the moment, and I will have to speak with her about punctuality and take after your shining example, next would be you as your brilliant tactics and overwhelming power would quash any opposing forces and well…" the bluenette turned away with from what he saw a firm dashing of pink on her cheeks "if I didn't choose you then I'd have to go myself, and I wouldn't be able to welcome you back, Marechiyo-kun."

The man's cool smirk didn't leave his face as he continued to look at the woman, her embarrassment from almost having to beg for HIS assistance would have been comical to some, but to him it just made her all the more adorable "Oh? Well, since it's you…I guess, I can make an exception." He claimed as he brought his feet of the table and leaned over the desk bring his face close to his lover, the closeness making the girl stiffen and gulp no doubt from the man's charisma and charm "But I'll be expecting something in return if you catch my drift."

"J-j-just go Marechiyo." She stuttered out seemingly regretting not leaning forward and catching his lips, as he started to exit the room he heard her say in an almost dreamy fashion "What a man~."

(flash back/Omeada Vision end)

The large man finished his recollection of the event as he returned his gaze back to one of the many approaching members of squad two

"Sir, we have confirmation of an individual approaching the gate. Your orders?" the messenger asked patiently

The giant kicked himself off his comfortable resting spot and eyed the idiot in front of him "Use your head stupid. Go tell the other groups so we can get ready to greet our guest." He barked out, as the man turned to leave the fuka-taicho rested both his hands on his Zanpaktou's hilt to at least seem important in the grand scheme of things, while the rest of the Shinigami scrambled into their ranks, and Jidanbo waved off his healers to let them go tend to any allies that might get hurt, his own experience with dealing with Ichigo having taught him to just let anyone else of the 'invading' forces to waltz on by without incident.

As the individual came closer they saw that it was a man with short black hair and tan skin, with a round tattoo in the shape of an 'o' on one of his cheeks and a round silver earring resting in his ear lobe. He was wearing a white business suit and slung just underneath his left arm was a katana, which all the Shinigami recognized as a Zanpaktou. The man stopped his easy stroll forward as the large collaboration of black clothed Shinigami started to converge closer to his location. The man continued to watch them annoyance beginning to flicker across his features doing his best to remain calm and follow according to the plan and promise.

Once they were within two hundred yards he called out to the black-clad mob "Can I help you, ladies and Gentlemen? I'm currently in a hurry and you are all impeding my path."

Omeada broke away from the assembly and approached the man with Kiyone and Sentaro flanking him. The large man and the two third seats stopped a few feet away from the lone figure. "Evening commoner." proclaimed the bulky man as he grabbed his Zanpaktou, his eyes half-lidded with smugness "You are currently under arrest for the attacking of Seireitei as well as conspiracy and seeking to overthrow the Shinigami. Do you have any last wishes before we put you out of your misery?"

Isshin sighed as he tried to fight off the headache that was starting to pound inside his head with having to deal with some many idiots getting in his way recently "Look, I normally don't like hurting people. But I'm in a foul mood and you are really starting to piss me off, so I'll give you an easy choice: Either let me on by or I'll show you what I can really do." He threatened releasing a very small fraction of his power which worried the three since it was about third seat or even fuka-taicho and the man didn't seem like he was trying.

Acting quickly Kiyone tried to be the peace-maker of the group to prevent casualties "Look, if you want to enter Seireitei, you're going to have to surrender your weapon and answer a few questions. We've already been attacked before and we're to arrest anyone suspicious, which you fall under sir."

The man cast a bored look to the blond girl before turning his eye back to the round fuka-taicho beside her "As sensible as that is, and I would normally cooperate. I'm quite familiar with Seireitei's judicial system; trust me I've been around the block several times compared to everyone else here. So while you may earnestly wish to cooperate, the ones in charge will easily overrule you should they feel to the contrary."

"Don't do this." Sentaro warned trying to salvage what he could, which didn't seem to work as the man merely shook his head in disagreement

"I am doing something that the universe and all forms of life hinge upon, I did enjoy this chat and for that I shall spare you, however I must show my strength now or the one I wish to meet will merely overlook me, besides this is all part of the plan." As the words left the man's mouth he quickly vanished and appeared behind them, their bodies hitting the floor all of them being struck multiple times and falling unconscious.

Seeing some of their commanders down the mob rushed forward to attack the man and bring him down with their overwhelming numbers. The ancient Kurosaki had to bite back a laugh from escaping as he levitated backward slightly into the air and pointed a single finger at the oncoming group "Cero." He muttered as a red beam of light gathered an inch away from his index finger expanding within seconds and shot outward consuming a fair portion of the charging group in the crimson light.

The devastating and unheard of attack made all the Shinigami who remained freeze in terror at just what kind of monster they were dealing with. As the man softly touched upon the ground again, he quickly passed through the crowd in a matter of seconds before staring at the large wooden gate less than 10 yards away from Jidanbo spot. He merely dusted his hands off as he put one hand under the massive gate and did a feat that almost no others could do. He lifted it up, just enough where he could walk underneath it, as he continued to walk forward proceeding into Seireitei he stopped about half-way through and looked back at the stunned assembly, his mind recalling Ichigo and his friend's plan from the times he overheard them "Before I take my leave I thought it be just a certain amount of fair sportsmanship to tell you a little something-something." A smirk on his face already anticipating their reaction "The ones who are attacking Soul Society are Soul reapers just like you from a bunch of other divisions, good luck finding out who to trust." And with that he walked the remaining distance and allowed the door to slam behind him forcing the other on the other side to have to go through the east or west gates again to reach Seireitei, with information that would greatly change things.

With the gate closed the man closed his eyes and used his senses and found his target, just like it was promised. Using his sonido he rushed through to the place where he needed to be, as came out of his speed of sound movement he saw two Taicho's walking in the opposite direction of him. Though they were easily able to detect his presence since his reiatsu was riled up and turned to greet this new comer who could apparently see them despite Aizen having everyone he could think of believing him to be in his office. "Can I help you sir?" asked Aizen intrigued by this anomaly but would soon slide into eradication if something else tried to jeopardize his plans further

'Ein' smiled as he stared into the calculating face of the guy who had caused untold suffering and wide-spread devastation without anything beyond the tools that he already possessed. Noticing that the question still went unanswered the man chirped up "Sorry, it's just been so long since I last saw you Sosuke Aizen. I almost forgot what you looked like." His smile that he had soon faltered into a business look "But yes, I do believe you can help me. You see I'm quite aware of what you plan to do."

"And that would be?" the bespectacled man queried as he shut off the sound of anyone within the nearby space in case any passersby happened to overhear

"You want to become a god or something right? Well I'm saying I'll help you for a price."

A cold gaze launched itself at the tan man from the genius who was less than pleased to find out that someone else was aware of what he was doing, turning a slight gaze to Gin, who caught the hint and reached for his Zanpaktou. He was quickly stopped as the man crossed the distance and placed a hand on the hilt preventing him from drawing it further "Let's keep things civil." He said in a low tone "After all if we were to get in a fight, I'd have to hold back so I would die but then so would you."

"You certainly seem confident, that you could take on both Ichimaru and I. If what you say is true tell me then why do you need our help?" the smiling face of Aizen asked of the man while he silently told Gin to stand down for the moment.

Removing his hand from his soon to be comrade, Isshin explained "Let's just say I have a gut feeling the person I seek to destroy is within your ranks. So instead of pretending you don't exist and spend another good chunk of my life searching afterlife in all its entirety, I think I'll expedite my search of the creature by temporarily partnering with you, it's puppet master. Don't think it solely benefits me however for in exchange I'll fight alongside you until I die or feel to the contrary and back out on our arrangement."

Aizen blinked as he stared into the eyes of his prospective gutsy and still nameless comrade, as he peered he saw a brief hint of emotion that made the man extremely confident about his chances should he be doubled crossed in the future, the look of sheer desperation. "Very well, follow me and I shall transport you to Hueco Mundo where you will await my orders."

Sosuke then turned around and beckoned for them to follow him to the central forty-six's head quarters. As they proceeded Gin asked aloud blatantly ignoring the other man's presence with his words "So why aren't you going to use Kyoka Suigetsu on him? You were mad enough at me, when I messed with your plan earlier. Doesn't this even remotely seem like a liability, we barely know anything about this guy?"

Aizen looked back to his comrade for the future "Not at all you see desperation is a cage upon the mind itself, that foolish individuals traps themselves in to cling to hope, forgetting the fact they leave themselves open to words and shadows of what they wish to grasp. So you see there is no point in trying to control a desperate man any further then he already is. I already hold him within the palm of my hands for I know what he desires, We both know he will do well to not skirt the line of my patience. Regardless Gin, we will enter phase two of the plan, I hope you've prepared yourself from the attention you will no doubt be receiving from Hinamora and Hitsuguaya."

"It's not my fault you're gonna die." Gin muttered with a devilish smirk with being able to mess with so many people with but a single action, even if he virtually had almost nothing to do with it.

"You're certainly confident, I wish you well." Isshin bided the men _'because it won't save you from my son and daughter Aizen.'_

Aizen turned to the third wheel "Confidence is for the foolhardy. I am merely making calculated risks with a level head, anticipating a specific outcome which will benefit me in the end. Now come Hueco Mundo awaits you."

(Evening: Urahara and Uryu)

The exceedingly intelligent members of the infiltration force continued their walk to the twelfth division. They had taken a rather bizarre route by Uryu's standards that seemed to cut into the directions almost heading away from, what he guessed since he'd never really studied the Seireitei, their destination. It wasn't until that Kisuke explained that he was taking active stances to minimize the chances of them being found out by Mayuri's security scanners, easily giving the Quincy the statistical probability of being found out by anyone going this route.

"So how did you discover all these paths Grand-Uncle?" the grand nephew asked in fascination since Kisuke was never really much of an outdoorsy kind of scientist, so he was naturally curious since this would take a lot of manual labor and guess and check work.

Kisuke chuckled as he turned down another corridor, this time their destination was clearly in sight just a few thousand more yards "Because I used to mess with my ex-fuka-taicho Hiyori-chan. I'd always send her out to other divisions and then booby trap the ways she would come back, after the second try she started wizening up a little and started going other ways. Each time I saw her 'smiling face' I'd order but mostly just ask how she got here and so through much experimentation, I've come up with 78 different routes to the twelfth, and knowing how Mayuri probably set up traps for some unfortunate soul, I used my own figurative data and knowledge to bring us here with the least amount of resistance, which is no doubt sending him off the deep end."

"What makes you say that?"

The ex-blond stopped walking and pointed to the rafters of the hallway "Because his little spy bot right there is listening in." he then turned fully and waved childishly "Hi Mayuri-chan, I'm coming to visit so why don't you give me a nice big hug and 'welcome back sir! oh, and maybe some cookies while we're at it, remember no raisins.'"

In Mayuri's private scanning room, the demented scientist gritted his teeth as he watched the live video feed with the ex-taicho making idiotic request. Kurotsuchi slammed his fist into the big red button on the edge of his desk "That talentless ignorant blonde Neanderthal is mocking me!" He then spared just a small glance to the intercom that cracked on to life "Nemu! You useless artificial whore, get in here immediately!"

Taking his hand off the button he got up from his desk and pressed another button to call the spy bot back. He wasn't going to waste lackeys on this one. No he was going to deal with it himself, as the door opened up revealing his 'daughter' he grabbed his Zanpaktou and cap before going to deal with this problem personally.

(Back to Kisuke)

The pair saw the bug take off and fly in the direction of the twelfth division, just as Kisuke expected since he didn't want to waste time and needed to return to the cave to train Ichigo, and by goading Mayuri into facing them directly would cut down substantially on time even at the cost of being attacked in these narrow corridor. "Come on, kid and be ready for a fight, no matter what happens win or lose head straight to the penance tower. We don't need delays." The scientist stated factually as he brought out his cane and kept walking to the twelfth with a grin on his face, Uryu blinked calmly before following after silently.

(Late evening: Hitsuguaya's office)

Inside the tenth division's office Toshiro Hitsuguaya was finishing up speaking with Hinamora. He left out some information such as why she should be on the lookout since he couldn't relate that information lest it leak out to Gin Ichimaru. "That's why I want you to be careful and trust no one just yet. Should anything happen to Aizen, unless there is any indication otherwise, suspect Gin Ichimaru and let me know what happened prior to any confrontations." The white haired Genius said sternly not putting anything to chance here, since not only did his investigation hinge upon this lead, but also Hinamora could very well be in danger by association and if that happened, well he supposed no one in Seireitei would be complaining about the summer heat over near the third division.

"Alright, I'll keep my eyes open." She denoted in keeping a more vigilant eye for her captain and friend Sosuke Aizen and Toshiro. She pushed herself from her seat and looked at Toshiro catching his attention

"Is there something wrong?" he asked as he reached to sort through some documents

"I…" she looked away to think of how to phrase this "you've been looking into something that supposedly nobodies supposed to be talking about."

"Then how do you know what I'm doing."

"Aizen-Taicho, he said that you were busy doing some kind of project when I was leaving, and asked me not to stay too long, so as not to disturb you. When I asked him about it to see if I could help, he said he wasn't allowed to speak about it."

Toshiro sighed, "Yeah, it is rather dangerous. In fact it clearly represents the situation we are in." he then looked up and cast her a faint smile "Don't worry everything is going to work out, I just got a few things to take care of."

The girl returned the smile but it didn't seem to have the same radiance like it did back when they were kids. With a quick bow Hinamora turned around and proceeded out to the door, casting one final glance back at Toshiro who seemed to be looking through some more paper work.

(Eleventh division)

Kenpachi Zaraki having found a new challenge walked through the eleventh division with a renewed smile. He knew that despite having all of those Shinigami stand guard of the south gate, that the traitors as they were called wouldn't be stopped so easily, and while he couldn't explain it readily he really didn't care since it meant that someone powerful was going to be arriving at his door step any minute now. He could practically feel it in his blood.

"Zaraki sir!" a burly looking underling called out that Kenpachi's mind seemed to place the name 'Maki Maki' to the man, at least from what Yachiru kept calling him

"Yeah, what's wrong?" the large man asked eagerly almost wondering if his prayers were being answered already

"Ikkaku and Yumichika have just returned and Madarame seems to have been hurt." Maki Maki reported as Zaraki gained a sly grin his earlier prediction already coming true.

"Tell me where they are."

"The courtyard sir-

He never got to finish as the unkillable beast heard all he needed and ran through the building and occasional walls to get to where he needed to. Barreling through the outer wall the powerhouse came upon just the pair of men he wanted to see, and sure enough his third seat looked roughed up with a busted lip and a couple of bruise marks on his face. The strange pair having noticed their leader gave a mock salute as they sauntered on over with smug smiles.

"You look like you got in a fight." Zaraki commented as his excitement started to building inside of him

Ikkaku swung his three sectional staff over his shoulder "Absolutely, and I lost too."

"Really?"

Yumichika gave an affirmative nod "Yes, his opponent took down marvelous Ikkaku with his own brand of grace. I think he might have been holding back as well since he did nothing too flashy, even by squad two standards."

"Yeah, I agree with Yumi. I don't think what I fought today was even a tip of his full power and it's pretty damn exciting."

At this Kenpachi was practically foaming at the mouth he NEEDED to find this enemy and test meddle if he defeated Ikkaku as effortlessly as he himself had, and with the constant talk of this rebellion he instantly recalled the unbound fighter from last year, Ichigo Kurosaki. Now his blood was roiling.

Seeing their captain's heart soar the bald warrior decided to keep on talking "You want to know what else Taicho, the guy I fought said he's gonna beat down every single warrior from the lowest unseated officer all the way to the Sou-taicho himself, hehe ya shoulda seen the look on his face when he said it. I think that bastard just might actually be able to pull it off."

"Tell me where you found this guy, I want to fight him NOW!" the man barked his mad grin growing at the encountering of this guy that he was determined to find if it was the last thing he would do.

"He's went to the four division earlier but I doubt he'd still be there now." commented Ikkaku who started to walk towards the barracks "If you need me, I'll be in my room and start some 'training' tomorrow."

Zaraki watched the man go off and turned an expecting gaze to the bubbly fifth seat who smiled at his captain understanding his confused state "Ikkaku and myself are going to train against some of the other Shinigami so we can be ready to fight that dignified fighter again, thus why we're going to support this rebellion. It will be a battle unmatched and we aren't going to sit back and watch sir." The effeminate man's smile grew even more "Would you care to come with? It could be just like old times."

Kenpachi didn't even need to stop and consider it, he could only laugh heartily "Nah, I think I'll go out on my own. I honestly can't wait to meet this guy if he's ballsy enough to want to go against the other Taicho's, I can use this excuse to test myself against some of the other Taicho's and get to fight this Ichigo Kid all in the same invasion. HeheheHahaha! This sounds like good day to be alive in the eleventh!"

Yumichika could only nod his head in agreement, his heart to a flutter with the opportunity to fight anyone he wanted without consequence.

(Night: Senna and Subaru)

"This should be far enough." Subaru said as she stopped her walking and turned to face Senna who looked a bit confused, so she decided to clarify "Senna, you're going to need your strength, you need to rest at some point or another, and the cover of night should be enough."

The girl agreed with the idea as she leaned against the wall her Shakujo resting across her chest. She had to admit despite not getting into any fights today, tomorrow was no doubt going to be a different question. Turning her head Senna looked over at Subaru who seemed to be looking off into the distance thinking about something. "Something on your mind?"

"I was just guesstimating how far away we might be from squad eight. We'll probably be there by morning if we don't get into any fights."

"But we have to." Senna said trying to stick as close to the plan as possible

Subaru nodded "Yes, I was just saying in general. We'll probably get their by 8 or 9 if we can keep the fighting in a favorable outcome." The girl walked back to sit beside Senna, she was going to strike up a conversation when a detail she had forgotten cropped back up "I hate to say this Senna, but I think I might have to go away for a little bit." She turned to the Miko to continue explaining "You see, I still have to attend my duties as squad two's third seat."

"I get it you have to keep up appearances." The female Kurosaki guessed since she and Shinjiro were the only ones who actually should be at their posts during this kind of chaos, and if they never showed up their cover would be blown.

"Exactly. I'll help clear a path for you Senna before I take off." She then turned her head down in the direction of their destination "The eighth division members prefer to fight with flashy moves and exotic fighting styles, you should have no problem dealing with most of them the only ones you need keep an eye out for would be fuka-taicho Nanao Ise and her Taicho Kyoraku. But you're only going to be doing a hit and run at the base, so once you've gotten their attention head east and I will meet up with you as soon as I can break away from my division. Afterwards we can head to the penance tower as there shouldn't be much resistance." She paused "unless something big has happened but I will learn that information after visiting my Taicho."

Senna smiled at the plan, while she wasn't too certain she could kill people she was quite content with bashing their heads in. As the girl stood up to stretch her tired muscles her stomach let out a loud gurgling noise breaking the noise of crickets. The now self-conscious girl put a hand on her stomach "I guess I'm kinda hungry." She said meekly

"Wow, I must say that you've managed to trek all this way after two days and I don't recall you eating anything. You must possess some very powerful stamina." The spy commented almost approvingly of her observation. Pushing herself off the wall she started to walk towards the darkness "I'll filch something from another divisions food supply and bring it back, wait here."

Watching the girl fade into the darkness Senna diverted her eyes away from the alleyway and turned to her Shakujo and leaned back against the spot. She wondered how the others were doing out there, she knew that if she didn't try her hardest here then everyone she knew was gonna die, but at the same token she was also afraid of her own life and didn't want to stick herself so far out that she'd be doomed. She closed her eyes trying to find some level of moderation between both extremes "Just one step at a time." She muttered as she leaned her head against the wall, her eyes resting upon the stars in the night sky.

As Senna continued to look the sky started to spin and her eye lids became heavier and heavier. Letting out a yawn, she leaned over to rest on her side until her companion would return with much needed food.

(Kisuke and Uryu)

Finally reaching the end of the long route, the two men stopped as they had both sensed the lingering spiritual power of a strong foe. They didn't even need to call out to their stalker, as the shadows seemed to move out of the way for two individuals. The first one was easily recognizable to Kisuke with his black and white paint and strange crooked hat "Hey Mayuri-kun how ya been?" the hair dyed merchant asked, both he and his grand nephew casting an eye over the other individual who seemed to be another design from his Ururu series of robots, since she had the same only slightly shinier black hair, pale expression and diminutive attitude the only real difference was size and her green eyes.

"You bastard! How dare you waltz here unto my territory like you own the place." The scientist exclaimed as he adjusted his head to see Nemu while keeping his new play things within his sights "Nemu, go retrieve our newest research experiments, you useless whore!"

The girl nodded her head in acknowledgement to the command but didn't get to take another step as Uryu's Quincy arrows landed in a small barrage in front of the woman calling both Shinigami's attentions. The tension was starting to build within both sides as each one grabbed their Zanpaktou. "Uryu why don't you take the little miss here and show her a little of the Urahara charm, while I catch up with her dear old father here."

The teenager glanced at his uncle who nodded his head with a smile letting him know it was fine, and using his Hirenkyaku quick step vanished over the wall and headed away from the two heavy weights. The female android glanced at her creator and when no visual command way given as he was too busy staring down his predecessor she took that as the ok to go ahead and pursue, the other male play thing, as her father dubbed it.

(Uryu and Nemu)

Easily sensing that the fuka-taicho was following behind him, he led her as far away as possible from the twelfth and more to where he decided to make his escape since it wouldn't take too long for him to get to the penance tower and get the Kuchiki that Senna and Ichigo were so fixated on. Dropping down to the middle of the road he turned around and conjured up his Quincy bow at his side awaiting his opponent who appeared a moment later with a vacant stare.

Using his free hand the navy blue haired Quincy adjusted his glasses as he looked at the pale girl, his mind seemingly scanning her as she merely awaited for some aggressive sign before attacking him "Hmm, judging by the way you moved back their along with your quiet or I guess in this case lack of personality, you must be an artificial creature."

"Yes, I am the artificial daughter of Mayuri Kurotsuchi-sama, Fuka-Taicho Nemu Kurotsuchi." She affirmed quietly throwing in a small bow for the sake of formality which Uryu responded by tipping his head slightly before continuing speaking a small smile on his face now

"It's a shame, your rather beautiful in my opinion, even though you are merely the younger sister unit of Ururu." He shook his head of the thought since it wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination for Ururu to grow up into Nemu if she was real, a fact that made him cringe since it was borderline pedrophilia given his nutritious nature to Ururu. "Shame, I suppose, it would have been nice to try and take you out on a date." He stepped back and pointed his bow at her causing the girl to widen her stance to intercept "Though I doubt your father would be happy to hear about such a thing."

The girl merely blinked "Your sexual attraction to my body is little more than hormonal fluctuation of your genes, and expectations of beauty; however, after you are subdued I will inform my father if it would be ok to proceed in the biological process of sexual reproduction to investigate further of what you are like as well as the extent of your Quincy abilities, Uryu-kun." She said in a flat unfettered monotone, making it hard for the Quincy not to be flabbergasted that she would say that with such a straight face, even accounting her construct origins.

"I pray that you'll forgive me." He said as he commenced his attack on the girl while trying to avoid losing on purpose to see if such a theory would come true. His blush notwithstanding.

(Kisuke and Mayuri)

"Haha! Whoo! You missed me again!" Kisuke chided as he cleanly dodged another one of Mayuri's ear scythe attack, the incessant laughter and childish behavior slowly working upon the nerves of the mad scientist who pulled back his weapon and reached into his lab coat

"Very well you ignoramus try this on for size!" and threw a pure yellow vial unto the white ground, the glass shattering on impact while the liquid contents started to smolder as it came in contact with the air. The laughing man kept a firm eye as the liquid slowly started to wobble upward into a shape of a slime-like creature. The yellow monster let out an unearthly roar while Mayuri watched on in delight. "Devour his soul!" he commanded

The creature's body wiggled before launching itself like a flood to the other man who jumped back as he dug into his own bag of tricks ready to subdue the beast. As the monster's slime-like tendril lunged forward, Benihime cut the appendage making break apart as if it were like water before being reformed and continuing in it's attack.

Turning to evade only when the situation called for it, Kisuke was sending what he intended to Mayuri. A message of he was only making a mockery of his achieved scientific abilities with his showing. Turning his eye back to his opponent he quickly pulled out a small syringe prepared for just this occasion and after pulling back to avoid another bite, he supposed, jabbed the needle into the neck area of the creature and jumped back giving a second or two for the vial to work it's magical contents wonders.

The tiger-like liquid creature turned around to try and overpower it's intended meal only to seemingly cough as if it was being suffocated. Shaking it's body to get rid of this cold sensation it let out another roar and found it's cry to be stifled. Mayuri looked on trying to figure out what Kisuke had done only to see that crystal ice had started to form on the body and within a matter of moments completely covered the creature turning the liquid beast into an ice statue.

"Now this is art." Kisuke proclaimed as his hand rested upon the head of the monster. Pushing himself off, he slammed Benihime into the glass shattering it and destroying the monster within "So what's next?"

The adventurous smile of Kisuke was working it's wonders upon Mayuri's anger and the man lashed out by launching his hand that seemed to be attached by a cord and wiring out to strangle the man, the blond easily moved his head out of the way already used to flail like attack due to training with Ichigo prior to all of this. As the hand reached back to it's master Mayuri closed the distance and swung his sword to lob off the man's head.

Turning Benihime he blocked the attack with his blood mist shield technique, and flash stepped away already sensing the remote controlled bombs that Mayuri had snuck behind him in order to blow him sky high. As Kisuke looked back from his vantage point now standing on top of the roof he looked down at his opponent with a bored expression "I gotta say you're really boring me here. I was expecting at least a giant robot of sort." He whipped out a small circular device with a blue center "I so wanted to use this specialized EMP mine on that. Ah well, I suppose it's time to put an end to this."

Mayuri narrowed his eyes in disgust "If my lackeys and inventions won't get you, then I will myself." he tilted his head as he held his Zanpaktou vertically "Rip, Ashisogi Jizo!"

The katana in his hands soon warped out in extraordinary ways as the guard of the sword was replaced by from what Kisuke could tell was the face of a golden colored baby with three protruding ends the left and right ends of the trident-like sword were jagged and bent, while the middle one while bent a hair in the center was about an extra six inches more than the other two. The child in the centers eye opened as Mayuri brought the blade close to his face a maniacal grin showing his joy as the poison started to flow from it's open mouth.

"Well, that's interesting." Kisuke commented mildly amused now "Good thing I took my medicine in advance."

"Your medicine won't save you from me!" the scientist sneered as he re-engaged the ex-taicho. His sword clanged against the steel of Benihime trying to break through and paralyze a limb of the blond. Kisuke closed his mouth to prevent any of the toxic smoke from entering his body and more than it already was, even with taking precautions and injecting into his own body various counter-active poisons to combat anything Mayuri threw at him, he still predicted only about a 60% chance of surviving after the battle, in favorable conditions.

Not wanting to risk getting infected further he pushed the demented Scientist back and launched a higher powered kido spell to create a small area that would repel the poisonous gas for a time and allow him to concentrate on the fight. The momentary distraction to create the safe little hub came at a price as the scientist launched his arm that carried his sword and cut him across the chest, turning the cut zone white paralyzing part of his shoulder and preventing some of his torso movements.

Quickly reaching into his pocket with his free hand the blond scientist pulled another needle and jabbed it into a vein in his arm, a sharp pain caused the man to flinch before a relaxing soothing wave of what felt like ice flowed through his body allowing him to quickly flex his arm and shoulder much more readily then it had before.

Seeing that his Zanpaktou's abilities were countered, Mayuri merely tsked before casting a displeased look to the man "You think you have the answer to everything don't you?" he sneered "Very well, then answer this! BANKAI!"

As the words erupted out of the man's mouth the child, on the hilt of the blade, eyes opened and a piercing shriek erupted from it making Kisuke cover his ears from the sharp cry. As he continued to look on with his eyes the sword started to expand outward more and more, as gigantic limbs reached out and slammed into the walls sending up a huge cloud of dust, a monstrous figure loomed overhead

"Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo!" Mayuri said with a sick smirk as the golden caterpillar creature opened it's mouth spilling out a huge wad of poisonous gas over the area, and turned it's enormous head to face the scientist who was breathing much heavier as the poison, despite the antidotes and barrier, was starting to take effect upon him. "Kill him!" he declared as the creature roared unleashing it's hidden forest of blades underneath it's body and charged forward.

Whipping the blood that started to drip from the corner of his mouth from the bursting of blood cells the poison seemed to be doing, he stood his ground his plan to defeat both this creature and it's master already formed in his head. As the monster came rearing it's body closer to skewer and run over the man, Urahara called out the name of his technique "Blood mist shield!" he yelled as the red energy barrier started to gather and formulate but what Mayuri hadn't expected was for the shield to form at the neck of Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo.

A brief smile graced the merchant's lips as the creature seemed incapable of moving any further since he had isolated the neck and brain from the rest of the body. "What closely Mayuri, I don't even need to use Bankai to defeat you who relies only on his servants." He taunted as he started to pour more and more of his reiatsu into the shield causing it to expand further and in greater size. The shield kept growing until it overpowered Mayuri's and like a guillotine severed the head from the body, destroying the creature.

The Taicho watched in horror as his Bankai was near effortlessly defeated by his predecessor. "Impossible!" he exclaimed

Not wasting a second and using the destruction of the great beast as a distraction, Kisuke closed the distance between Mayuri and himself and reached into his jacket and pulled out a black vial while simultaneously sticking a green vial into Mayuri's body. A panicked look flooded Mayuri face as he watched the man pull away "What did you do to me!" he demanded the answer as he started to feel weak in the knees

"Relax, I'm only liquefying you while taking the precious antidote to your Bankai." He said while undoing the lid to the vial, knowing that like any good scientist you keep an antidote on you in case the liquid vials you carried happen to spill on you or worse be used against you.

Kurotsuchi's body soon started to break apart and turn into a green slime like mixture "I'll get you one day, Kisuke this far from over."

The other's scientist's cheery demeanor quickly dropped away with these words "You could take a hundred if not a thousand years, and you would never come within a quantum or nano measure of what I can do or create. Your nothing but a second rate hack, and unless you bring more things to the table or start training, I'm always gonna beat you. Remember that Mayuri-kun, for when we meet again."

He watched the slime mixture go drain itself down the sewer system. With his nemesis gone and unable to reform for at least a few days, he quickly downed the mixture finding it surprisingly sweet making his opinion change slightly of what Mayuri could do, and maybe give him career advice in the medical field. Taking a moment he found Uryu spiritual pressure still doing fine while his opponent was on her last legs, turning away he headed to the training cavern to await Ichigo to begin Bankai training.

(Uryu and Nemu)

Despite having been smacked around a couple dozen times by the android's strength, Uryu Ishida had managed to find some kind of pattern in her attacks, and acted accordingly though he did admit that spinning her hand like a drill really would have killed him had he been next to the wall when she instead shot the eye laser at him. Launching another volley of arrows into his opponent's mechanical legs, he found her to not be the quickest of foot and had managed to slowly ground her and pin her down.

The android girl despite her wounds raised her arm up and launched another rocket punch which connected with the blue haired boy's jaw and knocked him from his perch above her, though she knew it would be a useless endeavor since she could barely move at this point.

Nudging his wounded jaw and finding it still workable, he stood up and looked at the girl and pointed his bow at her who merely looked at her opponent's eyes, and realized there was no escape now for her. Closing her eyes she bowed her head so he would have a clear shot at her forehead which would effectively kill her until her father revitalized her.

Seeing her bow in submission, Uryu let out a relieved sigh and undid his bow, allowing him to wipe the sweat that had built up on his forehead, an action that brought confusion to the android "Do you not wish me dead?"

"You are defeated to go any further would bring shame not glory to the Quincy honor." He replied back

"Even if I told you that most of the Quinces are dead because of me and my father you would still not kill me?"

Narrowing his eyes, the glasses wearing teenager thought over her words and replied with a negative connotation "I can't hold you responsible as you only act as you are told. You like Ururu have no real soul." He replied his words cutting deep into her for some reason "If your father asked you to kill yourself, I have no doubt you would. You do as you are told, and from the way you're looking so helplessly, I think now is the first time you've come to realize it. I might end up killing your father though as he has the moral conscious of right and wrong but crosses that line multiple times."

The android interrupted in a sadder version of her monotone "I implore you not to hurt him. That is the only thing that I would ask of you Quincy."

The words filtering into the man's mind, forced him to stop and give Nemu a once over. "Fine. I won't kill him…for now, only if you stay out of this little invasion process. I don't need any more people getting in my way. Do that and I won't be the one who kills him for his crimes against my people, though afterward all bets are off."

"Understood." She replied back with but a small smile. Her hand soon reacted as the man threw something at her from his pocket which from what she analyzed seemed to be some kind of healing ointment.

"Take it and live well, Nemu Kurotsuchi." The Quincy said as he turned to head off to the penance tower _'Shame, she's really a looker.'_ He thought

(Really late: Hinamora)

Unable to sleep after being given that warning, Momo got up from her room and headed out to go visit her captain to at least make sure he was still ok. She smiled her to herself as she reaffirmed that she was doing this for the well being of her captain and being a good friend to Toshiro for watching his back. As she approached the shoji door to knock and ask to speak with him, it slid open revealing her Taicho's surprised face having clearly not expecting her this late at night

"Ah, momo. It's good to see you." He said in heartwarming sweetness

"Hi, Aizen-Taicho." She responded back happily "I didn't mean to disturb you, but umm…"

"Yes, what is it? If something is bothering you then feel free to tell me, I'd do my best to help you out with any problem you might be having."

"Can I come in for a little bit, I know that you were about to go out for something, but I just wanted to know if I could talk for a little while."

The brunette laughed and gave a friendly smile "I was only going to go out for a small walk to clear my head on a…important issue." When the girl recoiled since she didn't want to disturb him he placed a hand on her shoulders "But I can do that later, if I can talk to a friend."

Momo's face lit up and she nodded allowing herself to be led into the chambers of her Taicho. The man slid the paper door closed a sly smile on his face as everything was going according to plan.

* * *

Blackout2010: Long f-ing day...

Keisuke: It's been such a long time since I've gotten to fight ahaha!

Uryu: Indeed (hmm, I wonder where Nemu is)

Blackout2010: So yeah a lot happens if you have any questions pm review let me know, by the way sorry if the fight seem kinda short, I was practicing the writing technique where we cut into action, so I hope it worked out ok.

Kenpachi: Ichigo I'll find you! (runs off)

Ichigo: Hmm? (pokes head out) Some one call me?

Unohana: Till next chapter.

Aizen: Unless I have something to say about it.

* * *

(Omake: Gundam fight! Ready! GO!)

Mayuri: And now you shall face this! [pulls out a control panel]

Blackout2010 (off screen): ahhh…actually Mayuri.

Mayuri (irate): What is it!

Blackout2010: I just got a call from Rain Mikamura, apparently her boyfriend Domon got sick and well…the giant robot bit won't happen, thus making the EMP mine useless.

Keisuke (sadden): Really? Dang…

Mayuri: Then I will build one myself! [storms off]

[10 hours later]

Mayuri: Behold the Mayuri XL9- version 4!

Keisuke: (whistles)

Blackout2010 (awed): Wow [blinks]…

Mayuri: Why do you look like you wish to say something!

Blackout2010:…I don't know how to pilot a Gundam…

Keisuke (sweat drop): Me either. [looks at Mayuri] Got an instruction manual?

Mayuri: Ummm…n-no, I forgot to make that.

Blackout2010 (disappointed): [Sigh] Alright, well we'll just have to make do. Let's take it from the top Scene 36 take 4. Action.

(Omake: Gundam fight! Ready! Go! End)

(Omake: Storage space)

Blackout2010: Should be arriving any moment…

Ichigo: Hey you just got a package from some guy named 'Leon Scott Kennedy'

Blackout2010: Awesome, this so solves the Zanpaktou problem. (tears open the package revealing the attach case version XL)

Ichigo (sweat drop): That's a big brief case.

Blackout2010 (excited): No kidding, do you know what Leon was able to store in this baby? At one point during his rescue mission of the president's daughter he managed to fit a rocket launcher, Shot gun with a drum, a sniper rifle, a large salmon, a pistol, and an assortment of herb mixtures, grenades and of course ammo. (surprised) I actually kinda wonder how he was able to lug all this stuff around what with his various combat maneuvers.

Ichigo: Whatever, just give it here and I'll give it to dad so he can put Engetsu in there. [takes it and leaves]

Blackout2010: Hmmm…maybe I should ask Leon to send me a Chicago typewriter while I'm at it. It would certainly help when Isshin mows down a bunch of soul reapers. Nah,…that what special effects are for.

(Omake: Storage Space end)

(Author's lament)

I know I mentioned how that there would be some really cool dead people who would actually be alive in soul society at the time during this course of events. I'm deeply saddened that I might never actually get to do such a indepth perspective on it, particularly in the case with the Australian hero: Steve Irwin aka the Crocodile Hunter. I thought the guy was so cool and consider the fact that he's dead he'd be in SS, figuratively speaking…I think it would be so cool to have the chance to have the almighty crocodile hunter assisting Ichigo and company for the greater good of the universe. Mother Nature's number one endanger species conservationist, rest in peace, and maybe someday I might be able to include you in a Fanfic…maybe.

(Author's lament end)

(Author's vow)

Hey blackout2010 giving I guess one last thing before our seperation. I read a small rant from Flyingthunder cloud no jutsu which is copy and pasted below, and after agreeing with it. I would like to make the promise to improve on detail as much as I can...you know without going overboard, just a small contribution to maybe one day bring the bleach section out to it's full story telling potential, but just remember it takes readers and writiers, so never be afraid to express yourself.

FTCNJ's words announcement from 'Black' chapter 2:

**I would like to say something to all of you that's been on my mind for a while. I looked through the Naruto fanfiction section a while back and I thought how there is such a variety of stories there. You can find a simple love one-shot, an all-powerful main character hack n slash style story, a modern day mafia thriller, and I've even seen one where godzilla's involved. This got me looking back at the Bleach section and shaking my head, wondering why its not the same. Then I realized later on that what it is is that the _world_ of Naruto is more developed, while in Bleach the _characters_ are really the only things significantly detailed. This makes it so that going with the traditional systems of writing stories on this site – based on exploiting the detailed subjects in the real world counterparts – allows Bleach authors to change the characters, their powers, and their interactions in lots of different ways, but the only venues for expression are the traditional cannon world, either on Earth or in the Seireitei, while in Naruto the characters are all switched and given various powers and attitudes, but the detailed cannon landscape allows for a massive amount of setting possibilities that can be changed completely like the characters of both series. This made me consider where the Bleach fanfiction section was at and I decided that if it were to become as diverse and reader-friendly as the Naruto section, the traditional means would have to be thrown out. So I made an account and began writing stories in entirely new environments, making entirely new worlds from scratch for the characters to interact in. My three main stories (this, Cut the Sky, and Wrath of the Wraith) I believe show the kind of ground-up attitude that needs to be taken if the Bleach section will ever become as grand as the Naruto section. Now I'm not saying that _no one _has done this, as a couple great authors have (Theresa-Crane comes to mind) but it's far too few. A couple authors, no matter how good, are not going to be able to single-handedly create an entire Bleach section. So if there is change to be had, _everyone_ needs to think with this open-minded alternate-anything attitude. Even if you don't write it, the simple spreading of the idea could start something wonderful.**

******– Flying Thunder Cloud no Jutsu**


	19. infilTraitors: struggles inside and out

To unknown reviewer known as SPARTAN 8389 from ch. 13

To quote: 'Ichigo you bastard!'

Ummm… I understand what you mean, but I think you went the wrong way. So no additional comment.

To Kalisticksmaster

I'm glad to have fulfilled some request. It could be a while before you see them again, don't worry it makes sense in context of the story.

To Hitmanforyou

Right, Ichigo does in fact know about the sewer systems but he's never actually gone through them and now really isn't the time for experimentation especially because of their time limit. The next reason is because Ichigo is pretty sure he could win him over given he's (Hanataro) got a hero-worship thing with him and could slip him away in the ensuing chaos. Thirdly Ichigo is aware of the fact they have no medic (but doesn't know about the healing hot springs in the cave) and doesn't know what they've been doing to Rukia IE torture, abuse, ect. While there are some standard procedures, people don't always follow them to the T. Lastly, Ichigo would go the path of least resistance, since that would mean less work for Hanataro and Ganju plus only a squad four member would even bother using the sewers, but can't be cause their topside healing other soldiers.

For Isshin…what's the word? I think it's foreshadowing to him not being what he appears. Case in point back in chapter 15,

Quote '"Glad to see your safe." Ichigo let out in a relieved sigh, throwing his arm past her shoulder and patting the center of her back.

"Who are you?" asked the man as he got up from his chair and eyed the apparition who was apparently holding Senna kind of intimately "How do you know my daughter?"

Turning his head Ichigo saw a man who looked to be in his early thirties with spiked black hair and rugged facial hair line. The man was wearing a gray undershirt with a white over jacket and white pants. He had a single small round light blue earring in his left ear lobe and was wearing black shoes. His dark brown eyes narrowed in intrigue before widening just a fraction as if in realization before returning to a normal state.

Unquote [I also forgot to mention that Tattoo so that's an error on my part.]

Ein (Isshin) stated that he couldn't see spirits, but it contracted his surprise. Then throw in the fact that it's Ichigo, he's seeing (after believing him dead) then wanting to travel to Soul Society (Masaki). It fits. He has been spiritually aware and Ichigo I believe had either sensed him in 'human world' or 'perfect…'. I've occasionally mentioned other character's case in point Yoruichi met Ichigo before Ichigo knew about Yoruichi (in chapter 7, It's mentioned that apparently even a 'cat' could see him.)

Omeada, well he remains elusive for now. But that's technically what the interlude between the SS and Arrancar arc is for, tying up those loose ends.

To Fez

Wish granted.

To bubblescoolin from ch.2

I've read one or two ByaSoi fics. I didn't mind them, but there really isn't a whole lot of character change. If anything it might be more on Byakuya getting over Hisana. For HanaSoi, my favorite for comedy would have to be 'stealth gone wrong', I find it absolutely hilarious, particularly the chapter where Hanataro pretty much forces all of Soul Society in a marathon to avoid the butterfly Zaraki, poor Byakuya's garden and wall get's trashed. He is not a happy camper. For my favorite romance one 'Lethal Hornet, Timid Healer' by exodinethedestroyer. I really like it and it did give some measure of hope that Hanataro can become a better warrior and get the girl, or in this case possibly girls depending on how things play out. The author hasn't updated in over a year, this makes me sad.

To unknown reviewer known as Metalhead1000

Oh really skype? My mom actually has that program on her computer, technologies amazing since you can video conference from half a world away. I will be sure to use my resources wisely as a lot of people pointed out errors, which after looking back, I saw myself leaving me a little displeased with myself. This time around I believe I did a much better and much more through job. Well I hope you continue to rock out to your metal as you read, go crazy big guy.

To unknown reviewer known as Chickenfeet

Hmm, pigs feet (boar), rams feet (ram), rabbits foot (rabbit), dogs feet (dog) and now chicken's feet (bird)…is it just me or do most of the products we name seem to have some correlation with the hand signs of Naruto. Maybe I'm over thinking it. I'm not sure if there's much else planning for Gin and Aizen at least in this stage of the game. It should be relatively straight-forward now.

Now unto the chaotic prefic banter!

* * *

[on screen] Soifon:…

[on screen] Ichigo:…

[on screen] Blackout2010:…(awkward)

Senna (off screen): (pant) (pant) so..much running!

[on screen] Soifon:…

Hanataro (off screen): Rukia? Rukia! Where for art thou Rukia! Tis the penance tower to the east! And the execution tower under the sun!

Tosen (off screen): In the name of justice [clenches fist tightly], I shall bring justice [clenches fist tightly again] to this unjust [clenches fist tightly again] world devoid of justice [clenches fist tightly again]. Because it a just [clenches fist tightly] and honorable duty, to bring justice [clenches fist tightly] to those who cannot usher forth justice [clenches fist tightly], unto it's self. Justice [clenches fist tightly] what over me as I deliver justice [clenches fist tightly]!

Mayuri (off screen): What a freak…Kisuke you bastard get back over here, Nemu! Where are you, you worthless bitch! Bring me the lubricant and female orgasm stimuli tools from my trunk, post haste, and don't even think about using it on the Quincy if you find him!

Byakuya (off screen): I would kindly ask that you all quiet yourselves, you are disturbing my peace and tranquility.

[on screen] Blackout2010 (nervous): Soooooo…

Kyoraku (off screen): hey little ladies care to come by my office and have some of my 'special brewed tea'?

Senna/Subaru (off screen): Eeew get away from me you pervert!/I'll pass, I'm happily married, sir.

Kenpachi (off screen): HAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS FUN!

[on screen] Soifon: (glares at blackout2010)

Byakuya (off screen): I reiterate quiet yourselves.

Ganju (off screen): BWAAAAAAAAH! He's gonna eat me!

[on screen] Blackout2010: Hey, I had to say it out loud and kinda act it out too to make sure it worked ya know!

Kyoraku (off screen): hey little kitty, care to play with my 'big dog', he's might hairy like you. But he's big and strong and can make any pussy purr in contentment, once they've gotten acquainted that is.

Kitty? (off screen): mmm ok.

Nanao (off screen): I see. Then I'm not needed here.

Kyoraku (off screen): I take it back my beauteous scholar. Please punish me, I've been a bad boy and need some 're-education'

Kenpachi (off screen): I'm coming for you Ichigo!

[on screen] Ichigo:…(sweat drop)

Shinjiro (off screen): Your going the wrong way! Wait…no. No. I take it back, I was going the wrong way.

Aizen (off screen): You will all kill Ichigo. You will all kill Ichigo. You will all kill Ichigo. You will all kill Ichigo. You will all kill Ichigo and then bring me some tea. You will all kill Ichigo and then bring me some tea…

Gin (off screen): I am totally innocent in this chapter. I have done absolutely nothing to any of the protagonists and major characters, in this chapter. But does anyone believe me? Noooo. Blame the creepy guy who works with you and likes to smile. Bigots.

Toshiro (off screen): IIIICHIIIMARUUU I'M GONNA KILL YOU! MAAAATSUUUUMOOOTOOOOO FINISH THE PAPER WORK!

Momo (off screen): I will avenge captain Aizen or my name isn't Momo Hinamora…I mean Hinamori!

Don Kannoji (off screen) WAHAHAHAHAHA! The Spirits will always be with you!

Byakuya (off screen): You have pushed my patience too far. I shall now remove you all from the equation of life…Bankai. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi.

Yamamoto (off screen): Kuchiki-taicho, for you blatant use of Bankai to eradicate mere nuisances for little offense, I sent you to death: for excessively punishing your peers with your Zanpaktou. Turn all of creation to ash, Ryujin jakka! Now, Bankai!

[on screen] Blackout2010 (turns away): I promise to explain in the informative.

[on screen] Soifon:…never have I been more embarrassed…

[on screen] Ichigo: It's not like everyone saw it…

[on screen] Soifon (blush): YES! THEY! DID!

Everyone (off screen): You bet we did!

[on screen] Soifon: I'm going to go hide in a cave and seal the entrance with a boulder (walks off)

[on screen] Blackout2010: Psss…don't worry Ichigo, we can always have ame no uzi call her out like she did for Amaterasu.

* * *

Ch. 19 Infil-Traitors: inner and outer desperate struggles!

(Day 2: Morning: Momo)

Turning over in her peaceful slumber the easy going fuka-taicho of squad five wrapped the blankets around her Hakama and body "mmm, Toshiro, Aizen-san," she mumbled in her sleep, dreaming happy thoughts involving her two best friends. As she continued tossing and turning, her foot accidently hit the hilt of her Zanpaktou that laid neatly against the wall, causing it to slide against the wall and knock a picture off the wall, sending it crashing to the ground.

The clattering of the wooden frame snapped the girl from her dream world and back to the world of the Shinigami. Jumping out of bed -which she blushed having remembered that it wasn't her own- and looking around to see what caused the noise, she let out a worried squeak when she saw her Zanpaktou laying against the picture. Gently picking it up, and praying it wasn't broken. She was greatly relieved to see that it was still intact, picking up Tobiume she placed the picture back on the stand, and went through the Shoji door to apologize to her captain for falling asleep like she had and inconvenienced him.

As she walked in she saw that the room looked the same as it had last night, though the candles despite still burning were much shorter than previously seen. "I guess he went on ahead to the office, I better get on patrol to find our attackers." She whispered assessively, remembering bits and pieces of what her commanding officer had discussed with the possibility of attacker appearing, and wanting her to do patrol route 5 before reporting back to his office later that day.

She darted into the bathroom quickly to check the mirror to ensure she was presentable and wasn't forgetting anything should she get attacked, with a smile seeing that she was good. She turned and walked out the door to go about her patrol.

(Ichigo and Ganju)

Having stopped and rested the night, Soul Societies public enemy number one and his Shiba companion snuck into the medical wings of squad four. They arrived very early in the morning since only certain members would be active namely the seated officers, and considering the fact that only yesterday the others should have started making noise there wouldn't be enough casualties for them to be in full alert status yet. A fact that Ichigo counted on. Moving through the building, careful in trying to not awaken the many enemies around them, the men soon came upon their target who was seemingly in a hurry in their direction.

Hanataro having missed the hell butterfly due to him accidentally sleeping in from yesterdays work in scrubbing down the sewers, was in a rush to get to the outside of Seireitei where apparently many Shinigami were injured by some kind of monster in human form. A shiver went down his spine from imagining running into such a monster, but it was his duty as a healer and proud Shinigami to bravely face such things…after all it's what his hero Ichigo would have done.

As the unusually energetic boy came running down the hallway, Ichigo's hand shot out and grabbed the guy by his collar eliciting a yelp that sounded like 'Don't hurt me!' as he was dragged back into the hallway. Quickly being spun around the seventh seat's mouth was immediately covered as he came into the face of a friend who he long though dead having heard a few rumors about him turning traitor.

The squad two fourth seat brought a finger to his mouth and 'shushed' him and motioned with his head for the healer to follow him, which Hanataro nodded his head rapidly since his mouth was covered by Ichigo's other hand. The trio ducked through the hallways avoiding some other Shinigami who were in a rush to other areas having heard of other attacks, exited the barracks and kept running putting some much needed distance.

Once they were well outside the fourth's front gate, Hanataro jumped and hugged Ichigo while he bawled his eyes out "Ichigo-san! I can't believe it's you!" he cried out "I always knew that those stupid rumors weren't true. You're really here and still you!"

Ichigo with a wry smile patted the kid on the shoulder "ahh, sure…why not." He answered with a detectable degree of evasiveness

Detaching himself from his idols side the healer smiled amicably having not really noticed Ganju despite being with him for the past twenty or so minutes "Unohana-Taicho was really worried about you and everything, but now that you're here…" he suddenly stopped having remember what he was supposed to be originally doing.

His smile falter just a bit as he recalled that yesterday a bunch of Shinigami were hurt, and now today Ichigo showed up, with his hair apparently changed black for some reason, and here he was standing in front of him with a person he just now failed to recognize. As the puzzle pieces started to come together, the seventh seat took a step back his eyes widening in terror "You…you really…" he let out a loud yell as he started to run around in a circle streams of water jetting out from his eyes "I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die. I've always been a good person so why poor little me! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHAT DID I DO! WAHHHHHAHUUHHH!"

"Shut up Taro!" Ichigo said smacking his fist into the back of the screaming boy's head giving him a good chance to reacquaint himself with the ground. As the healer started to get back up clutching his head wound in pain, Ichigo pointed his finger at him dramatically "Look, I didn't betray anyone. You of all people should know I would never do such a thing. Taro don't you remember back when we were in the human world? Remember, after fighting against that hollow Screamer, I let Giant Devil return home, because I didn't think he deserved to be killed merely for what he was, a hollow."

Ichigo kneeled down to meet Hanataro's eyes, who looked back in them having remembered the event as clear as crystal "Tell me Hanataro if I was as evil as some rumors suggested would I have done such a thing? My mother you remember her don't you?" when the boy nodded his head again Ichigo continued his rant "She would never so much as hurt a fly, unless it was absolutely warranted, and you know what happened, she was murdered by Grand Fisher and when I went back to the human world a second time, I found him and you know what he said?"

"W-what did he say Ichigo-san?" Hanataro asked enraptured by Ichigo's speech so far

"He said that it was under orders by its Shinigami masters who were trying to take over Soul Society!"

"N-no way!" the healer cried out shocked about this kind of information, and despite his best efforts he couldn't for some reason bring himself to disagree, his own experiences weighing down the rumors that were tarnishing his friend's name.

Ichigo broke his eyes away with a solemn look "It's true. All of it. That's why I'm here. I'm here to get the real traitors of Soul Society but…I can't do it alone. I need your help Hanataro. The people who are trying to kill Rukia Kuchiki for treason are actually trying to get some kind of device that will doom us all. That's why we're trying to save her."

"Trying to save her." Yamada repeated as he looked down thoughtfully _'That's just like Ichigo-san. Always thinking about others.'_ Casting his eyes back up he saw the pleading face of Ichigo, the face of a friend in need "Sure, Ichigo-san. I believe you."

"Thanks Taro." He said with a small smile his hand patting the shoulder of Hanataro appreciatively.

Watching the scene Ganju looked neutral on the outside though he was inwardly approving of what he saw _'He doesn't really want to fight at all. He's just trying to do the right thing…just like big bro. Maybe…not all soul reapers are bad.'_

The ex-strawberry hair colored man got up and looked over at Ganju who seemed to be in thought, with a quick gesture of his hand he got his attention as he turned back to Hanataro "Taro, tell me can you take us to the sewer system?"

"Sure, but why Ichigo-san?" he asked wondering why he wanted to go there of all places

"I need to get near the squad two barracks, to get to a certain place so I can get the power to save Rukia, but I can't just waltz in that direction. Most of the Shinigami from there know what my voice sounds like or what Zangetsu looks like. So I'll be surrounded and killed long before reaching a kilometer of the place, that's why I need a good route to get there that a lot people don't really know or at least think of using. I also need you two to see if you can get Rukia out of the penance tower. If you can do that we'll be able to stop the traitors completely if you can get her outside of Seireitei."

"And we can take her back to my sister house." Ganju finished seeing where this plan was going so far.

Ichigo nodded "Right, and with the sudden change in attention the others should be able to piece together what happened and retreat. Kisuke can destroy the Hogyoku and then we take out Aizen and his cohorts."

"Aizen-Taicho?" Hanataro babbled out surprised by that name being thrown out "You mean he's the traitor?" Ichigo did a double take, and after silently cursing himself for using it so carelessly, nodded his head since there was no point in hiding it now.

Seeing the healer look down in worry over who they might have to fight, Ichigo quickly replied "I'll fill you in later once we're in the sewers, right now we don't have time to waste." He said promising to inform him of the who's and what's which would ease up the seventh seat's tension

Hanataro saluted "G-got it Ichigo-san, follow me!"

(Mid Morning: Renji)

As he exited his Taicho's office, fuka-taicho Renji Abarai was feeling very conflicted about his loyalties. He had just finished being interrogated by Rukia's brother Byakuya Kuchiki about his…performance and accountability for his actions. Naturally, he was confused at first since he didn't quite understand. But, when the cold captain informed him of the girl from the human world's survival, and possibility of being an important instrument in these events, it brought no small measure of discontentment. The man even went so far as to imply that should anymore incidence happen he will deal with him personally.

"Fucking prick." The irate Renji cursed, as he stalked in the opposite direction of his room and the Taicho's office, hands in his pockets. His mind drifting back to that purple haired red ribbon wearing girl from the retrieval mission "That girl, she and the other guy, are the reason that Rukia is gonna die." He let out a grumble as he started to mentally curse both those people to hell, in the middle of his swearing he remembered some of the important information that was spoken by his Taicho "Wait a second…" he stopped walking and focused harder on the details "If they attacked then they must be here, which means…if I bring them in and make them confess, that Rukia is completely innocent or that they forced her to do it, then her execution is gonna have to be called off." A giant grin started to spread across his face as he changed direction to leave squad six and find some traitors.

(Shinjiro)

Hurrying around the corner and holding his breath, Shinjiro closed his eyes praying that he wouldn't be found. As the sound multiple feet approached his position, he let out a sigh of relief that one of the men ordered his little group down another way. Peeking around the corner, Shinjiro was pleased but not too pleased, since it went against his personal code of honor and belief in preserving the peace, to see that the group of people ran into the other group of people he had provoked earlier and each side started to attack one another.

Slipping away during the conflict he came across two other individuals who seemed to be standing around on alert. Sheathing his sword, he walked as calmly as he could in their direction "Excuse me, but if you could get some medics there's been a brawl between two forces back that-a-way, and people are really getting hurt." He requested, using his thumb to point over his shoulder and guide them to the general direction of the fighting

The short blonde woman of the group looked over and grabbed the hilt of her Zanpaktou "H-how can we trust you?" she asked having heard from some of the survivors of the attack yesterday that no one was to be trusted

The loud clanging of metal and screams of agony and pain, caused the Samurai to sweat drop as he turned around in the direction before looking back at them with a 'do I really need to go on' look "Something tells me this isn't a joke." The green-haired male companion stated also hearing the less than pleasant noise of battle

Sheathing their weapon they both moved out of the way to go get some hell butterflies back from their team mates who weren't too far off. With the area vacated and his mission mostly done, Shinjiro ran down the road to make some trouble at squad six before heading on to the penance tower.

(Senna and Subaru)

As the last person from the enemy team fell down unconscious. The two girls allowed themselves a small moment to breathe. The staff wielding girl was pleased to see that despite the couple dozen cuts and major bruises from her staff none of them seemed to be dead, which pleased her greatly. Turning around she was feeling a little mixed with seeing some of Subaru's opponents dead their throats slashed or the bodies unconscious in a pool of their own blood. _'I guess it can't be helped.'_ Senna thought grimly since unlike her weapon, Subaru's really didn't have a knock-out safely style of fighting, it was kill or be killed.

Subaru while busy dapping the blood off her knife was looking at Senna victim's and a little displeased that none of the wounds were even remotely life threatening. She cast a glance at Senna who was looking at her, but kept her opinion to herself for the moment. "Are you ok, Senna?"

"Yeah, I think I should be ok." Senna affirmed no real damage on her persons, after looking at her body. "Ready to move on?"

Subaru's mouth opened, but stopped as her eyes flickered somewhere else for a second "I'm sorry Senna, but I should go check in now. I'll try to meet back up with you as soon as I can."

Senna stayed silent for a second and turned to see where she was looking and didn't see anything "Sure, I'll be fine." She then closed her eyes and smiled "Good luck Subaru-san."

When no response was given, she opened her eyes to see that the spy had already left. "Yeah, you're welcome!" she snarked turning away from this little battle and heading off to the eighth division to cause a little more mayhem.

(Subaru)

Catching up with the figure that was spying on them, she quickly cut off the person's avenue of escape. The person was a large man with an odd hair cut with a parting near the right side. Adorning his outfit was a large necklace full of brown beads at his side his Zanpaktou was partially drawn.

The man's face contorted between anger and disgust from being held up by the girl, though when he spoke it sounded full of haughty pride "Out of my way scum!"

Subaru titled her head and narrowed her eyes "Are you ordering me around? What the hell's wrong with you? Who do you think you are?"

Pulling out his sword which seemed to be a bunch of circular blades attached to one another in a chain-link fashion he responded to the question the -from what he could tell- guy asked "I am the current sixth seat of squad seven, and brother of Jidanbo Ikkanzaka, the impassible south gate guardsman, Jirobo Ikkanzaka!"

"I see." The girl said pulling out Norn from inside her Special Forces uniform "So then you are my enemy, who has seen too much, and must be eliminated." She summarized, brining the dagger to eye level

The person's words only fed the flames of anger that started to build inside the large man, who was determined to report what he saw to his Taicho, that apparently Squad two had traitors within. Bringing his sword to his shoulders he pressed his hand against the blades tip "Flap Away, Tsunzakigarasu (splitting crow)"

Pushing his hand down the edge to his hilt the small chain linked items broke apart and started to flank behind each of the small sharp ended oval blades spinning around his body at high speeds. As the spy pulled down her mask showing her stoic face, Jirobo broke into a smirk "This is my Zanpaktou's special ability which has given me the name Kamaitachi. My sword creates a swarm of miniature blades that no enemy can keep up with! You're dead no matter what you do traitor!"

"I hardly think that creating only thirty or so blades is an impressive feat. I'm sure Kuchiki-Taicho probably called you a two-bit hack, and that's why you are a Sixth seat." The spy dead panned and spun her knife into a reverse grip _'Subaru times two'_

"You cocky shit!" he roared as he mentally launched his Zanpaktou at the special forces member, determined to wipe the cynical look off 'his' face and shut 'his' annoying voice permanently. As the razor blades came closer they were from what Jirobo made out knocked down and deflected away, some banging noise were even heard, though his opponent from what he could see hadn't even moved a inch from 'his' spot.

Recalling his blades back to his side he counted only about seven or eight remained. Not willing to take any chances he sheathed his weapon and pulled it out again and created more blades. His confident smile returning "This is also another power just because you knocked down one wave doesn't mean I can't create more. I don't know what it is you did, but it won't happen again." He exclaimed with a joyous laugh as he saw the person's mouth continue to open and close silently

"And 10. I hope you've used your ten seconds to make peace with yourself." stated Subaru who then disappeared and materialized behind the large man and stabbed him near his lower spine, paralyzing and keeping him in place.

Jirobo no longer able to feel his legs from the weapon being driven into his back mentally commanded for his weapon to swarm her. The woman barely cast a glance at it as she disappeared again, making the blade cut into his body due to his girth, and reappeared in front of him her dagger poised at his neck. "Sayonara." She said coldly slitting the man's throat and kicking him in the stomach sending him to the ground.

The dying man clenched his throat to keep the blood from spilling out an action that didn't go unnoticed by the spy who put away her Zanpaktou since Jirobo's blades fell harmlessly out of the sky "Hado 65" she said quietly as four bolts of energy formed above her aiming themselves into the frightened face of Jirobo "Isukumeru hantei"

At the command the four bolts released themselves and crashed into the body to ensure death. As the energy began to dissipate, Subaru glanced around the area and saw that there weren't any witnesses to her actions. As she was about to leave she turned back to the body of the deceased sixth seat "I'm sure once Sosuke is revealed, you will probably be buried as a hero who died protecting Soul Society." She turned her head "Shame really…how the word is wasted on you." And left for home

(Shinjiro)

Approaching the side route through the mountain side near Squad six, the samurai was making careful progress to the penance tower. His cloths had stains of red from some of the other Shinigami he had been attacking and, as he could personally attest, been attacked himself. But he continued on ignoring the light cuts as he came to the stairwell which would put him roughly a half a day away from the penance tower.

His gait came to a sudden halt as his eyes picked up the signs of an opponent approaching from the top of the stairs. Coming down the stair in a foul mood was the fuka-taicho of squad six Renji Abarai, who quickly took notice of Shinjiro as he reached for his sword.

Putting the pieces together in his head Renji turned an angered gaze at the samurai "Seeing that blood on your clothes and your sudden change in posture, I'm gonna say that you're not part of squad six at all." He then reached for his own sword "I'd even go so far as to bet that you probably aren't even with your squad anymore and joined up with the rebels."

"I'm in a hurry, so I'd ask if you would kindly move-"

"Roar, Zabimaru!" Renji declared as he brought his sword around and sent a long swipe towards his enemy. Thanking the distance Taiga ducked underneath the slash and quickly jumped off the stairwell, since given the current terrain Renji had the advantage, to engage him on a flatter surface.

The red haired fuka-taicho quickly gave chase and attacked again, his sword crashing against the blood stained Shinigami's sword and pressing him down a few inches breaking the concrete slabs underneath him. Thrusting his arm back the sharp segmented blades cut into the man's shoulder forcing him to lift his sword up to prevent any further damage.

'_This isn't going to be fun.'_ Shinjiro thought to himself, knowing this was already an uphill fight "Curse those who cross you, Muramasa!" he invoked the murderous half, the steel coating itself a worn dingy grey

Flipping into the air Renji launched his whip-sword a third time which Shinjiro jumped out of the way, as the blade retracted to recover, Shinjiro quickly moved in to striking distance. Swinging his blood thirsty sword it was quickly denied flesh as the sixth's fuka-taicho turned his Zanpaktou to intercept. Using his strength Renji pushed off the man though he noticed that the blade left behind a small gray smear on his sword as it pulled away.

Allowing his gaze to linger for a moment longer, he turned back to his enemy putting whatever that mark was in the back of his mind at to further concentrate on his enemy. Jumping back Renji began to swing his Zanpaktou over his head in a wide circular arc to keep space in between them since so far it seemed that the nameless traitor didn't seem to have a long range attack so far, his theory further proven when he saw the man try to advance only to use his sword to block the incoming sword knocking him back out of the large circle, though he seemed to have a smile on his face for some reason.

As the blade slammed into his again, the samurai was sent skidding back several yards. He too was working on his plan to defeat the fuka-taicho, and had already started to implement it thanks in no small part to Muramasa. As he hardened his stance to give no holes in his defense, he watched the revolving blade, and decide that he was gonna need to be bold. When the sword went by Shinjiro quickly inhaled a breath of air and charged forward.

Seeing the sudden movement Renji quickly whipped his blade around the other way to cut him apart, as the blade grew closer the samurai slid forward allowing the blade to pass over him safely, and leave him to recover quickly enough to quickly advance before the red haired man could bring it back again in a violent whiplash.

"Think yer clever huh!" Renji yelled as he brought the weapon back again this time high enough where it would cut at the waist if he stayed standing or would collide into the side of his head if he tried to duck under it again. Shinjiro with his blade drawn kept running as it approached again jumped up and planted his sword into the ground. As Zabimaru came around it slammed into the planted sword and sending the man spinning in the air and he came back down beside his sword and picked it up before charging forward now back within striking distance.

Seeing that his advantage was used up Abarai tugged his hilt close to him retracting the blade back to he could engage in close range. Not a moment later did the two swords collide with each other letting out a low grit as the steel rubbed against each other.

Shinjiro using the hooked edges of Renji's sword to keep his sword in place adjusted his sword up and slashed the cheek of the fuka-taicho, who barred his teeth to stop himself from howling out in pain. The man moved his face away from the cutting blade twisted his own sword creating a pathway for him to land a hard head butt knocking the man back and allow him to wipe the blood from his cheek, and go after his staggered opponent.

Letting one of his hands fall the third seat quickly grabbed the top of his sheath and in tandem with his body turned violently sending the sheath into the man's side and with his sword hand jab the hilt at the man's face before cutting him across his body. The assault wasn't met with resistance as Renji took his own weapon and cut into Shinjiro's side and let the jagged edges pull out flesh and blood as he wrestled it free from its spot, and delivered a sharp jab into Shinjiro's stomach who countered by cutting the thigh of Renji who didn't notice the grey streak.

As the fighters separated from each other to catch their much needed breath, sensing the approaching spiritual pressures of others, Shinjiro closed his eyes and sheathed his sword so it was parallel to the ground and his chest level. "Don't hate me." He muttered as he started to pour reiatsu into his blade.

Renji raised his guard up to prepare himself for whatever his nameless opponent was about to do. He then sensed some spiritual pressures heading this way and casting an accusing look to Shinjiro he came to the obvious conclusion _'He's calling in allies!'_ Not wasting a second Renji charged forward Zabimaru raised to cleave his head off, even though he remained almost entirely unmoving, only the man's eyes opened.

As Shinjiro finished opening his eyes, he tightened his grip on Muramasa, his reason for fighting burning within his heart and mind "Yamato Ougi:" He stated firmly

'_To bring peace, and protect both Subaru and Shaolin…'_

For Renji things almost seemed to slow down and the surrounding background around the man became pure white while the man's face, body and weapon became such a degree of black that he couldn't make out his expression, almost like he was staring into a black hole

'_I will eliminate all…'_

"Aku-" Shinjiro pulled out his sword from its sheath as a strange cold aura engulfed it, and ducking underneath the swinging blade of Renji, brought his own around to unleash the deadly skill "-metsu! (1)" [Tran: Destroy Evil!]

'W_ho fight!'_

Renji felt the attack slam into him and saw his blood go dangling in the air in front of him, as he continued to look he saw a black streak cover a small portion of his eye sight, after another split second he saw another one cover another small section, but this time his entire body seemed to shake as if he was hit again, soon the dark lines started to streak across faster and faster which struck him again and again until his entire ability to see was invalidated leaving Renji to darkness.

It was only then did hear something tell him, letting him know he was still in soul society despite the consuming void, a single set of commands.

"Live and forgive." Shinjiro said almost apologetically

Renji's sight returned to the bright light of the sun as his entire body exploded in a mess of blood as he was knocked backwards unto the blood stained concrete, in critical condition but still alive. His sword Zabimaru clanked against the ground the pool of blood staining the white and grey metal.

Shinjiro closed his eyes and flicked his blade to his side to remove some of the blood stains before rotating the sword in a circular motion and sheathing it "…always the reek of blood." He lamented as he turned a depressed gaze at his downed enemy.

Letting out a tired wheeze from his spot, Renji spat out a small wad of blood from his mouth "Beaten by a fucking traitor." He groaned

The traitor kneeled down, his knee and hand touching the trail of blood, Shinjiro's brown eyes peered into Renji's taking this brief moment to attempt to understand this enemy. "Perhaps you were beaten by this traitor because you lacked a strong cause to anchor yourself to." He commented having felt no true sense of self in his opponent's weapon despite the hard encounter

"What?"

Turning his gaze at the people who were showing up from the distance, the man turned back to his soon to be rescued adversary, to give a definitive answer. "I'm fighting for something much bigger than myself, so I can't allow myself to die just yet. Like you I was temporarily misguided into believing into something I should have known better on, and it almost cost me my friend and my life. But he let me go and spared me, just as I now spare you."

Renji tried to push himself up but not having the required energy to expend for the task he laid back down "I don't need your pity."

Renji was almost surprised when the still nameless man shook his head from seemingly slight annoyance, as if he was missing a bigger point "I'm not giving my pity to you, Fuka-Taicho. I'm telling you the reason you lost was because your sword felt hollow, like it had nothing to fight for. What I'm asking of you, is to take this rare moment and reflect on your defeat…and maybe, just maybe, you'll find a cause worth believing in, and the place where you can gain true strength."

Renji casted his eyes away, as he started to dwell on the words this person was telling him. The man above him reflexively winced and decided to end it since his body started to feel a very bad strain "May we meet again before Rukia is rescued."

The man suddenly disappeared in a flash step, now alone again Renji tilted his head to see the forms of his comrades coming to save him. _'Nothing worth fighting for huh? Maybe he has a point.'_ The lacerated fuka-taicho glanced at Zabimaru _'Despite our friendship, I haven't even so much as lifted a finger to help Rukia. Was I so fixated on trying to please and eventually surpass my captain that I failed to consider why I wanted to be a captain in the first place?'_

"No…" he whispered out tiredly "That's just shifting the blame. I didn't help Rukia because I was too much of a coward to have the balls necessary to fight to protect her." His anger started to stroke his determination "To be willing to stand up against her brother, like any good friend would have. Well no more, I'm through running away." Using the last of his spiritual power he traced which direction Shinjiro fled to and faced the direction as yelled as if he was still there "Ya hear me, once I'm back on my feet I'll save Rukia, and then I'll beat you, AND her damn brother all by myself! So you and the rest of your friends better watch out; cause, Renji Abarai is gonna show you what a real Shinigami can do!"

As the words left his mouth, he felt his consciousness start to fade and then all went black to the rabidly grinning Renji. As the various Shinigami arrived they started to perform the much needed healing Kido to save his life.

"That's enough." A cold voice stated behind the assembly causing them all to reflexively grab their weapons, incase another enemy decided to finish what the other one started

"S-sir!" one of the men yelled as he straightened himself up having saw Byakuya Kuchiki approaching them a look of disdain on his face

"I am ordering all of you to take Fuka-Taicho Abarai to squad four for healing and interrogation."

"B-but, why sir? He was fighting against that guy, we all saw him!" replied another Shinigami trying to defend the unconscious man from this unfair treatment

"Yes, and that is precisely why I wish to interrogate him. I am already questioning his loyalty, due to his mannerism of late and according to your account you say he fought against an enemy." Byakuya looked away from the man and at Renji "I see something wrong with this picture. Why is Abarai still alive if he was defeated? His opponent would have finished him off since it seems like you all just arrived, so my question is why spare him? I would sooner believe in my Fuka-Taicho's loyalty if he had that other man either dead at my feet or in this pool of blood dying with him." The man turned around to head back his cold gaze boring deep into the group quelling any dissention "We are in a crisis of unparallel danger, no chances can be taken. Get Abarai out of my squad's grounds until we can get some kind of idea as to what went on here."

As the gathered Shinigami reluctantly followed the order Byakuya couldn't help but think that his sister Rukia was seemingly the key to all of this madness, though he couldn't quite put his finger unto to why at the moment. He deducted that it would perhaps come to light soon and whatever actions might be necessary.

(Shinjiro)

Putting some much needed distance between himself and that route, the samurai turned down one of the labyrinth corridors when he felt the dark tug again. Letting out a groan he placed his hand to his head and slumped against the walls, along with the laughter of Muramasa pounding inside of his mind.

'_Hahaha! Akumetsu (destroy evil) hahaha!'_ As the mad laughter continued to fires lit within the samurai's mind. The two flames started to move almost like brush strokes until they made two distinct Kanji's. The red flames then turned black morphing the words into a dark command. _'Akumetsu! (Evil Destroyer/Conqueror) (2)_

As the kanji finished morphing Shinjiro's body sprayed a large quantity of blood as he collapsed to the ground in pain from many cut that seemingly came from nowhere. "B-bastard." He cursed the monsterous Muramasa for his blood thirsty nature, as his hand started to shiver from coldness _'N-no, calm down Shin. Center yourself.'_ He turned himself over and leaned against the pristine wall trying to slowdown his hyperventilation "Way of healing three: Dia." He commanded as he brought a hand to his stomach _'Alleviate the pain, to eventually stop the cutting'_ he recited what he remembered from the healing class he received from the academy, though he knew at this rate, he might just need a miracle to survive.

(Mid day: Subaru)

Dodging some more potential fights Subaru darted through the hallways of the second division to her destination, the Taicho's office. Slowing her pace down to a halt, she pulled down her face mask and was about to knock on the door when it opened just a crack. Knowing that her sister would never leave the door opened, Subaru quickly pushed the Shoji door aside and entered. Her knife rose to chest level to defend herself from any oncoming projectiles.

Not a moment after crossing the entranceway did a strong blow strike the spies' abdomen, her free arm was twisted behind her back and she was slammed against the desk pinned down by a hand on her cheek, her blade falling out of her hand in the sudden strike from the quick assailant.

"Subaru?" the captain pinning the woman down said startled not expecting her to have barged in as she did. As Subaru glanced back into the face of her surrogate sister she stopped her struggling and nodded her head. Soifon removed her hands from her arm and face and backed up with a scowl to match her mood regarding the third seat. "Where have you been?"

Rotating her wrist the dark haired girl turned to her interrogator to dance through the mine field that lay ahead "I had requested leave, Shin and I went out on a walk the previous day."

"It doesn't take nearly thirty hours to perform a simple 'walk' Subaru."

Subaru turned a pseudo-angered glare at her sister to work over her argument "Yes, I realize this, unfortunately I've been getting ATTACKED by our comrades ever since Shinjiro and I tried to enter the east gate only to be forced to go around to the north gate, and after separating on the INSIDE, I had to eliminate a few Shinigami and incapacitate many more just to even be here for this interrogation, sister dearest. So, would you tell me what's going on, and why people are killing each other!"

"So…you haven't heard?" The older woman muttered with a worried expression, now equally fearing for Shinjiro's safety since he too could have been walking around and ended up getting into a huge fight, especially after what got reported from the 2, 3, 13 coalition. "Well, regardless now is as good a time as any, so take a seat." She commanded as she moved back around the desk to take her own chair "While you were out, Seireitei has fallen under attack by an enemy force."

"This force is…?" asked Subaru even though she already knew the answer

"This force might either be the remnant or main army of the traitors Ichigo and Masaki Kurosaki." Soifon commented as calm as possible not wanting her anger to seep out and show her current emotional instability in front of her subordinate, regardless of personal friendship.

Subaru nodded her head even as she saw the uncertainty in her sister's eyes, but chose to say nothing, since she felt it wasn't entirely her place, it was Ichigo's. _'Please save her Ichigo.'_ She mentally pleaded to her master, and opened her mouth to change the subject "I understand, I will do my best." She pushed herself from her chair and looked at Soifon "I'm going back out to the field, and recalling our spies, we can't have them be killed while their backs are turned, and we need some reliable information."

"Very well, I leave it to you. I need to go out and search for a certain individual." Soifon stated

"What is this individual you are searching for? Perhaps one of the spies has seen them." Subaru pried to get any information to assist Ichigo's 'rebellion'

"A woman with dark purple hair and a golden staff, the information was obtained from Jidanbo after being pumped for information a second time around."

Subaru quickly bowed her head to prevent Soifon from seeing the sudden panicked expression on her face _'Senna!'_

"I understand my orders. I'll be on my way." Returning her face to neutral and flipping her mask back up she approached the door and stopped, turning around she sent an almost forlorn gaze at Soifon which the woman picked up on "Umm, sister dearest, I just wanted to tell you something."

Sensing the unusual tone and seemingly awkward shifting of Subaru's eyes, Soifon answered back in a more welcoming tone to coax her on "Yes, is something the matter Subaru-chan?"

The girl's eye went back to the door as she mentally debated something and spoke in a soft tone "I just wanted to say that Shin-kun and I both love you very, very, much, and will always protect you."

"I do appreciate the sentiment and the gesture, but if you don't mind my asking what brought this on?" the navy blue haired Taicho asked feeling a little more concerned since this wasn't like Subaru, at least not unless she had something on her mind

Subaru however only shook her head dismissively "N-no, I just felt…that I umm…haven't said it enough, and with the way things are with traitorous vermin running loose. This might be both my and Shinjiro's last opportunity to have let you know. I didn't feel like letting it slip by." She turned around and opened the door "Perhaps you shouldn't either sis."

As the spy departed the Taicho could have swore she heard the woman mutter an 'I'm sorry'. Letting out an exhalation, the Taicho resolved to try and talk to her tonight after she went looking for her target, grabbing her Suzumebachi she walked out the door, locking it this time around since there was no need to ambush anyone approaching her office and headed off.

(Senna)

Coming to a large clearing that was in front of the building that she was going to be going through, Senna ran into a small crowd of Shinigami who seemed to be guarding the building. The Shinigami turned to their guest weapons drawn to the outsider that they didn't recognize and weren't going to take a chance at.

"Let's go, Mirokumaru! Take them to the twilight!" she said pulling out her asauchi and changing in into her Shikai form. As it finished transforming Senna brought it about to attack her opposition when a loud battle cry caught all of the people's attention

"WOOOOOOOAH!" screamed a man from the top of the building as he front flipped off it spinning rapidly multiple times, and landed crouched down on the concrete floor breaking the tiles from the impact of his landing. The person was a very big heavily built male with his hakama exposing his left arm that had three tomoe tattoos. The man's black hair had two braids sticking out to the side beside his cheeks and a confident smile on his face.

Senna took a step back bringing Mirokumaru around to defend herself from this fearsome opponent. The man took one step forward and as he did his sandals slipped and he fell to the ground face first.

The female Kurosaki blinked "Huh?" she could only utter as the man quickly got back to his feet his large smile growing wider

"WAHAHAHA! Fear not, my comrades! I shall subdue this enemy, watch closely and take notes." He yelled out to his comrades who were cheering him on despite his mishap earlier

"Huuuuh?" she said again this time completely slack jawed

The man drew his sword as he turned back to Senna "My name is Tatsufusa Enjoji, and you have the honor of falling to my blade Traitor-san!" he drew his sword and took a basic kendo stance and closed his eyes in concentration "Dance Madly, Hozan."

The crowd of lesser Shinigami stared in awe of the third seat's Zanpaktou, which Senna really didn't see much change. When the blade finished transforming the man took a step forward and swung his sword around in a downward cross body stroke, with each step forward he looped it around and started to move it faster and faster.

"Umm…" Senna muttered to herself as she saw the man slowly…very slowly approaching her as he now started to make whooshing and groaning noises as he approached. She nervously turned to the crowd of onlookers and forced herself to hold off a groan, when one of the people said something along the lines of her being 'frozen in terror from the fierce crumbling mountain technique of their hero and third seat Tatsufusa'

Senna sighed as the man came closer at his pace rivaling that of paint drying on the wall

"Wooooahhhaaatatatata!" he kept screaming "woooooohahatatatatateeaaagghh!"

'_Senna…'_ the light side pushed gently to get her mistress's attention on the enemy, who was ruining her meditation, and purification ritual that she would be teaching Senna at a later date.

"Hajaahahauahhh!" the advancing man continued with his incoherent shouting.

'_**Shut your fucking cake hole, you ugly piece of shit! God, Senna do something before I do something for you!'**_ the dark half threatened, now in the mood to kill for the sake of her ears rather than blood lust

"Don't worry." She said, as she lazily moved her right hand that held her Shakujo in front of her, and started to spin in with her hand in a rapid circular motion. As she picked up the pace a large circular vent of wind blasted out, and smashed into the man, sending him all the way into the building, bringing a part of the wall to fall down on top of him.

When the wisps of dust parted revealing the large man down and out, a large brick crashed against his head eliciting a dull groan, the other enemy Shinigami panicked and scattered not wanting to meet a similar fate. Taking a moment to check her surroundings, Senna put a hand on her hip and let out a displeased sigh "Wow, if the third seat can get beat by a girl with less than a month of training, I'm really worried for the rest of Humanities afterlife." She theorized dryly "Oh well, guess I better get out of here."

"You're not going anywhere Ryoka." A controlled voice calmly commanded as a spiritual pressure fell all over Senna, making the girl whirl around to see who was speaking to her. The person who was approaching from the way she came was a woman with a librarian appearance common place dark hair a stern aura about her persons and a pair of glasses. Her katana which was strapped to her waist seemed to emit the same coolness as it's user who was giving a hard gaze focused squarely on Senna

"Who are you Shinigami-san?" Senna asked as she returned strength back into her grip to engage this new and fast approaching threat

"It is proper etiquette to introduce one's self to a stranger, before requesting said person's name, Ryoka-san." The woman stated matter-of-factly as she stopped her stroll a few yards away from the earthling

Senna paused for a second in thought and did agree with what she said; after all, she might be an invader, but she had no need to act the part of a barbarian.

"My name is Senna Ikasoruk." She half-lied throwing in a small courtesy bow "And you Shinigami-san?"

"Fuka-Taicho of the eighth court guard squad, Ise Nanao." The older woman stated returning the bow with one of her own. "Now I would ask that you surrender quietly. If you cooperate we might just let you face a lesser punishment."

"Sorry but I can't do that." The golden eyed girl declined unwilling to betray her friends

"Then I suppose I have no choice." Nanao said calmly as she drew her Zanpaktou "Keep her in line, Gin no me (Silver eye). (3)"

The woman's Zanpaktou changed from its sword form into a smaller square shape and settled into, from what Senna could see, a sturdy looking tome with a single eye in the center of the book. Not willing to be caught off guard Senna immediately switched her Shakujo into sword mode, ready to block or attack; whatever, that book might be capable of throwing her way.

Nanao smiled to herself as she witnessed the girl's initiative in taking precautionary steps. Not willing to rush in and attack without having a clue as to what she could do, though if she had the red ribbon wearing girl would have had a easier fight, but not 100% willing to let her take the opening move. _'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.'_ She thought to herself as she opened the book, the eye in the center opened up and gave Senna a once over with its silver pupil.

Senna watched the eye stare at her though her attention was taken away from the peering optical device, as one of the page lit up in the book, and her opponent seemed to pull out what looked to be a large brown whip with small little needles that ran along the length of the weapon. Certainly not enough to cause any serious lacerations, but definitely not something she'd want to get hit by in the foreseeable future.

With a loud test crack Nanao faced her opponent fully as she put her book away. As she continued to look at Senna a thought immediately occurred to her, having heard the Taicho's report about a female accomplice who might be connected to the enemies leader, Nanao was quickly coming to the conclusion that her squad just hit it big when it came to putting this rebellion down and save other Shinigami…if she could detain her.

'_**Hey you ain't the only one into whips baby~'**_ Mirokumaru cat called more than awake now that she had a much more enticing opponent to keep her engaged

"Shall we begin?" Nanao asked rhetorically, and then proceeded to launch the whip at Senna who jumped back since she had never really been in a fight against a whip master. The hardened leather smashed the concrete slab into a broken pile as the weapon slithered back to its master's side.

"Mugen Dai: Kyōfū Ken!" Senna commanded releasing her hidden saber and giving her a weapon in both hands to give her the edge despite her inexperience. She quickly grimaced when she saw that her opponent didn't seem the least bit intimidated by her additional weapon.

Strafing to the side, the female Kurosaki kept an eye on her opponent. Taking a chance Senna ran forward keeping both her weapons up to defend herself along the way to close the distance between them. Her effort however proved fruitless as Nanao launched her whip out again. This time it seemed to snake through her guard and lash against her side, dropping Senna to her knees, which was quickly followed up by a few more flicking of her wrist, causing the whip to slap Senna in other parts of her body as it zipped by to go for its next opening.

'_This is oww getting me nowhere!'_ She concluded with a pained wince, as the whip retracted back Senna quickly sheathed her gale saber and twisted back in a circular motion while spinning her Shakujo sending high pressure wind currents around her as she got back up fully.

Seeing that her whip wasn't able to make contact because of the winds the girl was creating Nanao recalled the weapon fully and had it ready to strike.

When the wind currents died down, Nanao moved to strike again but it was foiled as Senna back flipped into the air and used her wind power to propel her well outside of the whips attack radius, allowing her to fully recover and come up with some kind of counter measure.

Using the grey matter in her head she quickly ran through her options. Running away and retreating were quickly thrown out of the equation on the grounds that Senna highly doubted she could out run someone who's had tons of experience using flash step, and if she managed to get away by flying on Mirokumaru she'd run into the problem of being easily spotted up in the sky and unable to land or worse hitting the Seki Seki shield that domed the Seireitei. So she was precluded to fight; though, she was really going uphill since fighting dual, which she wasn't exactly great at, ended up with her getting repelled with a few extra bruises on the side.

Senna turned her body to keep her Shakujo at her side in case the other woman tried something _'I can always go sword, but I'd have to abandon my sheath and that means no wind power, but if I stay staff I'll need to pray I don't run out of power before I defeat her.'_

Inside her mind scape the dark priestess let out her words of reprimation _**'Don't be so damn finicky, just get in there and beat her ass. Remember your soul is on the line, if you can't face her how do you plan on facing me!'**_

Senna mentally looked back and nodded to herself _'She's right.'_ Bringing her weapon back around and holding it so that the end with the rings faced Nanao, a much more confident Senna smirked "I don't have time to lose, brother is counting on me."

Utilizing her new found determination Senna ran towards Nanao who had been cooking up a plan of her own. Once again entering striking distance Nanao sent out the whip to which Senna dodged by flipping over it and spinning her Shakujo to keep her in the air and further close the distance.

Seeing her initial attack falter Nanao twisted her body in a 360 arc re-launching the weapon back up for another shot to take down her airborne foe. The weapon connected and caused the girl to spin in mid-air though as she did she released her sword once again now within striking distance, landing on her feet Senna quickly lashed out with her sword to cripple the woman's arm. The attack however was deflected as the fuka-taicho moved her book into the pathway of the strike.

Senna moved to use her free hand, but something quickly wrapped around her arm, taking a immediate glance to see what was up she was shocked to see the leather whip was winding up her arm. _'There's no way she could have done that this close.'_

"It seems you under estimate me." Nanao said speaking for the first time since this battle had begun. Taking a quick step backward and thrusting her arm she launched Senna away from her immediate vicinity and made her slide against the hard tile floor and hit the hard walls of the corridors. Pulling her hand back the weapon slither across the ground to it's mistress, as Senna got back up from the floor looking worse for wear now. "My whip has a mind of its own, in fact I haven't even shown you the true form of this whip. Observe." Quickly raising her arm and snapping it down the whip let out a loud crack and split into nine total extensions all protruding from one rope. "My whip is just a very lengthy cat of nine tails."

Using the wall to catch her breath Senna pulled her Shakujo close "I don't get it how are you so much tougher than Tatsufusa?"

Nanao tilted her head to the side at the question in pondering "Well since you asked, I don't mind enlightening you." She then pointed to her lieutenant badge "I'm higher up in rank and Tatsufusa isn't exactly the strongest third seat around due to his…techniques. My Zanpaktou however has given me an advantage, in the fact that it scans my opponents style of fighting, with it's gaze, before giving me a weapon better suited to fighting you with. You, unfortunately, just happened to be fighting against a weapon; I'm rather proficient at thanks in part to my Taicho." She answered coolly "Now this is the end for you." Throwing her arm back she launched her whips nine brutal tails at Senna who quickly flash stepped a couple of feet away to close in.

No longer attempting to play nice, Senna continued running forward until she could hear the snake like appendages coming back to attack her, screeching to a stop she quickly spun her Shakujo as fast as she could. The gale force winds slammed into Nanao launching her into one of the nearby walls and blasted her through it. As the woman went through the structure, Senna dived to the side as the nine tails went flying past her each one trying to crash into Senna.

Returning her staff to an offensive position, she waited for Nanao to show up as she had a sinking feeling this was far from over. Sure enough out of the dust came a scowling Ise, who cracked her whip fiercely and disappeared into a blur of speed. Her eyes widening in fear Senna quickly wheeled around only to see the oncoming onslaught of whips.

Nanao watched as the physically aware lashes consumed the body of the woman, she let out an exhausted sigh. She knew that she had won now, as there was no way the girl would be able to break free since the weapon would continuously attack her, and prevent her wind power from freeing her until she was no longer conscious. Which was fine by her, as long as she didn't die information could still be gotten.

Inside the horde of hardened leather, Senna's body was getting picked apart. Her blood started to flow much more freely from the various wounds she had been subject to during this fight. The wind seer was hunched on all fours, with her head bowed and one hand trying to pry off one of the leather appendages that was wrapped around her neck strangling her. "Get…cough..of.f" she struggled as she pulled harder to little avail as she started to feel herself beginning to fade under the attack

Sitting in the back of Senna's mind, the dark priestess decided that perhaps now might be a good time to get involved. Since she had no way of knowing just what would happen if the S&M girl outside decided to say the hell with it and kill her one irreplaceable servant. Bringing herself closer to the forefront of the Kurosaki's mind, invisibly placing her beside her Miko, she whispered quietly into Senna's ear as she slowly started to pour energy into her with her hand

"**Calm yourself love. Don't you feel it? The warm comfort of battle?"**

'_Comfort?'_ Senna replied slowly falling into a trance with the sensual voice of the hollow Mirokumaru

The dark creature let out a devilish smile at seeing it slowly working **"Of course. I can feel it just like you can, we are the same after all."** She adjusted her eyes away from Senna and pointed to the whips that were still striking her body with their thorn like studs **"Can't you feel the pleasure that these little toys provide upon the receptors of your flesh? Dull your senses and focus on me. Good Sen-chan, now do you feel the heat of each strike? Use that let it envelop you heart, let it burn the desire inside you, and spread it all over your body. Can't you feel the pleasure?"**

Senna continued to blankly stare as her breath started to return to her though in short but even burst _'Yeah, I feel it.' _she claimed as a hungry look filled her eyes and she started to feel a foreign feeling inside her body, make her weak in the knees _'It feels gooood__.'_ The blushing girl replied back with a horny smile, her irises faintly turning gold

"**Let it drive you Senna-chan."** She urged as she faded back into Senna's mind **'Show me what we are capable of me.'**

Gripping the whip that was wrapped around her neck tighter, she yanked it off with force she wasn't aware she actually possessed, though for Senna the realization didn't come until after the euphoric feeling of the small needle-like projections, that roughly pricked against her soft skin, faded away. The girl closed her eyes and bit back a moan from the seemingly intense yet welcoming blows of the whip as she reached for her Shakujo.

The lashing weapon quickly pushed her Shakujo until it was out of arms reach and returned back to striking the different girl. The female Kurosaki while mildly annoyed at first pushed it out of the way since she'd do this her own way, quickly swatting the nine tails away from her body she looked up with a sadistic smile into the shocked face of Nanao.

Faster than Nanao could act she was pinned against the wall being chocked by the girls one hand, while she had a look on near absolute bliss on her face from her current position of power. Senna's dark smile grew wider as she flexed her free hand and curled it into a fist "Send me to paradise with your voice. Satiate me with your unfiltered emotions." She then whispered "Let me see the beauty of your corpse."

As she pulled her arm back and clenched her fist pumping the dark energy into her limb to impale Nanao, Senna suddenly let out a cry of pain as she felt her strength fade from her body causing her to drop Nanao who wasted no time in crawling away to catch her breath from the death grip. The Miko fell against the wall. Loud static and fatigue filling her mind from seemingly nowhere, unable to support herself up, Senna fell down and quickly collapsed under her own weight.

'**Damn. It seems at this point she can only channel and sustain my powers for a few seconds.'** Dark Mirokumaru cursed as the sun in the world started to fall to evening and eventually night. **'Well it's not a total loss; at least I know I'll have something to look forward to once I'm in charge.' **She then giggled perversely** 'oooh yes, my servant is very sexy when she's being obedient and sadistic.'**

Nanao got back up to her feet and retrieved her whip in order to protect herself. She waited a few moments and when Senna's body remained unmoving she let out a sigh of relief. She walked over to the girl and examined her body, as she started examining she felt a spiritual power quickly approaching, and turned in the direction.

Landing from over the walls a member of the Onimitsukido landed a few yards away from the two women and the KO'd Tatsufusa. The masked person looked around confusedly for a moment until he or she noticed Nanao, and took a step towards her though it was short lived as Nanao cracked her whip "Identify yourself why you are here!" she commanded ready to fight if it was another foe

Subaru pulled down her face mask and bowed "It seems you didn't recognize me, vice-president Nanao."

"Ahh good a recognizable face." The relieved fuka-taicho said lowering her guard down

Subaru nodded her head "Yes, I understand. I heard from Soifon-Taicho what's going on. I happened to be in the area when I felt something powerful over here so I came to investigate." _'And save Senna…if she's still alive'_

Ise adjusted her glasses a bit "I see. Well your timing would have been perfect if she hadn't shut down there a moment ago."

"Are you hurt?"

"A few bumps and bruises, but nothing to worry about." Nanao waved off as she turned to more pressing matters "However, this girl here might not be as lucky due to our fight. Subaru I know you are quick as well as reliable, I would ask that you deliver her to the fourth for medical treatment and inform Soifon-taicho so that the two of you might find out what she knows."

Subaru bowed her head "I understand." She then moved to pick up the unconscious girl and slung her over her shoulder and picked up her Shakujo with one of her free hands, with a quick passing of words Subaru raced as quickly and carefully as she could to the fourth to save her comrades life.

Nanao, while still hurt and bruised, didn't bother to go get medically analyzed since Kyoraku would no doubt upon seeing her injured state throw all kinds of healing kidos, ointments and everything else to get back to full strength. Turning back to Tatsufusa with mild annoyance, since she couldn't fault him in that her opponent definitely was no push over, but couldn't believe he was taken out so quickly. Pulling out a roster from out of nowhere she looked up his name "Third Seat Tatsufusa, more training." She wrote down and after clicking her pen proceeded to wake up the large man.

Unbeknownst to the busy woman a black cat came out from the balcony room of the Taicho's office and headed off towards it's next destination.

(Afternoon: Ichigo's team)

Continuing their trek through the sewers, Ichigo and his two companions Hanataro and Ganju came to a fork in the road. "So which way now Taro?"

The token scaredy-cat actually looked at Ichigo worriedly "Actually Ichigo-san, this is where we part ways." He pointed down the left tunnel "The squad two branch way is down their all the way at the end, Ganju and me have to go down this way and follow a few more corridors then we'll be near the Penance tower."

"Oh…" Ichigo muttered as he looked back at his tunnel then looked back at his friends "I got you."

The green clad Ganju spoke up to their leader "Bah, don't worry about things. We'll get Rukia out while you're busy training to beat the pants off the other Shinigami."

"Yeah, you're right." Ichigo said with a lopsided smile "Just make sure you watch out for Hanataro for me Ganju, I'm counting on you."

The man smiled as he flexed his arm and grabbed it with his other hand "No worries, with Ganju Shiba on the job things get done." He then laughed "Hell bring sister into the problem and it gets done twice as fast!"

The men shared a friendly laugh since they knew firsthand what she was like, while Hanataro had heard more than enough stories to have a pretty good mental picture to understand the joke. "Alright Ichigo-san, good luck. Remember I'm still rooting for you." Hanataro gushed before giving him a one armed hug and disappeared down the corridor.

As Hanataro departed Ganju walked up and shook Ichigo's hand "Hey, I just wanted to say sorry."

"For what?"

"It's just I had a wrong idea about you guys, I thought all Soul Reapers were selfish assholes. And while I am still mostly right, you, you're alright in my book Ichigo."

"Glad to hear it Ganju, and you changed my thinking of nobles just a little bit more. So thanks."

Ganju's loud smirk returned in full "Course we ain't like most nobles, were Shiba's and we don't take any kind of crap!"

"Ganju-san, please hurry up!" Hanataro called from his tunnel causing his smile to morph into a sheepish one

"Yeah, yeah. Mr. Muscles is coming so don't get you Hakama in a wreck." He yelled back like a foreman would at a henchman "Heh. Later Ichigo."

As the leader of the now disbanded group watched his team mates leave, Ichigo composed himself and ran off down his pathway to get to the location on his map.

(Elsewhere)

The piercing shriek of Momo Hinamori seemingly echoed across all of Soul Society, her eyes frozen upon the dull lifeless face of her Taicho and friend, Sosuke Aizen, who was hanging atop the building with a blood covered sword penetrating his chest.

The outcry quickly garnered the attention of various individuals in the nearby area, as they all reached the source of the commotion their faces became equally horrified to see that one of their Taicho's was dead, and their body left out as a sign from the perpetrators.

"Well, well would you look at that." Gin said as he came to the scene alongside his blond and seemingly morose fuka-taicho Kira Izuru "I don't think I've ever seen such a wide collection of individuals fussing over such a common thing, I mean it is war after all isn't it?"

The taunting words rang into Momo's ears and caused her traumatized mind to snap on instinct, she drew her sword and charged towards the man to prevent him from further slandering the name of HER Taicho

'_Especially…especially…'_ she couldn't bring herself to finish the thought as she released her Zanpaktou "Snap! Tobiume!" she chanted as the sword took on a more wooden appearance and pronged out gaining a tree like appearance, while Gin stood stock still while his defense team did his work for him.

Moments before the attack was going to land, Izuru flashed his Zanpaktou and called it's release "Raise your head, Wabisuke!" as he intercepted the attack his sword bending at odd angles catching all the prongs of Hinamori's attack. "Momo, calm down and stop this foolishness at once! I don't want to fight you, but I will to protect my Taicho."

Momo bared her teeth as she put more effort to breaking through Kira "Get out of my way Kira! He's guilty! He did it!"

The blond man pushed the woman off him "Your acting irrationally, your committing treason! Calm down now!" he yelled as the woman moved again to strike

The two would have continued had it not been for Taicho's Toshiro Hitsuguaya and Soifon arriving at the scene having felt the vast collection of spiritual pressures. "That's enough all of you stand down." The white haired Taicho commanded as he jumped between the in-fighting fuka-taicho catching the blade with his sword and foot respectively.

"T-Toshiro…" whispered Hinamori confusedly, not expecting him to come between her and Gin, especially after their meeting

Izuru on the other hand let out an exhalation "Taicho."

While the young genius knew of the emotional state his female friend was in, and could understand why she reacted the way she did to Ichimaru's words. She needed to be punished for attacking a fellow officer, but more importantly to prevent her loss of life from the fox faced Taicho who seemed ready to lure the poor girl in, before cutting her down. "Soifon-Taicho, if you could have some of the Special Forces take Fuka-taicho Hinamori to the fourth check for injuries, before sending her to one of the holding cells in the second that would be appreciated."

"I understand." She said coldly as she snapped her fingers calls up a few members who arrested the hysterical woman. While that was being done Toshiro then went to break up the scene, and have the other Shinigami stay on high alert, with the crowd disbursed he walked over and spoke to Gin Ichimaru.

"Gin (4)." The boy genius said informally throwing away any sense of pleasantness

The still smiling man tilted his head "Yes? Is there some way I can assist you, little man?" he answered back with equal rudeness

"Just now, when Momo was coming at you…you were about to kill her if Kira didn't interfere." He accused in a low but menacing tone

If it was possible Gin smile increased an even further degree "Oh? I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't believe I've ever so much as looked at her before now." Gin's eye lids opened just a fraction, showing slight disdain in his eyes "You wouldn't be abusing your power to try and protect her now would you, that's most…uncaptain-like."

Toshiro narrowed his own eyes "Don't patronize me about duty. I just wanted to warn you, that I have my eye on you and that if I ever find out Hinamori is hurt, YOU will be the one I come after first." He turned around quickly but still held the frigidness in his tone "Sleep on that thought for a while, before you look at her again." And started to walk away

Gin's red eyes kept their gaze on the back of the young ice dragon, and a small but audible chuckle escaped his lips "hahaha…I will, just remember to watch your own back. One dead Taicho is more than enough, my _friend_." He finished as he flash stepped off to where only the spirit king knew.

Toshiro bit back a snarl as he turned his head back around, and saw that Soifon-Taicho had also vacated the area leaving him here alone with the body of Sosuke Aizen. The younger man gazed at the lifeless body of his sempai and said to it "You were on the right track to finding the real traitors Aizen-Taicho, don't worry though, I'll finish your work so you can rest in peace." He then summoned up a hell butterfly and requested a medical team to take the body down and examine it to see what mysteries the body could hold, though in the back of his mind he was slightly afraid to know that out there was something that could kill a Taicho without being felt by everyone around them.

(Soifon)

After having her troops arrest the disgruntled Fuka-Taicho, the ice queen of Seireitei gave a quick glance to the dead body and left. Her mind a mess as to what could have killed someone as strong as him without being sensed.

Sure there was many conflicts occurring everywhere and people were flaring out spiritual power like no tomorrow, making it impossible to track whose who, but a Taicho! That was unexplainable. Not even she an assassin could eliminate someone equally as powerful as her without them raising their power in the slightest, Suzumebachi not being counted though even than it was dependent upon the circumstances. As she ran across the roof tops of Seireitei's corridors jumping at every interval gaps, she gave up the thought as no doubt they'd need more information before making accusation of more traitorous sleeping agents, or blame it on the traitors who had already invaded.

"Impossible." She muttered to herself, at the notion that a Ryoka could have the power to defeat a Taicho on his or her own home turf. Her other thought though replayed the one part of the meeting that affected her the most: what was mentioned about the supposed ring leader

_Shinigami with bright orange hair and a black and silver sword as long as his body_

She stopped her high speed movement suddenly to shake the thoughts from her head, leaving her atop a building just a couple hundred feet away from the squad two grounds. "I need to stop being so damn optimistic, he's still my enemy." She said to herself, as she frowned whilst surveying the surrounding area.

She was going to move on when she saw someone with dark black hair who obviously wasn't wearing the Onimitsukido Uniform, enter into the forest training ground, but the sight that really made her blood run cold was the enormous blade on the person's back that was wrapped in cloth. _'It couldn't be…'_ she said to herself as she moved to investigate, since only one person she knew had a sword that looked exactly like the weapon this intruder had, which meant only two things. He was here and was promptly killed and this person took Zangetsu which she highly doubted or he was here on her stomping grounds…for something. Slowing her heart and regaining a better grip on herself she descended down after him.

(Ichigo)

The former stealth force operative so far hadn't had too much trouble entering back into the forests of Squad two, after exiting the sewers system. He did attribute the occurrence to more than likely everyone else out looking for the others, and not expecting one to go practically up to their front door, to meet up with a ex-Taicho for Bankai training. As opposed to his own skill which wasn't too shabby in and of itself. The fourth seat was keeping his energy signature to a minimum, as he continued to follow the old paper map to this hidden training ground, so as not to alert anyone.

His streak of luck was abruptly ended as a person's feet landed upon the large branch of a tree that stretched in an arc above the ground "So you show yourself at last," A feminine voice called in a cold neutral tone from behind him. A voice he knew very, very well. "Ichigo."

His heart rate quickened in pace as the words floated to him. His hands started to feel cold and clammy from nervousness which he counter-balanced by evened out his breathing, "Shaolin." He replied back remaining facing away as he quickly rummaged through his options

From her spot the woman closed her eyes and softly shook her head "You disappoint me, and I had such high expectations of you." She taunted in an unwelcoming tone, almost making Ichigo flinch with the bite it had. As the man turned around he saw the arms crossed Haori wearing woman staring down on him from one of the large over passing branches of one the thick trees around them, her trade mark bands blowing further behind her in the wind. She drew her sword from the sheath that hung around her hips, the blade emitting a harsh ringing sound "I should have known better, but it matters not, prepare yourself!"

The once orange now black haired man face turned into a sour frown "I'm not your guy. I'm not the one doing all this." He replied pulling Zangetsu free from its spot to defend himself, against her of all people.

"Shut up!" she yelled, a burst of her reiatsu flaring out towards him which he countered by raising his own "Make him pay by stinging him to death: Suzumebachi!" she yelled as her Zanpaktou transformed into it's lethal golden stinger, before springing from her perch to kill the man before her.

While she was going extremely fast by any good standard, to Ichigo it seemed she was going almost half heartedly, as his colossal blade blocked her launching thrust he launched her back into the air. _'It's a good thing Kisuke put me through the wringer.' _Ichigo noted as he dodged yet another attack from the angry assassin after she landed.

Hand springing backward after she been repelled, Soifon focused her reiatsu to channel around her stinger arm. Using just enough of the technique that she'd been trying her damnest to create against Yoruichi to amp her strength a bit without it possible going too far where she couldn't control the limb.

The swirling winds wrapped around the arm; and as she threw her punch forward, a shockwave of energy shot out. Forcing Ichigo to quickly flash step to another spot, to avoid the strange technique as it blew a small but noticeable hole into the trees.

His reprieve would be short lived as the girl appeared before him her stinger cocked back and springing forth to blow a hole through his head. Flaring his spiritual power he raised Zangetsu as it met the stinger, blowing him backward in a violent explosion of intense spiritual power, Soifon meanwhile was flipping forward through the air, and quickly turning about face launched another strike from behind Ichigo who was still recovering from the attack.

The talon dug into the flesh of Ichigo drawing blood and, as the unnamed technique whipped through the woman's arm, it shot him across the ground a large black welt showing up on his body from the impact site, followed up by a dark Homonka mark. Rolling across the ground on his side in a wild rotation, Ichigo straightened himself after the fourth rotation, as he brought Zangetsu back around, biting back the sheer pain that was coursing through his lower abdominal area as the attack felt like a cannon ball had been shot at him in close range, and seemed to bounce back and forth from his innermost tissue to his top levels of skin

Soifon was going to give chase to attack him, when she shivered and had a nauseating sensation fill her head. She brought a hand to her head to steady herself, as the world around her teetered between vibrant color and dull grey, and swayed back and forth unfocusedly. Canceling the technique she felt a small wave of fatigue run over her, leaving her to finish the job with her Zanpaktou. A dirty job she was happy to do.

The small pause from the cancelation of her technique was all the time Ichigo needed get back within striking range, as he brought Zangetsu around to break off the stinger of Suzumebachi. Her temporary loss in strength forced her down, but she countered by slamming her quipos into Ichigo's stomach making him double over.

With the golden opportunity presented she jumped up and rolled over his body to sting the Homonka mark. Unfortunately for the Taicho, Ichigo grabbed her foot and yanked her off him causing her arm to veer off course, and miss its mark. Ichigo grabbed Zangetsu and back peddled as the girl got back to her feet and faced off with her enemy.

'_How is he doing this?'_ Soifon asked herself frustratedly as Ichigo kept dodging or parrying whatever attacks she threw at him now that she was no longer empowered, she did acknowledge that he was strong and that she didn't get the best results from the technique, but she adamantly refused to believe that they were even remotely close in power, but no matter what she couldn't deny the facts of his continued resistance. _'Less than a year ago, I was kicking the bastard's traitorous ass all around the courtyard, but now, now he can match me! Stop my attacks even, with but Shikai!'_

The girl's eyes narrowed to mere slits at the almost insulting audacity the man had, it was if he was mocking her. "Just die!" she yelled as she slammed her leg into the side of Ichigo which sent him skidding across the wilderness dirt, but didn't knock off his feet like she had intended.

As he screeched to a halt, Ichigo tried to plead to her "Listen to me-"

"Just shut up!" She said in a low hateful voice cutting him off immediately, telling Ichigo his words were already starting to fall on deaf ears. "You betrayed me, and I've had enough of your lies. The proof is all around just open you fucking eyes. It's because of you that people are dying." She yelled out as she charged towards him while he slammed Zangetsu into the ground to avoid cutting her on accident, a risk maneuver since it would leave him open to Suzumebachi, but he needed to use extreme measures at this point "it's because of you, that even now I see 'HER' shadow before me." The pair's fists connected with each other before the broke into a lightning fast martial arts tug of war.

Ichigo quickly pushed aside Soifon's gigantic stinger which stung into his forearm as it grazed past while he hit her back in the shoulders ignoring the cold sensation of the Homonka spread across the flesh of his forearm. Soifon catching the outstretched arm used it like a hook to push past and strike the Homonka, but before it could connect Ichigo twisted his body and kicked her in the stomach breaking them apart before the lethal strike made contact.

After the violent separation, the girl back flipped several times and disappeared into a burst of high speed flash steps which were countered by Ichigo's own. All around the forest area where Zangetsu stood vertically, violent clashes raged back and forth through the swaying tree branches to the sturdy roots. Craters in the ground broke open as each person smashed or hit the other in their violent collisions, and when the two finally resurfaced back at the open area several tree branches shook violently dropping their leaves down all around them from the multiple violent mid air battles fought between them.

Neither of them looked much better than the other at this point, Soifon was breathing rather heavily multiple bruises running up and down her arms and legs, with a busted lip located on the corner of her mouth and possibly a broken bone in her lower right arm but the captain couldn't really tell at that point. On the opposite end, Ichigo had seven new Homonka marks on his shoulders, neck and cheek each one pulsating slightly awaiting their queen's gentle touch to unleash their devastating gift. Ichigo spat out some blood that had collected in his mouth from the battle while he rotated his wrist to pop a few bones back in place, most of his hakama was intact save for the Homonka strikes, but the body underneath it had definitely seen better days.

'_Why!'_ the girl mentally questioned herself in a soft monotone, while barring her teeth at her opponent, feeling extreme anger and minute amounts of sadness in her actions _'How? Why do you still haunt me! WHY!'_

Ichigo raised his guard up in case she attacked, but inwardly he felt something. It seemed every time their fist clashed, he felt hopelessness from her, like she was just empty and devoid of reason. As if she was already dead, and just hoping someone would destroy the body she manipulated to her bidding. "Why won't you listen to me!" he half-asked half-yelled, searching for some kind of answer, to avoid having to kill her for what Aizen had done. _'There's gotta be a way to reach her, but what?'_

"It's because you care about absolute power and nothing else." She accused while she felt her emotions running rampant inside her "It's because of you that I wake up every morning want to be dead than have to deal with all of this!" She wiped her lip with the back of her hand _'To deal with all this pain from thinking…worrying about you.'_ And dropped her head down while she unconsciously started to shake, evoking grief from Ichigo "It's…it's because…of you…" she said in a shaken tone _'I'm scared…to keep going not knowing what will happen...to me…to us.'_

"What would it take to make you happy?" he asked with an almost audible frown to her

'_Is he giving me pity?'_ she thought almost feeling insulted and…relieved, not that he would have known "You want to know what'll make me happy 'Yojimbo'! Just die! The end of your goddamn existence would bring me joy beyond measure!" She snapped as she charged him again, but this time he didn't dodge and the force from her tackle sent the both of them to the ground with Soifon on top with her stinger buried in his stomach, and twisted it with no small measure of hate, wanting to get some response out of him and have him begging for mercy.

"…Alright then," He said simply ignoring the pain of the sting, as he looked at the woman above him with a neutral expression to convey his honesty. He closed his eyes "if my dying will truly make you happy, go ahead." And awaited for the second strike, which perplexed the Taicho into pondering her own thoughts, about this turn of events.

A tense silence passed through the pair as Soifon pulled out her Suzumebachi, the Homonka mark settling into place. "Any final words?" she asked surprisingly soft by her own analysis, which she felt she needed to adjust. She couldn't afford any mistakes she tried to reassure.

Ichigo didn't open his eyes, but did respond to her question "Only two things, one I didn't betray Soul Society. I was set up by Ichimaru whose part of an insane scheme to destroy Soul Society. I wanted to warn you that everyone is in danger. The second thing is…I'm glad to see you at least one more time." He said a small pained smile growing on his face

'_I'm glad to see you'_ she repeated to herself more hopefully in her inner monologue before shaking her head _'No, he's just trying to…to stop me.'_ She attempted to rationalize to quash the naive thoughts of her heart _'But the other information will be helpful for me in protecting Soul Society.'_ She clenched her fist as a sense of dread started to swell within her. Her mind reflecting back to the memory of purchasing the Ihai and it's meaning for Ichigo and herself, to what Suzumebachi said about being unable to break the bond between them personally '_No, I can do this. He means nothing to me!'_ she tried to reassure herself _'I'm better than him! I don't need him!'_

"D-die!" she exclaimed as she slammed the Zanpaktou back into Ichigo's body.

Ichigo opened his eyes as he felt the piercing sting of her Zanpaktou penetrate his flesh again. He looked in Shaolin's face for a few seconds though it seemed like hours to him. Her body was shaking and she looked ready to burst into tears. Glancing down where her hand was he saw that while he did get stung a second time, this time around she aimed slightly higher and missed the edge of the mark by several crucial centimeters. He let out a short wheeze as he turned his eyes upwards.

After a few seconds of tense silence the girl pulled out her stinger slouching back in the process, leaving her straddling the ex-fourth seat. Her hand dropped to her side not having any more strength to continue this seemingly pointless struggle.

Life and death…Victory or defeat…There was just nothing worth fighting for in her eyes.

"I don't get it." she said as tears began to fall down her face, her voice barely above a whisper "When I saw you and could physically touch you, I was overjoyed. Yet, at the same time I was troubled." Her voice continued to grow at a steady pace, but was still below her normal volume "Honor…Taicho-ship…The law…Soul Society…Revenge…it's everything to me. It's my personal duty. It's all that I have. It's what I had built my whole life around. I shouldn't have any difficulty in fighting a traitor. That one word that stands in opposition to all that I hold true to myself and yet," she clenched and unclenched her hands as she continued to speak "Why is it that it hurts to hurt you?" she lowered her head to where Ichigo couldn't see her face anymore "Why do you always have to make things so difficult? Why can't I banish you from my mind! WHY IS IT THAT I CAN"T KILL YOU!" She screamed, closing her eyes in attempt to convince herself that the tears weren't coming from her eyes, that this was just a rapidly spiraling out of control nightmare, that she would wake and this would all go away if she desired it "Why Ichigo?" she choked out, opening her eyes and stared at Ichigo with a pleading look on her face, trying and failing to control herself like she knew she could in any scenario she could otherwise picture. "Why don't you just leave me alone…?"

Ichigo remained quiet for a few seconds, his own emotions coursing through his body like a mad zephyr. Bringing his hand up to cup her face, the girl's face fell a bit and knocked the hand down, shaking her head softly in disbelief and misunderstanding of the gesture, her own feelings pained and telling her to run. As Shaolin started to pull herself away from him to seemingly vacate, the male shinigami's instincts kicked in fully and told him to stop her by any means necessary or regret it forever "You want to know why I won't leave you alone." he repeated quickly stopping her in her tracks as he grabbed a firm hold of her arm "It's because…even before now, I had thought I lost you, but now I know that you are still there, still beside me in my heart and yours, and now that I know this. I'm never going to let you go ever again."

"Wha-" she didn't get to finish as his lips crashed unto her own, sending a jolt of shock from the sudden move. But in the blink of an eye she melted into the kiss and started to return it with just as much passion, as the tongue of her lover slowly slide into her own mouth and explored this new frontier of her persons, while her Taicho's Haori slid off her body courtesy of the man.

'_No. I…I must make sure. (5)'_ she resistantly pushed him back to the fullest extent of her arms, her breathing held a small amount fright in it "How can I trust you and your words? How will I know this won't turn into another lie? How can I believe Ichigo?" she asked with a piercing gaze that sought an answer

Ichigo pulled her back to him and flicked a strand of her hair out of her face, as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Because you're the only person in the world, I'd even consider relinquishing my life to, if it would make you happy." And then proceeded to kissing some of the battle marks on her cheek, before returning back to the woman's lips, who was practically crying her eyes out now from his words and action, her heart pounding faster with each passing second. But this time the tears were more than welcomed by both parties, though the girl did allow herself a moment to wipe them away.

Now back in control of herself, Shaolin's own hand firmly grasped the heart of Ichigo's hakama and began to hurry to unfasten it as the pair broke away for air from another intense kiss. The heated energy inside them pooled together, just beneath the surface and was waiting to be unleashed, while Suzumebachi disengaged itself and fell to the ground with a clatter. In an almost animalistic fashion the twin banded captain ripped open the man's hakama to expose his well built chest and abdomens that she'd previously stung, hit and marked.

The girl grinned deviously liking what she saw and left herself exposed to the once spiky orange now dark black haired man's kisses on her cheeks that trailed down to her neckline, causing the fierce woman to lose her breath and close her eyes from the pleasurable feeling of his lips on her skin, while her arms draped around the back of his neck keeping well with arms and kiss reach.

The two lovers briefly stared into the others eyes, and saw the unmistakable hint of love and lust, leaving them both to ponder in irony if they both had that same dreamy eyed expression on their own countenances.

If only they knew…

The fourth seat's fingers started to tug at the straps holding up his captain's Onimitsukido uniform, and watched with enjoyment at her look of both surprise and embarrassment as he slowly slide it down the length of her arm, making sure his finger touched all of her creamy sensitive skin, in an almost territorial marking fashion.

With the one strap gone he went back to kissing her again while he simultaneously removed the second strap from her shoulder. As the last support system fell away, the always stiff and formally dressed Soifon, was now the topless pressed against her lover Shaolin…but at this point in time she could care less what anyone would have thought, so long as he was here.

Ichigo continued to kiss his lover's neck while his hand grabbed her fleshy b cup mounds and started to tease them, while Shaolin let out a moan of pleasure. Not one to be out done Shaolin began to grind her hips against his crotch area causing her younger counterpart to wince from intense pleasure from having his most sensitive area stroked by a previously grieving, but now thoroughly horny bee.

"Heh…is something the matter? Then please speak up, I'm all ears Ichigo." The dark haired beauty teased seductively using his name in one of the most intimate of ways. "Nothing? No inhibitions odd…last time I said I'd be ready for sure, but now I ask are you?" she leaned closer and whispered in his ear, with an infernal smirk on her face "You're not gonna turn tail and run, correct?"

Having heard the words leave her mouth Ichigo responded in a way that both excited her and left flabbergasted "Is that a challenge?" before the Chinese woman could respond she arched her back when Ichigo started to tease her breasts, licking, sucking, and lightly biting on them sending her nerves into overdrive from the electrifying stimulation, as a strange sensation started to build on the inside of her.

Unable to continue standing against the voracious assault Soifon's legs gave out and the two went to the ground and continued their little affair. "My turn…" Shaolin purred alluringly as she flipped Ichigo over and reversed the roles, which judging by the smirk on Ichigo's face was a prospect he found rather welcoming.

Getting up from straddling him, Soifon seductively removed the lower half of her outfit, sliding the black garb down her hips with a sway and stepping out one smooth leg at a time leaving her nearly complete exposed save for her hands going across her chest and womanhood, though from the self satisfying smirk on her face, they both knew it wouldn't stay hidden for much longer. Shaolin took a bare footstep forward before she stopped with a look of calm realization of something. "I forgot…" she muttered just enough for Ichigo's ears to catch her words

Tilting her head to the side she undid one of the bands of her hair, letting her long hair flow freely from their restraining binding while the gold ring at the end pinged against the ground and rolled away, for the other one she brought it around to her front and undid it letting the hair fan out against her breast and flowing down towards her abdomen and thigh "There." She said sweetly "I had forgotten you like my hair down." With a carefree push of the hand, she moved the hair strands behind her lithe body again and resumed her walking towards her excited prey "Let continue where we left off…"

Having finished the last part of her little strip tease Shaolin pushed Ichigo back down to the ground with her foot on his battle hardened chest, further stroking her dominant-like ego. Moving her leg away she kneeled down and undid the lower part of his hakama to get to the prize that awaited her.

"oooh~" The squad two captain whispered in delight as she wrapped her fingers around her lovers shaft, and began to tease and taunt it with each motion of the digits smooth creamy skin to the light, but friction inducing fingernails. "I wonder how you'll like this" Lowering her head in a dazed delight, she missed the look of absolute ecstasy that flew unto Ichigo's face when she placed the rock hard membrane into her mouth and started to suck on it with her tongue dancing and dampening the length of his tool with her saliva. The moans that escaped the natural born strawberry, was matched in tandem with the smaller girl's free hand rubbing against her lower mouth in an increasingly faster pace, and tightening of the muscles in her legs and arms.

"Shaolin…I,,,ugghh…" Ichigo struggled out as he felt his release quickly approaching from his hornet's devoted fellatio, within seconds he let out a loud roar as he released his seed into the mouth of his lover.

The kinky sex bomb pulled away from the spewing volcano as it finished erupting, some of the sperm that couldn't fit into her mouth rolled off her lips before falling to the ground. Sloshing it around in her mouth she swallowed all that she could, before returning her stare back into the chocolate brown orbs of lust that belonged to Ichigo "That wasn't bad, Yojimbo. I might get addicted to that kind of nectar…" she teased with an innocent but at the same time devilish smile

It was short lived as Ichigo smirked before getting up and grabbing her hand and flash stepping the two of them to the nearby tree, and kissed and licked her breast as he slowly made his way down lower and lower, running his tongue down the inside of her tempered thighs getting a satisfying moan from his ministration. Reacting purely on instinct Shaolin placed one hand unto the back of Ichigo's head while the ring finger of her free hand went into her own mouth as she sucked on it.

While Shaolin was in her own la la land, Ichigo was basking in the sweet scent of Shaolin and the EXTREMELY pleased look on her flawless face, seeing her face so full of desire the man went in and started to ravish her womanhood, the ever so slight twitching of the muscles in her arm that held him, and by extension her, in place let it be known to him, that she was enjoying all the licking and teasing he was performing on her clitoris, and was doing her best to not topple over. "Ichi~ I~…ahhhh!" she didn't get to finish as the burning inside of her completely exploded and let a shock wave of orgasmic pleasure ripple through her nerves and mind, sending her straight into heaven.

Panting slightly from the shortage of breathe, the girl's arm fell weakly to the side no longer having even the strength to keep Ichigo bound to the ground to service her. She remained standing only by the fact that she was leaning against the huge foliage behind her for support, which from the look in the extremely handsome man's face as he rose up to tower over her again, she would need.

"Ready…?" he asked with a slightly out of breath tune from their vigorous activity

"Yes~" She returned as confidently as she could despite her fatigue

Ichigo leaned in and planted a soft kiss on her lips savoring the taste of her saliva and own natural juices, while he slowly guided himself inside of her. His eyes caught her quiet but swift whimper of pain from the penetration of her hymen, forcing her to contract her arms wrapped around his neck just a fraction. The female Fon caught her breath for a second and with a nod from her, Ichigo pushed himself the final length in, and paused to let her adjust to the foreign feeling.

The trickling of life liquids continued to run down out of the now made woman, and with a final kiss. The man started to slowly pump in and out of her in a slow pace at first. Shaolin at first had arched her back as she closed her eyes, feeling so indescribably blissful she could have died at the moment and been Konsoed without regret, before leaning forward against the male kurosaki's body her arms tightly locking around his neck keeping him there. Keeping him hers for all eternity.

Making him one of the only constants to remain in her life.

As he continued to thrust inside of her at a rapidly increasing pass, he briefly saw the look of happiness on the tired long haired beauties face. "You…seem…uggh…gone…lin…ugghh…chan."

"S…sh..up…b-baka" the ravished girl managed to pant out despite the once again returning feeling inside her and the assault against her insides from her Shinigami lover. Ichigo let out a raspy laugh as he continued to pound into her, each thrust more passionate more powerful than the last, soon he was reaching his limit and from the contorted facial expression of Shaolin she was too.

"Shaolin…!" he grunted out which she seemed to understand what he was trying to say even with the lack of words

Her response literally drove him over the edge "It ok…go ahead, love." She invited before she let out a shriek from the orgasm that had erupted from within. Her innards clamping down fiercely around Ichigo as her lovers seed splattered the insides of her womanhood and flooded her womb.

Pulling himself out of her, both of their liquids started to run down her legs it's escape avenue no longer blocked. The woman bent forward to take a staggered step closer to him as the two of them let out a panted breath, and took another glance into the other's eyes as a smile broke across each of their face. Not the typical smirk from when battle was going their way, but a sweet contented smile.

Ichigo pulled the Taicho in close to his body and playfully surprised her, when he allowed himself to fall backwards with the woman still in his arms, dragging his nude lover down with him, to which she landed upon his chest in a blushing heap for a full minute, then sent an embarrassed fueled glare that threatened to kill him. After the tired commander finished her death glare, she lifted herself up and snuggled against the spread eagle Ichigo who kissed her on the forehead, but kept her firmly within reach as his hand snaked around her back.

The woman closed her eyes for just a second, hearing the steady breathing of the man beside her, nearly lulling her to sleep with it's calm easy tempo, but knew she couldn't. Ichigo himself sensed this and would admit that he wouldn't have minded falling asleep along side her, but he knew that he didn't have such a luxury. But neither of them wanted to ruin this moment with their special person, both souls didn't want to bring the troubles of the outside world here, so they silently opted to bask in each other's presence for just a little bit longer.

Ichigo continued gazing up at the sky above them, the time still passing from seconds to minutes and if he let it hours, time he knew he couldn't expend needlessly, "We're still going to have to go our separate ways Shaolin…" he said matter-of-factly since, no matter how much it pained him, no matter how much he wanted it, he couldn't stay around her for too long; because, Aizen and Gin might somehow catch wind of this and try to target her during this invasion process.

The woman next to him nodded her head mechanically "Yeah, I know. But…" she reluctantly pulled herself away from Ichigo's grip and got up to go gather her clothing. She bent down and grabbed her clothes and turned back to Ichigo "that why I want to say I'm sorry. Sorry for throwing you away because of fear and doubt." She apologized in a low whisper

Ichigo pushed himself up and walked over to his beautiful captain and cupped her face "Shaolin…I'll see you again when this is all over. I promise." He gave a brief happy smile, knowing that once Bankai Training was over, once Rukia was saved, and once Aizen was dead, they'd still have one another which was something he could wait on.

"I know you will. That's why before we part again, I want to say" she pressed her uniform against her chest, almost like a schoolgirl getting a love letter from the boy she liked. All the while looking into Ichigo's eyes with a sinking feeling she was probably blushing up a storm for what she was going to say "…that I do and still love you. Ichigo. You're the most important person to me in my world…in my life. I'm sorry for doubting you and Masaki-sama. I let what happened before in the past, dictate and cloud my judgment about you without even listening to you. I promise it won't happen again."

"I know." Ichigo smiled and kissed Shaolin before he took a step back and grabbed his clothes "and I love you too, Shaolin. Always know this." And in a flash step he disappeared deeper into the forest to the location of the training ground, putting distance between them so as not bring avoidable trouble down unto her, even though it killed his heart, he needed her where she was, in a position to assist and give him the information needed to clear his name and reclaim a future for the two of them.

With her lover gone and out of sensory range now, Shaolin dressed herself and returned back to the squad two barracks. On the way back she recalled the words of what Subaru told the spy before Ichigo left. _'A fine surprise indeed, Ichigo-kun.'_ She thought with a smirk eager to support the 'Kurosaki rebellion' however she could

(Evening: Subaru and Senna)

Having reached the sanctuary of the fourth division, Subaru fabricated a lie to get her partner medically treated for the wounds she had sustained from her absence, during the failed trek through squad eight. After waiting for close to an hour she was finally admitted into the ward where Senna was resting, the medic's telling her that her Ojou wasn't the worst case they had seen all day, making the girl invisibly cringe since it was probably true and her side was directly responsible. After the doctors left the room, she sat down in the chair opposite of the bed having already sent out a hell butterfly to her Taicho, 'informing' her that she was at the fourth to have some injuries she incurred treated and would report in tomorrow.

Subaru let out a tired exhalation having realized that today was such a disaster, as she turned her attention to her thoughts about Ichigo and Shinjiro, wondering how they were holding up out there, she missed Senna's eyes flutter open and closed heralding her return to Soul Society. The teenager looked over at the distracted spy and called out to her in a low unintelligible mumble. Hearing the sound Subaru zeroed in on the source, and was momentarily relieved to see her alive and well before returning back to a poker face. She then stood up and walked over beside Senna with a critical eye. "What do you think you were doing Senna?" she asked harshly

"W-what?" she glanced around the room that she knew she wasn't in before, also noticing the lack of that other person from before who was probably responsible in putting her wherever she was. "Where am I? And where is that woman Nana-something?"

"You are currently in the medical wing of the fourth division, recovering. As for Fuka-Taicho Ise Nanao, I can only pray that she hasn't shown up at the fourth to check up on you. But enough of that it's not important. What is important is the fact that you still haven't answered my question."

Senna shook her head unable to really comprehend the question since she was picking the fight like she was supposed to, so what more was there to answer for. Seeing the confusion on the miko's face Kujo clarified "When I was on my way back to you, I followed your trail of destruction and found no dead bodies or crippled individuals whatsoever, which leads me to believe that you didn't seriously wound anyone during your fighting after my departure."

Senna hung her head as the spy started to rant on her "You are very lucky Senna do you realize that? If any of those enemies had got up and assisted Nanao we wouldn't be having this conversation, instead you'd be with some random underling getting ready to take you to my squad to be tortured and interrogated until either your mind or body broke is that what you wanted! Did you wish to jeopardize everyone!"

"Look, I'm sorry ok!" Senna yelled back from her bed

"'Sorry' doesn't cut it Ojou-sama!" Subaru shot back silencing the short sighted woman "Sorry won't save you from the sword, Sorry won't stop the pain in your lord brother's heart when I would have needed to tell him you died, and Sorry won't save your friend Rukia Kuchiki!"

Senna now was on the verge of tears "You don't have to rub it in Subaru! I get it alright, I screwed up!" she yelled as the tears began to flow down "I'm sorry that I messed up, I'm just not like you guys."

The third seat leaned back in confusion wondering what she meant by 'like you guys' "What…do you mean by that?"

"I've never killed anyone in my entire life, let alone in cold blood! I'm not like you guys who are used to kill or be killed situations and having to choose killing other people. I honestly thought that if I beat them up they'd leave me alone, I didn't think of all that. A-and maybe I should have before I signed up for this, maybe I should have thought harder on my choice to fight, maybe I was wrong to want to protect Ichigo and Rukia." She cried out as she turned away in her bed, shaming the spy "But I know that I'm willing to die for them because I love them. So…I'm sorry if couldn't hack it when all bets were off…I'm just sorry…ok?"

Silence passed between the two of them as Senna finished saying her peace, the myriad of feeling inside her were churning together and right now all she felt she could really turn to was Mirokumaru. As Senna sat looking away she felt the bed bounce up and down slight most likely because Subaru was getting up to leave her or so she thought, she was surprised to feel one of the spies arms wrap around behind her and pull her close to the spy, who took the spot beside her.

"No, I should take back what I said. I am the one who should be sorry." She apologized, her face mask gone revealing her face and showing regret in her choice of word to her partner "I was judging you based on what a Shinigami should be, not who you are or your circumstances. I forgot that you told me only a little while ago you were just another person in the human world living life without a care, you only had maybe a twenty or so days of fighting, so you're only getting your feet wet." She then lowered her head in apology "I'm sorry Ojou-sama, I was expecting too much from you so quickly."

The ex-human's frown turned into a small bitter smile "No, I just thought I was ready, but I failed. I got beat; and if you hadn't shown up when you did, everyone would be in serious trouble." She said in a defeated tone, which made the spy feel even worse for yelling at her when she should have shown more concern

Taking a moment to dwell on her mistake, Subaru opened her mouth to try a different tactic "Perhaps, but you did something that very few people are able to claim. I don't think I've ever seen with my own two eyes someone who was able to, not only defeat the third seat of squad eight, but also push the fuka-taicho to such a degree as you did, especially in rapid succession. Soooo c-cheer up, you almost defeated someone within the top twenty-six, and that is an accomplishment few can say they accomplished, just coming out of basic training." The spy tried to commend unused to the encouraging game, and a little leery in expecting good results

"Yeah, thanks." The female Kurosaki replied unenthusiastically, which Subaru took as mostly failing in straightening her back up. "So what happens now?" she asked changing the subject to at least help the spy out. Though, she was appreciative of her concern despite it really lacking the empathy needed.

"We'll rest here for the night, and tomorrow we'll return to my barracks to lie low. Once I have some kind of idea of the patrol routes and hear of any news from sister, we can make a dash for the penance tower and save Rukia." She then turned a better fueled smile to Senna "And with you around you'll be able to fly all the way to the gate, and get her out. While I go inform our allies, so they can withdraw…" she inwardly frowned as her own voice in the back of her head uttered a response _'unless this is what I fear it is…'_

She snapped her head out of the morose thought, before it could continue further "Just rest, I put your Zanpaktou in the closet over near the window, we'll move out tomorrow. I'm gonna go and see if I can get us some food, I won't be gone long, I assure this time around."

"Alright, I'll keep the door unlocked and Subaru-san" she called out making the woman stop in her attempt to leave "thanks for understanding and good night."

"N-not a problem Ojou-sama." Subaru said with a flustered nod. Wondering if this is how her husband felt when he helped people he didn't know, it was a strange foreign feeling; but she didn't think it was entirely unwelcome. Putting her face mask back up she exited the room quietly to bring some food to replenish their lost strength.

(Soifon)

Walking through the hallway back to her room, the exhausted captain continued along her merry way until she ran into the exceptionally large idiot she had to call fuka-taicho. "Report." She commanded harshly while her free flowing hair tailed behind her, since she had forgotten about the gold rings and braids back in the forest.

The man tried his best to hide his blush from seeing his captain look hot and bothered, but it didn't work as the woman easily spied it through his irritating grin "Is there something wrong Marechiyo? I asked for a report and I am not getting one, so kindly tell me you have nothing to say and I'll punish you later, or tell me something now and get out of my way." She barked out, tapping her foot irritatingly; not at all happy for whatever he might be thinking.

To Omeada's eyes and ears he only heard the sensual pint sized Taicho ask calmly instead of as fiercely as he was supposed to hear "We have been keeping an eye out for the traitors, but have come up empty handed. Most of our members are busy handling other fights between other divisions so progress is quite slow."

"I see," She crossed her arms and her fingers tapped against her lean arm, as she thought something over "Then let me ask you something else. Do we have any information on Ichimaru-Taicho's activities as of late?"

"No ma'am. Not all of the spies have returned back, I'm afraid. We received a message from Subaru detailing her failure. It's still in your room awaiting you to answer it."

"I see." The brooding girl replied as she stopped tapping her index finger. After what Ichigo had told her, she knew full well she'd need to look into it herself; to find out what was really going on around here. A light bulb then turned on in her head _'Hitsuguaya-Taicho.'_ She mentally recalled the man leading an investigation that she originally scoffed at, though now she was interested enough to re-evaluate the worth of his efforts.

"Ahem." The burly man cleared his throat getting the woman's eye to return back to him "May I ask why you appear to be in such a mess Taicho?" he asked _'especially a hot one'_

The woman's eyes narrowed dangerously and spoke in a frigid tone, taking Omeada aback from the moody woman she'd been of late "Personally I don't see how it is any of your business, Marechiyo. But as I don't want you disturbing me for whatever BS reason today, I will be frank and indulge your request. I was busy chasing after an enemy all this time, and when I finally caught up to him, he up and vanished before my eyes like he was a ghost or never was what he appeared." She removed her gaze from the man and walked by him to head to her office "It's only now that I have a clue as to where to go to catch back up to him, and I suggest Marechiyo that you. Watch. Your. Back. There are plenty of things to fear out there."

When the woman disappeared down the hallway, Marechiyo continued to look in her direction with a sour suspicion-filled face, clutching his fist he banged it against the wall. _'What happened to you Soi-chan? It's like you suddenly became another person…' _The report of when he was being sent out to guard the south gate sprang back to his mind

_Enemy forces led by Ichigo Kurosaki and…_

'_it couldn't be'_ as he wondered if that was the person she had met or chased. The thought enraged him that even now, he still had her attention. When it should be him, Marechiyo Omeada that the bluenette could only think or talk about. _'…well either way it doesn't matter, I'll still have you in the end, and now I'll get to mount that bastard's head on my trophy wall.'_

Turning around the fuka-taicho stormed off to his room on the far end of the building, to consult with his plans that he created in conjunction with the Fon family elders. Then, he would practice his Zanjutsu-ship for when he would cut down the only obstacle forever in his way.

(Cave: Ichigo)

Coming to the mouth of a dark cavern, Ichigo conjured up a small kido spell for light as he navigated the rocky walls following the map. Reaching the end of the passageway, he came into a brightly lit chamber filled with what seemed to be Seki Seki rock lining the walls all around him. Cautiously, he touched the dense rock and was intrigued when he didn't feel any weaker despite the nature of the rock, and it's normally repellent nature of Reishi. Still not having time to waste on inspecting it, he pushed away from it and walked away to the overpass. Reaching the edge of the plateau, he saw in the middle of the large area was Keisuke Urahara, looking back at Ichigo with what seemed to be a white human-shaped object resting against a boulder nearby.

Ichigo flash stepped over to the man who calmly walked over, and picked up his Bankai training device "Alright, Ichigo, open your ears and close your mouth. I'm gonna give you the run down and then we'll take care of your wounds, but after that be ready because Bankai training starts right afterward." The scientist said with a smirk

(Sun set: Ganju and Hanataro)

Under the fast approaching night time skies, the two men continued to move through the narrow corridors to avoid any enemies on their way to the penance tower. Poking his head around the next intersection to make sure it was clear, he saw someone lying against the wall covered in blood with their sword gripped weakly in their hand, the man from what he could tell seemed familiar. Signaling to Hanataro to follow close they went to the body to see who he was, and if he was dead loot his clothing so Ganju could better blend in. Carefully approaching the guy, Ganju's and Hanataro's eyes widened with who they saw

"You're that servant guy!" The green clad Shiba confirmed as he lifted up the man's shaggy hair out of his eyes revealing his bloodied unconscious face

"Taiga-san!" The healer yelled at the sight "Fill Hisagomaru!"

The blade let out a low green light and within seconds the normally droopy boy pressed his healing Zanpaktou closely against his friend acutely monitoring his condition "Ganju-san, please reach into my sling and get out my first aid kit!"

Reaching into the make-shift backpack, he pulled out a small square box with a red cross in the center. He then started to follow the focused boy's instruction to medically assist him. The minutes soon began to pass while the two worked in silence to help the samurai.

Shinjiro's eyes cracked open and blinked rapidly to filter the light and re-attune themselves from the dark world he'd been wandering. Ganju cracked up a water bottle found in Hanataro's supplies and force fed it to Shinjiro, who drank it without question. Feeling his throat start to fill up Shinjiro nodded and the infiltrator pulled back the liquid, so the man could swallow

"(Hack)(Koff) uhhh…(cough) ahh...hah...hah...th-thanks…thought I was a goner (cough) (cough)." Taiga thanked as water trickled out of his mouth, wiping his mouth he nodded to both of them, his strength returning back to him due to their efforts "I owe you Shiba-sama…Hanataro-kun."

"Not a problem, and it's just Ganju, reaper." The robust man waved off not one for formality and PR crap like most other nobles

Hanataro looked over to his team mate curiously "How do you two know each other?"

Ganju prodded his head in Shinjiro's direction "He's one of us." he summarized simplistically

"Yeah, he's right. I'm a traitor to Soul Society." The myrmidon said quietly, his strength not fully returned "But what are you two doing here," he then looked between the two of them doing a head count, and was coming up short "and where's Ichigo-sama?"

"Ichigo and us went our separate way, because we had different goals. Right now, we were on our way to the penance tower, but after seeing you all bloodied up I don't think we should go this way."

Shinjiro tried to push himself off the wall only for Hanataro to push him back down resigning himself to his current location, he turned in the direction he had come from earlier that day "You probably shouldn't. I got in a fight against a fuka-taicho; and unfortunately my technique…backfired a bit because of Muramasa. I won, but that area is on high alert. I doubt you guy are going to be able to get through there, sorry."

"Ganju help me pick up Shinjiro-san. We can take him to the sewers and we camp there and rest in peace for today."

"Is it that bad?" asked Ganju as he leaned down and gaze the samurai a shoulder to lean on, while Hanataro took the other shoulder and the team slowly retraced their steps

"At this point I'll say no, but I don't want to risk anything. Once he's down there I can give him a full medical examination and once he's good he can come with us to the penance tower."

Shinjiro however disagreed with the plan "No, that's no good Hanataro. They know what I look like, but maybe I can help you another way. I'll get close to the tower and make some noise. That should definitely lure away some of the guards so you two can rescue Rukia while I lose the guards in sis's forest. Once I've lost them I'll go request of Soifon to allow me to use some of her hell butterflies, and I'll inform everyone to get out of Seireitei before it's too late."

As they continued their crippled march the third seat lowered his head almost oppressively given the nature of the situation and who was behind it _'Though I fear it might already be unless Kohai grows strong…'_

* * *

Blackout2010: Well that's the end of that chapter now unto two very important things. Firstly, I would like to ask for some ideas for Retsu Unohana's Bankai. You see I'm gonna have her fight, and unless she does this, I highly doubt she will live. I mean I got something that I could give Unohana but it was kind of her enemy's ability, see what I'm saying. Anyway even if I don't get any suggestion, I'll do mine again unless there's a better one I read about, but I will try to have the fight. So please use your noggins a bit and throw a guy a bone here.

Ichigo: Ok what's the second part?

Blackout2010: Right well the second part comes from the Kaname Tosen institute for the blind. You can help this prestigious institution by either donating a dollar or by finishing your sentences with phrase 'for justice!'…for justice!

Ichigo: I don't think that's going to catch on or work even if it's for justice!

Kenpachi (off screen): Oh man after all that killing I gotta take a royal shit. For justice!

D. Mirokumaru (waaay off screen): ahhh…mmm…I'm cummmming! For justice.

Senna (not far away): I feel dirty…for justice.

Tosen (off screen): I am Kaname Tosen, and my eye sight has been lost…for justice (clenches fist tightly)!

Aizen( off screen): I shall ascend and become god of this world. For justice!

Ichigo: BK2010, I blame you…for justice.

Shaolin Fon: Ichigo…

Ichigo: yeah?

Shaolin Fon (looks away): You'd better take responsibility…or I'll never forgive you.

Ichigo: I will till next installment.

* * *

(Informative/apology)

So I hope that you enjoyed the lemon. For those of you who may have found it odd or dislike in general I apologize. It's just that since, after discussing with another author, this came to me in a dream, I thought let's go with it. This isn't 100% what originally happened in my dream as it actually took place shortly after Aizen's body is found Soifon locates Ichigo in the corridors of SS. Unfortunately for me, apparently my dreams are silent movies so, I only saw the action and had absolutely no dialogue so I had to fill that in, which was really hard particularly because a portion of the lemon fics I'd seen made the girl seem like a whore, which wanted to avoid…and my own inexperience in this field of life.

Again like all things as the story changes and path become available some things become unavailable, so I had to change the scenery and add them fighting because I personally felt that they would have at least done that. I'm sorry if I may have let some people down for what they might have expected about it, but believe me this is the best outcome I had written and the one I was pleased with the most. I tried my best to play out how it would really go down, so I hope they were in character.

(informative/apology end)

(number guide post to understanding)

1. Akumetsu belongs respectively to Hakumen of the BlazBlue universe.

2. The Kanji that makes up Akumetsu, are 'Evil' and roughly destruction (to be precise it means, destroy, purge, conquer, vanquish, ruin). So they way Shinjiro and it's 'correctly' (meaning he doesn't get hurt) is 'Destroy Evil/Purge Evil', unfortunately Muramasa is a evil blood thirsty dick, so he fucked with the attack and Shinjiro got hurt, Explaining why the Kanji appeared in his mind and morphed.

3. Gin no mei (silver eye), as it is elaborated later on. The tome scans the opponent and spits out a weapon that is better suited to combating that character, how well the fight goes from there depends on how skilled Nanao is with the weapon. Feel free to use for your FF.

4. To those of you who may not know, a little Japanese etiquette (not that I'm an expert). But calling someone directly by their name is considered very rude, unless you know-know the person you are speaking with. Every character has certain measure of tolerance, so while Senna is fine with everyone just calling her Senna, Soifon would find it highly offensive for some she doesn't know to address her as something other than –taicho or –san, again it depends on who's talking. So try to remember that, in this instance he's being really rude.

5. Soifon's unusually natural hesitation aside from the fact of the circumstances but also because this is her first shown moral and adult choice. All through Canon and most of this Fic she's been shown operating within her station (IE. Being ordered to do something/Duty), it's only now that we see, her acting as an adult (making an important choice and willing to live with the consequences).

(author's disclaimer)

Oh yeah, there's a lemon in this chapter. You've all been warned. Now that you understand great, that means I can't be sued for showing/describing inappropriate content to minors!


	20. infilTraitors: GSHY Finest Hour!

Author's response to the unknown reviewers:

To Metalhead1000:

Thanks as always. I hope you enjoy the twentith chapter of this saga.

To ZeroShihoin:

I'm glad you are enjoying the story and all it's elements. I will take your thought into consideration, and I thank-you greatly for the donation.

To AFROTHUNDA!

Well...I guess your sorry? Anyway it's cool, so no worries. Here's number twenty so I hope I don't overload you.

* * *

Author's announcement:

To all you lovely ladies, Handsome Gents and everyone else in between, I just wanted to say, I am still accepting ideas for Unohana's bankai, so feel free to send just about anything, even if it seems kinda dumb to you, it might be the greatest thing since sliced bread for me, so far I'm only at three ideas: Two my own, one from ZeroShihoin.

Let's see anything else...umm...oh well two more announcements, I'm gonna put up a story challenge on my P-file for all you Naruto ff writers, who might be reading, so I'll try to have that up Asap. For everyone else the other announcement is that, I am considering making a branching path to this story. It would be my first ever villian wins, in which Ichigo joins Aizen back in chap. 5. Obviously I can't start it because of spoiler reasons, but I am considering it, so just FYI.

Hmm...that's it I guess. So enjoy the stories third day of the invasion...ok I can't help it have a 'spook-tacular' halloween.

* * *

Ganju: Hey, Hanataro would you look at this, we actually got here early.

Hanataro: It seems your right Ganju-san. Hmm…I wonder what we should do to entertain the guests.

Ganju (smiles): Oh I got just the idea. [Pulls out a microphone] Karaoke.

Hanataro: Where…did you get that from?

Ganju: Oh from Kisuke. [looks at Hanataro and sizes him up] You know something I just realized that you and I, we're kinda like Keigo and Mizuiro.

Hanataro:?

Ganju: Yeah, I'm definitely the Kojima, and your probably the Asano here.

Hanataro (shrugs): Whatever you say Ganju-san.

Ganju: What the!

Hanataro (ignoring): So are you going to sing or what?

Ganju (grins): Oh yeah, I got just the song. And you're going to help me sing it!

Hanataro: But I [gets handed microphone] ok.

[plays song Macho man by Village people]

Ganju [starts bobbing back and forth]: Body…wanna feel my body? Body…such a thrill my body.

Hanataro [starts rubbing his chest, as he bobs back and forth]: Body…wanna touch my body? Body…it's too much my body!

Ganju [starts to flex muscles]: Check it out my body. Don't you doubt my body. Talkin' bout my body. Check it out my body.

Hanataro [snaps fingers]: Every man wants to be a macho, macho man, to have the kind of body, always in demand. [Points at Ganju who's jogging in place] Jogging in the mornings, go man go! Workouts in the health spa, muscles glow. You can best believe that he's a macho man ready to get down with anyone he can!

Hanataro/Ganju [clapping hands]: Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!

Ganju: Macho, Macho man

Hanataro: Macho man

Ganju: I've got to be a macho. I've got to be a macho!

Both: Macho, macho man. I've got to be a macho. Owww!

Ganju: Body, body, body wanna feel my body? Body, body, body gonna thrill my body. Body, body, body don'tcha pop my body. Body, body, body it's so hot my body!

Hanataro (shouting as anime tears fall down from his eyes while he clenches fist): Every man ought to be a macho, macho, man. To live a life of freedom, machos make a stand. Have your own life styles and ideals. Possess the strength and confidence, life's a steal! You can best believe that he's a macho man. He's a special person in anybody's land.

Both [throws hands to the left and right]: Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey! Macho, macho man! I've got to be a macho man! I've got to be a macho man!

Hanataro: Macho macho man!

Ganju [pulls open shirt]: Dig the hair on my chest!

Both: Macho macho man! I've got to be a macho man!

Ganju: I've got to be a macho!

Hanataro [points dramatically while holding microphone]: I say do you dig my big thick moustache?

Both: Macho, macho man! I've got to be a macho!

(else where)

Blackout2010 (looking around): Where are those two?

Soifon: Well Uryu is already in place, I'm sure they'll turn up eventually. Worse case scenario we have stock footage.

Blackout2010: I guess…(sigh) we need to invest in a better communication system to let people know when we move locations for shooting.

Kisuke: No worries, I'm sure their having fun and are safe. Hahaha!

Ichigo: You know something don't you?

Senna: Public menace to soul society. Aizen doesn't even compare to him.

* * *

Infil-Traitors: GS/HY Finest Hour!

(Day 3)

(morning: Uryu)

Releasing another volley of spiritual arrow, the enemy shinigami's body stiffened as it collapsed to the floor and remained motionless. Uryu having dealt with yet another opponent, allowed himself to breath in a fresh cooling gulp of the morning air. Plucking his glasses off he cleaned them, with a special rag from his outfit's pocket, to get rid of the buildup of moisture from his sweat, hot breath and the early morning dew. Taking a second to examine his glasses he seemed satisfied with the result, and after carefully rubbing his eyes to stave off fatigue he adjusted them back on his face.

"I better get out of here." The intelligent man warned to himself since he'd been causing mayhem for the greater portion of the night and needed to find some place to rest before continuing in the mission of retrieving the Hogyoku and saving Rukia.

Disappearing in a burst of speed, he failed to notice the figure that had arrived in time to spot the Quincy leave. The man kneeled down checking the man's pulse, and when he found nothing stood up and looked solemnly on the body in recognition for his bravery. The man then turned and followed after the Quincy determined to defeat him.

The man didn't have to travel very far, as after a few minutes the archer took notice of his guest and stopped to engage the nuisance.

When Uryu felt someone tailing him he stopped his Hirenkyaku and landed in a medium sized corridor, and adjusted his bow. As the man landed, Uryu shot out a small barrage of arrows forcing the man to flip backwards to dodge the attack. The man had dark black hair with a band-aid running from across his nose to his just below his left eye, with a large imprinting of the number 69, directly across from the three claw like scars on his right side. His hakama's sleeves were exposing his muscular shoulders and attached to his side was a standard katana. Uryu's eyes widened at what he spied wrapped around the man's shoulder as he rose up from his crouching position

'_Another Fuka-taicho and this time with a Zanpaktou, just my luck.'_ He thought smarmily

"So you're the one who's been causing all kinds of trouble for everyone here, well, you and the eleventh that is." The fuka-taicho divulged, making Uryu raise an eye brow, very curious as to who managed to convince an entire division to help out.

"For the record most of them attacked me, but…I guess it doesn't matter since I put them in their place." He quipped, as he pushed his glasses up, a dangerous shine reflecting off them

Shuhei scowled "Maybe, all I've got to say is that you're lucky. I'm gonna have you singing like a cannery for all the information you got, after I'm through with you. If it wasn't for that I'd make you pay to the fullest for what you did!"

"I've already defeated one fuka-taicho and she wasn't too difficult." Ishida commented casually "Can't be that hard to beat another."

"Your arrogance will be your undoing, I am Shuhei Hisagi, Fuka-taicho of squad nine, prepare yourself!" he yelled as he took a karate stance

"By the honor of the Quincy, I, Uryu Ishida, will turn you into reishi particles soul reaper!" Uryu returned just as passionately as he launched a stronger reishi arrow at his opponent who blurred in a flash step and threw a mid-section gut punch.

Using the bow's frame, Uryu side stepped and changed the trajectory of his strike away from his body, and pulled the string of his bow and launched another arrow at close range. Sensing no way to dodge at this close Shuhei flared his spiritual power as the attack collided face first leaving a burn mark on his forehead where some blood came out of.

Though he was injured, it was now Shuhei with the advantage, as he was still within arm's reach, so with a quick twist around the fuka-taicho kicked Uryu in the ribs, and as he flinched from the blow swung his arm back around and socked Uryu in the face twice, and finished with an uppercut which sent him backwards.

Colliding back into the ground the Quincy leaned upward despite his fatigued bodies protest, and wiped the blood that flew out of his mouth and down his cheeks as he pulled out a small round object, and threw it at the feet of the Shinigami, who reflexively covered his body as it shot out small but very sharp needles.

As the needles were shot out, Shuhei blinked in surprise when they whizzed by him and a few even touched him without harming him. _'That's it?'_ he questioned, it then hit him what it was meant to do, turning his gaze back up he was slammed by a full barrage of Quincy arrows launched at a blistering pace _'shit it was a distraction!_' he learned too late

As the arrows continued raining on the man's body forcing blood out of his wounds, the man felt little choice but to go to the extreme, and crouched down to minimize the number of arrow strikes while reaching for his weapon "Reap, Kazeshini!"

The blade hearing the command of his normally reluctant master all too happily morphed into it's dual scythe and chain form. With renewed power Shuhei threw the weapon through the barrage of arrows, and slashed apart some of Uryu's clothing, as the Quincy wisely pulled back as his hard trained eyes saw something heading in his direction and wouldn't risk letting himself get sloppy now.

With the attack temporarily stopped Shuhei moved more offensively as he threw his other scythe and started to direct it like a puppet master. Uryu ducked under the spinning pin-wheel like blade and fired his bow against the second approaching disk.

The energy arrow collided against the spinning scythe and was sent veering away, but just as Uryu was going to relax his attention on that object, he raised his arms up as he blocked a haymaker from the seriously focused Fuka-taicho. Shuhei slid his foot forward across the white floor and grabbing hold of Uryu's arm, kneed him in the stomach and threw him over his shoulder.

Uryu tried to correct himself as he was tossed to the side and launched a powerful shot at point blank range knocking Shuhei off his feet and back a couple of feet. As the Quincy crashed to the ground he adjusted his glasses and started to pant, while his vision started to blur. _'Damn, why now?'_

Rubbing his eyes he wasn't pleased to see Hisagi standing back up less than a few yards from him. "You don't seem to be at full strength, Quincy." He said calmly noticing the fatigue and small circles under his eyes lids "I told you your arrogance would be your undoing, and I was right."

"You haven't beaten me, Shinigami." He resisted as he pushed himself back up

"Yes, I have." He disagreed as he pulled his arms apart the two chains responding. In a domino effect the chains tightened up and sprung up from the ground around Uryu, entangling around his body tightly preventing him from escaping. Turning in one swift motion Hisagi swung the two weapons over his head and brought it down behind where he once stood, as he did this the chains followed the motion and sent the bound Quincy skyward and forced the enchained archer into the ground after a good thirty or so foot drop.

The loud metallic noise of the slithering chain wrapped around the unconscious man was matched in tandem with Hisagi coming to inspect his quarry. Kneeling down he still felt a pulse within the man. "Looks like there won't be any blood on my hands today, kid. But…" he lifted the man unto his shoulder to begin his journey to the fourth division "you're going to pay for your crimes, one way or another."

(Soifon)

The light of a new day filter through the window and into the assassin's room, revealing the Haori-less Taicho inside sitting behind her desk, her fingers steepled together as she contemplated things. She had been up the better part of the previous night overwhelmed by her thoughts. The one that held the least amount of priority, at least in comparison to the others, was Subaru's odd behavior yesterday. The woman's strange outburst just kept replaying in her mind over and over again, each time it just seemed worse and worse to the Taicho almost like she was hiding something. Her suspicions only grew further when she had heard the somber apology as Kujo exited. She had wanted to talk to Subaru about it when she returned from the outing, but was instead greeted with the hell butterfly detailing where she was, her failure in recalling all the out posted spies because of her injuries, and her apologies for said failure.

The captain frowned darkly at the predicament she put herself in. Now that she was switching sides and taking a chance with Ichigo, she wasn't entirely sure of what to do. Since Subaru and Shinjiro would fiercely object to siding with Ichigo, and against Soul Society in general; especially after all that had happened up to this point. She leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling, sure she wouldn't doubt they were both very loyal to her, and while Subaru might be easier to convince to follow her, you know IF the bluenette overlooked the ever so 'slight' drifting apart from one another in their interactions as of late; Shaolin also really didn't see any good way that the husband of the spy would go against all that he believed in, on little more than a whim with little factual evidence or something to incriminate Ichimaru, even for them.

Closing her eyes and letting out a frustrated sigh, she diverted her attention away from the seemingly unsolvable problem, and turned her attention back to the bigger problem that faced soul society, the death of Sosuke Aizen. In the sense of fairness and her own measure of personal comfort, she first examined Ichigo Kurosaki, despite not believing him the culprit at all.

She knew that Ichigo was much stronger than she last remembered, much to her chagrin and embarrassment over yesterday's events. But even adding in the fact she wasn't acutely focused on fighting, Aizen wouldn't be if he encountered the traitor Ichigo. Plus adding in the fact that Aizen was dead possibly hours before Ichigo arrived anywhere near the vicinity, only complicated matters, since he should be the strongest member of the 'traitors' since the others would only be humans turned reaper, and he wasn't even remotely harmed which completely shot the idea dead.

Speaking of Aizen, Soifon didn't recall sensing any serious spiritual particles linger at the scene indicating a struggle, which meant either: A) he was alone at his time of death and died for a medical reason that was never mentioned or revealed, B) he was killed somewhere else and then his body was put up there, or C) someone with immense control over their spiritual power killed him before he could react which didn't make sense, unless it was someone he recognized. With these conditions she was able to come up with a short list of potential people: Retsu Unohana, Gin Ichimaru, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, and the unknown entity that invaded along with the traitors.

With Retsu, Soifon was at least able to come up with a semi-reasonable motive; what with the constant degradation of Masaki Kurosaki's honor, and with her immense spiritual power, control over it, and renown by other captain's regarding her fighting abilities; it wasn't entirely unfeasible for her to kill Aizen if he least expected it.

'_No…that doesn't work.'_ she shook her head disagreeing with the notion. Since the only basis would be if Unohana was vindictive and going under the premise of what had happened recently. But going by what Ichigo said to be true along with the report she had from the first mission to the human world, detailing Masaki's disappearance and the hollow marks, along with the mass influx of injuries due to the 'rebellion'. The question became 'When would she have the time?'

To be able to deal with all the injured and then just happen to have the strength left over to kill a fellow Taicho, was ludicrous in and of itself. This also didn't so much as account for the fact that there would be innumerable amounts of witnesses watching her either leave the barracks to fight or doing her assigned duty in performing life-saving operations, which made things even more unlikely, knowing that the ability to create clones was an Onimitsukido only ability, which even at Soifon's skill level only lasted maybe five or ten minutes. Still the captain would leave the good doctor on the list for the sake of potential if nothing else, but she made a very VERY distant fourth.

Bringing her to the number three choice: The 'unknown entity'. This one gave much more freedom of thought, allowing her to fill in quite a few blanks. From what Omeada had reported it was a Human/Shinigami who possessed abnormal strength and power, as well as a Zanpaktou, he had also single handedly wiped out half the invading force, which sent a shiver down her spine when she read that in the report and then confirmed it with her eyes in a head count. The sheer uniqueness of this opponent filled the ever present question of ability, but it greatly lacked in others.

For one, was the simple ability to navigate the Seireitei without guidance and defeat a Taicho 'quietly'. This fact alone, only solidified Ichigo innocence, since if they were working together to destroy Seireitei, and kill the spirit king. Why didn't they do this in the beginning? It would be much more productive to strike as one. Another flaw in the idea would be way of death, since there was no struggle that could have possibly meant Aizen knew the person and lowered his guard.

But then, a huge question came up immediately to Shaolin which took the form of 'If Sosuke Aizen knew someone who had the ability to kill a captain, outside the sacred walls of Seireitei and in the Rukongai districts, why didn't he ever bring it up?' It went completely against the kind natured man's dedication to the safety of others, not to mention the huge amount of misgiving that could be perceived, should such a thing be discovered through the same deductions she was doing now. The final problem was the fact of time, the person showed up several hours after Ichigo had presumably entered, and it entered alone, hell it even mentioned what it's enemy were, but why do that if they had the same agenda of destroying Soul Society? _'It'd make much more sense to lead us to believe that there is an army of those things outside. Waiting to attack us instead of what actually happened.'_

The woman sighed as she rubbed her temple; there were just far too many unknown or chancy variables. Even then it didn't answer the question of Ichigo still being guilty beyond doubt. The woman leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes "Alright, so maybe Mayuri is also a traitor."

It was no small fact, that the leader of squad twelve had very questionable morals. Couple this with the fact that he had a plethora of inventions at his beck and call, spent a good amount of time in the maggot's nest for god knew what, and you had the poster child of a deranged psychopath as the end result. Putting aside her justified bias and paranoia of the man, he did have a legitiment case of killing Aizen. The man could very easily whip up some kind of invention similar to that ruby gem that affects sensory skills, and his Bankai had poison properties so it could kill from a distance or subtly without his noticing, and it had been a while since anyone had so much as heard from the twelfth.

"Hmm…but why leave Aizen's body, wouldn't he take it for research or something?" she asked herself, the very important question and could only come up with a negative since that would be sloppy by Mayuri's impeccable standards. She scratched her head "(sigh) he's probably more of an acid decompositionist." She mocked condescendingly

"Which leaves Ichimaru." She spat out rather venomously. Right now this guy was her primary suspect, since his Zanpaktou did have the ability to kill from a distance. He certainly also had the unsettling attitude, along with that strange conversation with Aizen, possibly hours before his death, and lastly what Ichigo had told her about him, how he was part of a much larger scheme going on behind the scenes.

The woman closed her eyes and mentally cursed Ichigo for not giving her much else to go on, but would admit from his viewpoint, he couldn't entirely risk putting her endanger; since if she acted remotely out of line, the real enemies would notice and would hide away, until Ichigo was annihilated. Soifon's eyes then softened at the thought and then hardened them back up with an icy will, '_Not while I draw breath.'_ she promised, forcing the depressing thought out of her mind while she returned back to focusing on Ichimaru. "He certainly fits what's needed, but there's no hard evidence. Hearsay holds little water even if I told Yamamoto-Sou-taicho."

Her musing was interrupted when the silent flapping of the hell butterfly landed upon her desk, attempting to gain the woman's attention to it's important message. The girl looked at the bug neutrally and picked it up with her index finger hearing the message encoded

Emergency Taicho's meeting, regarding the situation. Come immediately.

"I see." She said with an evident scowl, releasing the bug by raising her hand away from her. "Maybe I'll get the insight I need to continue, at the very least I can speak to Hitsugaya-Taicho." Pushing herself out of her chair she grabbed her hanging Haori, and headed out to a war torn Seireitei.

(Meeting hall: Taichos)

Stepping into the commander's presence, Soifon was surprised to see that a good number of Taicho's were missing from their spaces. Keeping her head down she walked into her position and gave her full attention to Yamamoto, who banged his cane to start the meeting. "Thank-you all for getting here as expediently as possible, as you may have noticed some Taicho's are missing from assembly. These being Retsu Unohana, Shunsui Kyoraku, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Sosuke Aizen, who has unfortunately passed away and is being looked into, and Kenpachi Zaraki who I will discuss a bit later."

"Where may I ask are the other three, Yamamoto-sama? I feel it would be beneficial for all of us if they were present." Sajin said steadily, turning his covered head in the direction of his retainer

"Yes, you bring up a good point, but I will explain why…" Yamamoto nodded his head conceding the point "The reason Shunsui Kyoraku isn't present is that his division had quite the human and property damage. He is currently there to make an accurate account of who is left, resources, and retrieve any information on the enemy's strength from witnesses. He also is ensuring the division is back on its feet, while keeping a firm eye over the area. Retsu Unohana is not here as she is examining the body of Sosuke Aizen for the cause of death, results are inconclusive as of the moment, but she assures that she will have something by the end of the day. As for Mayuri, all has been quiet with the exception of the sounds of battles being fought. It is unsettling to say the least. Still I had sent a summarized report of what I am about to inform all of you on to them, but first I wish to ask, do any of you have any new information on the situation at hand?"

Byakuya Kuchiki stepped forward to address the assembly "My fellow Taichos, I have noticed a strange pattern in the enemy's movements. Judging from various areas under attack, as well as having a brief glimpse of a potential enemy, I have come to the conclusion that their objective has something to do with our prisoner: Rukia Kuchiki."

Ukitake side stepped a bit and gave a questioning gaze to the loyalist "What does Rukia have to do with anything?"

"As I said, I am unsure. But from what I've seen so far, it may lead to some insightful answers. Rukia Kuchiki as we all know was an active conspirator with the Kurosaki's prior to her capture. It is only now that the enemy shows itself, meaning she must have some specific purpose, as execution is the only course of action for being accused if treason, which also leaves the traitor's possible fear of interrogation obsolete since they would lose nothing in letting her die as we haven't gained anything from her. Furthermore, I have reason to suspect my fuka-taicho of also being a traitor, due to circumstances. I'm going to be checking in on him before today is over, and see what I can find out."

"I don't mean to interrupt." Gin chimed in, raising his hand upwards softly to flag them down "But I have an idea that builds off what you just said."

'_This should be good.'_ Hitsugaya thought grimly "What would that be exactly, Ichimaru-Taicho?

The man turned to the boy prodigy and subtly smiled harder "Well, I propose we set up a trap."

"A trap?" Sajin repeated

Ichimaru nodded his head care freely "Yeah, a trap." He pointed to Byakuya leisurely "If this hypothesis is even remotely good, we can end this in one go. Don't ya see? If we were to saaaay, stage the execution to occur two days from now, and let it leak out, that way they'll hear about it, I bet they'll show up to gallantly save the poor girl."

"Is this insipid idea a joke?" Soifon fired away, giving a showing of questioning the man's sanity _'What are you up to? Why so loyal all of a sudden?'_ She questioned to herself trying to figure out his angle

Gin shook his head repeatedly in disappointment "No, no, no. You misunderstand you see, we're going to be lying in wait. We'll have our squads positioned around the execution grounds, with some of us visible to make it legit and others hidden to spring the trap."

Byakuya raised his eye brow "I assume you have a solution to the possibility of traitor within our midst."

"Hehehe, sure do ice man." He answered cockily, which made 'ice man' narrow his eyes at him in return "Ya see, we're going to have the Sou-taicho pick a spot he wants us to guard, and he won't tell the others which person gets what, so some might be at the execution ground others might be hiding away." His voice dropped down to a childish tone "The poor enemy won't know until its tooooo late," then it got harder again, sending a creeping chill through the air around him "and they'll be dead by then."

Yamamoto eyed the man, and thought over the course of action he had proposed. While it was going at straws at best, it would unquestionably quash the rebellion inside Seireitei if it worked, as the enemies' primary objective would be unachievable since the spirit king could no longer be harmed, if the girl Rukia was instrumental to their plans. "Very well. At the moment it is all we have to go on, and with the recent and unfortunate death of Sosuke Aizen still being looked into, the enemy cannot be ignored. I will send you a hell butterfly later on this evening detailing where I wish you and your squad to be two days from today. Now without further ado, allow me to bring to your attention a matter I had mentioned earlier."

The crowd looked back to the ancient captain expectantly and gave their full attention "In regards to Kenpachi Zaraki, I must inform you that all of the eleventh division has seemingly gone rogue. The captain and his men have been attacking any and all Shinigami they have come across without discrimination. I am going to assign captains: Tosen and Komamura to find Zaraki and subdue him."

"As you wish, Sou-taicho." Kaname said _'time to put an end to that beast'_

"You may rest easy knowing we will not fail."

Nodding his head the old man banged his can against the wooden floor "Very well, you are all dismissed."

The company of Shinigami understanding their orders moved to leave. As the captain of the tenth exited the doorway to make his journey back, his path was obstructed by the only female at the meeting.

"Hitsugaya-Taicho, may I speak with you at my office, preferably now?" The woman requested coldly leaving little room for argument

"Fine." He muttered as they disappeared in a blur of flash step

Since the second division wasn't far away from the first they arrived in very short time. Following the woman into her office, Hitsugaya sat down in the chair and kept an even, frigid, gaze at the woman. The faint words of the spy, revealing the woman's clandestine affair with his close friend, rang quietly in the back of his mind. "I'm a very busy man, so what exactly is it that you want Soifon-taicho?" he cut straight to the chase

"I wished to inquire as to how your 'investigation' to the traitor is coming along. Have these past incidences finally brought you around or do you remain ignorant?" she asked trying to keep up appearances while probing for any information

Toshiro bit back some unsavory words, finding it hard to see what Ichigo must have saw in her "I highly doubt you are even the least bit interested, further more you are wasting my time which could be better spent preparing my division, instead of on your petty amusement Taicho."

The woman narrowed her own eyes, since as long as she was playing interrogator, she wouldn't accept defeat "You misunderstand, I have reason to suspect you'd turn traitor at a moment's notice, given your sympathies to our enemy. I wouldn't be surprised if you tried to stab soul society in the back when we weren't looking." She lied, knowing much better of the caliber of man she was dealing with, or so she hoped.

The white haired boy scoffed and rolled his eyes "Aren't you hiding your _own_ sympathies for the rebellion? Particularly for a certain Kurosaki, Soifon Taicho?" he alluded to their relationship prior to all this invasion and betrayal

The message however was understood to the woman in another way for the briefest of moments, and it was only due to quickly diverting her thoughts; that she was able to drown out what had happened yesterday with the certain Kurosaki in question. A small misunderstanding within the context, she closed her eyes and lightly bit the inside of her mouth to stop from reflexively grinning out of embarrassment and just a smidge of content "I was merely trying to cross your name off my list of suspects. By knowing what you know, it will be easy to re-establish trust and order within the squad's ranks. So as to better stabilize the Seireitei, and not attack each other by accident." She leaned closer to the man and gaze a dangerous glare, and spoke lower "Unless you have something to hide, Taicho."

Hitsugaya blinked apathetically as he looked at the woman, deeper in his own thoughts than present company. "I've come to the conclusion that Rukia Kuchiki is in fact the 'enemy's' objective, but not on the grounds of destroying Soul Society rather more at Ichigo's insistence." The white haired boy moved to one side in his seat "Think about it, we both know he wouldn't leave someone high and dry. He's also quite ardent in protecting people. So for him, saving an innocent bystander who was wrongly accused of a crime she didn't commit would be second nature for him."

Soifon nodded her head as she knew he was that kind of person, once you got to past his thug face and really learned about him, which in turn correlated with his plead of innocence, and his willingness to die when she had been poised to claim his life the other day. "I see. Is there anything else?" she pressed more

"I currently have a lead, but I have nothing more to disclose at this time, especially to someone like you." He answered unwilling to divulge such information to one who might screw this up, and was undeserving of his trust which easily shown in his eyes.

Shaolin noticed the hard tone and unmoving gaze, and resigned herself to knowing that she wouldn't be able to get anything else, no matter what she might try. It was a very simple truth that anyone could see. Toshiro saw her as an enemy to his cause, and if she tried to break from the continuous pattern most people, the boy, saw of her, it could very well lead to a witch hunt over what happened to the 'real' Soifon-taicho, effectively landing her in the maggot's nest, on the run within the Seireitei or any numeral worse position to achieve her goal: assist Ichigo. "I understand your reasoning, and some-what apologies in forcing you here. Thank-you for your time. You may go." She dismissed casually

Toshiro mentally raised a flag from the slight switch in attitude from the captain. Rising up from the other side of the desk, he gave a nod and exited in contemplation over what he witnessed and resolving to look into it after chasing down Gin

(Senna and Subaru)

"All right, you should be ok now Ms. Onna." The silver haired fuka-taicho of squad four, Isane Kotetsu, said to Senna, as she pulled back her hands cutting off the healing kido from the woman who lay in the bed.

Senna smiled appreciatively "Thanks for everything, will I be able to return to duty?"

Isane blinked her eyes as she pulled her head back not expecting that question. She then shook her head "I'm afraid not, you had some very extensive wounds, and while we've been able to close them up. I could not in good conscience send you out there again. I'd like to run a few more tests first, but it can wait till later after you've had something to eat and plenty of rest."

Senna's smile dropped a fraction, and she looked into the doctor's grey eyes. As the two made eye contact, Isane's face turned to shock when she saw the amber eyes of Senna turn an eerie gold in color. Unfortunately, due to her sudden lurch backwards from the change in color, the Fuka-taicho leaned too far back in her chair and fell out, her head colliding against the linoleum floor.

"Are you alright!" Senna yelled as she flipped the covers off her and got out of the bed, her bare feet stepping against the tile floor until she could hunch over beside the woman and examine her, concerned for her health now in the strange role reversal.

"Oww…that wasn't smart." the woman winced out as she touched the point of impact. Turning her head she grabbed the hand that Senna had extended out, to get back on her feet and off the floor. Once again looking back in the face of Senna, the woman was surprised to see that the strange gold hue was gone; all that remained was her normal light brown eyes. "Thank-you," She said weaker than she had anticipated which wasn't lost on the girl, to make up for her blunder she closed her eyes and gave stupid smile "My eyes were just playing tricks on me, that's why I freaked out, sorry ."

"Freaked out?" Senna asked, since that statement and the way she said it, just seemed to ooze weirdness.

Isane scratched the side of her head sheepishly since it was a personal thing, but continued since it would help her bond with her patient, and increase the much needed morale of the Seireitei's members "Y-yeah, you see I have odd nightmares."

"Like what exactly?" the Miko asked, feeling mysteriously obligated to find out what was the cause of the nightmares were for the enemy healer _'Hey, Miroku, do you have something to do with this?'_ she asked suspect number one

The dark priestess grinned lecherously enjoying the sight and area specific plumpness of the doctor _**'For a hotty like her, I certainly wish I was. I'd deeefinitely give her something to scream, about every tense, mysterious, and dark stormy nights. Hoooh, Doctor, Doctor, give me the new, I gotta a bad case of wanting to fuck you.'**_

'_Why am I not surprised you'd say that about such a tall, but friendly and kinda cute girl.'_ Senna replied absentmindedly, unaware of the look of intrigue on the hollows face from what she just said

'_**Sounds like someone's a little jealous.'**_ She said back slyly, highly amused by her servant's choice of words, and knew it was a nice perk

'_Shut up, you perverted idiot.'_ She silenced tuning out Mirokumaru, and directed her attention back to the woman who seemed to be finishing her story

"-and that's the reason why I don't like fishcakes or their minions the seaweed cowbell people." The unaware woman finished bubbly, happy to get that off her chest to the surprisingly good listener her patient made.

"Yeah, I understand." She said evasively to avoid the girl from catching on to the fact she had zoned out "I'm sure you'll beat it one day." She raised her fist encouragingly despite her lack of reason and enthusiasm

"Thank-you." The large woman said gratified, not really looking too into the other woman

The knocking on the door hailed the attention of the two ladies "May I enter now, I need to speak with Ms. Onna in private." Subaru said from the other side of the door, having been asked to leave for medical purposes close to thirty minutes ago, and was beginning to run out of patience since they were in a hurry to leave.

"Oh, I completely forgot about you!" Isane said in surprise as she moved over to the door and opened revealing Subaru who was holding a small paper bag "I'm sorry about that Kujo-san, you may enter but, if any doctors come to check in on her, you will need to vacate again. Those are the rules."

Subaru nodded "I understand." _'and we'll be gone by then'_

The silver haired fuka-taicho smiled, believing that the rules would be observed, and walked around the Onimitsukido member, closing the door behind her to give them the privacy requested. The spy waited a moment to make sure that she didn't feel her superior officer's imminent presence, before trekking over to the closet on the far end of the room. "Are you ready to leave Ojou-sama?" she asked as she pulled out the stored Asauchi, while slipping the medical supplies she pilfered from earlier into her pocket.

"Yeah, but what's the exit strategy?" she asked as she put her socks and sandals on

"We're going to have to sneak our way out. There are tons of hostile enemies waiting outside and inside the building. If we were to simply blow a wall down with kido or your Zanpaktou, and escape we'd be killed immediately, or if we're lucky get captured and then sent to the second division's torture chamber for interrogation." She affirmed the situation for what it was, her face then lost a few shades of color as a soul crushing reality became known to her "Actually I retract that last part, Soifon would be interrogating us, and I'd really rather not let her see or know I'm a traitor so soon, if it can be helped or avoided at all." She raised her head to look at Senna giving her a grim look "I can only imagine what she would do to you, if she found out you are Ichigo-sama's sibling, what with their current rocky/non-existent relationship."

'_I have the imaginative capability in Mirokumaru, but I get what she's saying.'_ Senna sighed as she adjusted her weapon back on her waist "Well, then we'll just have to not get caught."

"Easier said than done, I don't exactly know the layout of squad four like the back of my hand, we also need to be wary of Kotetsu-fuka-taicho as well as Nanao-fuka-taicho." Subaru countered as she handed Senna's distinctive ribbon back to her, who gladly accepted it and fixed her hair back up in a spiked tuff

"Right, but once were out, we can head to your squad to lie low. That way we'll be safe, as searching for a particular spy in a division full of assassins and spies, who dress alike, will be like searching for a needle in a haystack." She said chipperly as she was ready to head out

"If our strange luck holds out that is." The knife wielding spy replied back as she opened the door to peek out into the corridor.

Looking to the left and then over to the right, the woman used her index and middle finger to beckon Senna to follow her out. Closing the door behind her, the two walked semi-casually with Subaru in the front, to stop Senna if she saw any doctors or brawlers and keep their presence to a minimum.

Coming close to an intersection, the spy held her arm out signaling for Senna to wait. Seeing that she stopped moving, the spy got close to the wall and sidled to the edge of it to peer around the corner. Seeing it clear, she removed herself from the wall and called Senna close to her. The pair went down the hall quietly to avoid detection they were about halfway down, when one of the doors opened up behind them.

The two women quickly straightened up and removed their hand's from their weapon's, to minimize suspicion. "Ms. Onna? What are you doing wandering around outside of your room?" the voice of the doctor asked of the patient he helped heal yesterday

"I..was just ahhh…" she looked around as Subaru got closer to her to take out the doctor, "stretching my legs!" She quickly bent down and patted both her legs, and spoke with a nervous smile "I was in bed for so long that I almost forgot how to walk, ehehe nothing like good old exercise to get the blood flowing aagain!"

The fourth division doctor sighed, ignoring the other woman who was walking closer to him "While it is good to see you ready to return to duty, we need to do a few more-Mmmph!" he tried to scream as Subaru quickly disappeared behind him and put him in a sleeper hold, while covering his mouth to muffle the noise. The man struggled for a few seconds, flailing his arms about and trying to make a loud noise to get someone's attention, but ultimately the spy was able to hold out rendering him unconscious from asphyxiation.

"Good distraction." Subaru thanked as she removed her arms and hands from around the man's neck, mouth, and underneath his shoulder

"Thanks." She said respectfully, and then looked down at the knocked out person. Snapping her fingers a burst of inspiration came over her. "Subaru-san, can you help me carry this guy?"

"Sure, I was just about to ask you to help me hide him."

"Let's put him back in my bed and cover him up, that way nobody will know I'm gone yet." The female Kurosaki suggested

Picking up the body, the pair shuffled back to Senna's room and dumped the doctor in the bed and covered him up with the blanket the division provided for patients, and placed the 'do not disturb' sign on the outside of the door, keeping out everyone except Isane and Unohana.

Returning back to their exit plan, the women made it down a dozen or so hallways, and came to the conclusion they were going the wrong way, which forced them to back track whilst avoiding other Shinigami who were rushing back and forth through the building or blocking certain pathways.

"How do the doctor's find their patients in this labyrinth?" Subaru uttered bitterly, as they were losing time and they didn't seem to be getting any closer to the exit.

"I understand your agitation, but getting worked up isn't gonna do any good." Senna said almost sagely

Subaru looked over her shoulder with a look of honest appreciation "True." She uttered, which Senna flashed a smile as the spy turned around again to stay focused on find their way

"Hurry take him to room 307 stat!" yelled the voice of Isane Kotetsu, which made the girls panic since it sounded very close to their current position, and the rapid sound of fast approaching feet and screeching of the wheels of beds told them they needed to hide immediately. Subaru grabbed the priestess's hand and entered into one of the doors and flipped the switch below the knob locked it behind them.

The two remained by the entrance as they heard the noise grow louder and louder. The sounds of commands being given outside made it apparent they might be in here for a bit. "Ahh, finally I was wondering when you were gonna get back here." A loud voice yelled from the bed, the figures body covered by a lime green sheet that was attached to a railing that went around the edge of the bed. While Senna and Subaru couldn't see the person, the voice made it clear that the person was unquestionably a man. "Can you get over here and adjust these damn straps their too tight, even for restraints. Tch, bet it was Byakuya who told you guys to make'em so tight."

In curiosity and caution, the women walked over to the bed and Senna pulled the curtain back, revealing a red haired man's, with an open black hakama, numerous tattoos on his body as he was being held down by seven leather straps pinning him to the bed, each with a small lock on them. Senna reflexively took a step backward when she saw the man's face, garnering Subaru's attention at her frightened backpedaling as the man looked at the two of them.

The man looked dumbly for a second then his face contorted in anger, at recognizing the teenager's face "Hey, I know you!" he then started to thrash around in his restrains "Guards! Guard get in here we've got assa-"

He was cut off as Senna leaped forward and put both her hands over his mouth to muffle the noise. As Subaru reached for her knife to kill the man, Senna looked over her shoulders and shook her head no to the action. Seeing that Senna wanted to do something else the spy hurried beside Senna and held down the man's lower body to stop his thrashing, knocking away the remote control that could be used by patients to call the doctor with her hand.

They stayed on top of the man for several minutes, doing their utmost to quiet him down. Senna looked into the eyes of the man and said "No one is going to be coming. So let's be civil and we'll let you go."

Both people shot her a look of confusion "You can't be serious Senna! He'll try to kill us!" Subaru tried to shoot down the plan to release the gagged man

"He doesn't have his Zanpaktou with him," Senna pointed out "and I'm not going to unrestrain him to talk to him, after all he got put in this for a reason. I'm just going to let go of his mouth so he can speak."

Subaru looked into her eyes and asked one question which would make or break this side trip "And if he starts yelling for help again?"

"…" Senna lowered her head so Subaru couldn't see her face, and removed her hands from Renji's mouth and pulled out her Asauchi "then I'll kill him and we'll leave." She said as she gripped the sword firmly, revealing her commitment

Subaru and Renji let the words sink into the both of them for very different reasons. Finally after what felt like an eternity, the spy removed her hands from the man's legs and backed off acquiescing to her Ojou, while Renji wondered just what made this girl change so much since he had last saw her in the human world.

Senna muttered a quiet thank-you, and then turned back to the fuka-taicho while her sword returned to it's sheath "It's been a while hasn't it?" Senna asked with a friendly smile "You remember me right? I'm the girl from the human world? We fought the night you took Rukia-chan."

"Tch. Yeah I remember you alright." He answered with no small measure of contempt "You're the reason my friend is gonna be executed you goddamn harpy!" he accused to a certain amount of correctness

Senna winced at the harsh truthful words, but persevered "You're right. I am the reason that Rukia is going to be executed." She admitted composedly "But that's why I'm not just going to sit around and do nothing. I'm going to save her."

Renji leaned his head forward a bit and gave an odd look, wondering if he needed to get his ears checked. Pulling his head back against the pillow he let out a cold laugh at seeing her look so serious about it "Haha…What kind of BS are you trying to pull here! You save Rukia? You couldn't even save yourself, last time we fought!"

"Ojou-sama…" The third seat hissed seeing that this was getting nowhere

The Miko looked over her shoulder to her partner "Just wait." She commanded, and was about to turn back around but paused midway through, and turned her gaze back to her partner's face "And why do you keep calling me 'Ojou-sama'?"

With a bowing of her head the woman answered "It is the most fitting word that closely matches your position in the hierarchy of power. If that is not acceptable, I will try to think of another word that will please you. "

"You don't need to put up such a barrier between us you know. I trust you and you trust me, we're friends…aren't we?" Senna asked quickly putting a mouth on Renji's face to stop him from talking, not that he had any real commentary on the situation

"Hardly. We're acquaintances at best." She refuted truthfully giving her side of their interaction and her perception "It's only because you are my mistress –well technically future mistress-in-law- that I don't really expect you to add –san to my name, even though it would be appreciated. However if you were expecting friendship between us, I think it's a little too early to say that or…it just wouldn't happen." She explained almost like a robot would

Ms. Kurosaki sighed sadly "That's cold…" Senna huffed unable to think of any other way to put it.

"Yes, but I respect you enough to not lie to you needlessly."

"And what happened yesterday, was that a lie?" she inquired into when she was feeling down, and now starting feel like she was being used to meet an end

"I'm-…no. I was trying to being as sincere and as nice as possible," the spy clutched her arm and diverted her eyes guiltily "but, I'll even admit, that's not really my strong suit, Ojou-sama."

"(Sigh) I guess that's an improvement." Senna muttered to herself "Fine, but I expect you to call me Senna-sama from now on, eventually working towards Senna." the ribbon wearing Kurosaki replied as she turned back to Renji, and took her hand off his mouth to allow him to reply "Sorry about that Mr.?"

"Why should I tell you?" he barked, now free to breathe through his mouth again

"Fuka-taicho Abarai, O-Senna-sama." The spy behind her stuttered to correct herself

"Right Abarai-san," she said as she brought a chair next to the bed to sit down on "Firstly, I'm not entirely the same person you met back in my world, when you took her away. Secondly I could have had my…" she stopped then looked at Subaru and nodded her head own head as if agreeing with herself before turning back "guardian borderline friend here kill you, but I wanted to ask you why you're restrained. What exactly did you do?"

The man moved his eyes to look at Senna's face, and then promptly diverted them away from her to the opposite side of the room, allowing himself a moment to consider something, before returning them back to Senna "I fell out of favor because of Rukia."

"Fell out of favor?"

"Rukia is a close friend of mine, so with the whole rebellion thing, I was a natural suspect since we had grown up together. Then I got beat by one of your guys who spared me for some reason, after which I blacked out, then woke up here restrained. The doctors interrogated me, so when I told them mostly what happened, they didn't believe me and left me here to rot." Renji accounted, taking a deep breath he stared at the ceiling "For all that happened I suppose things could have been worse."

Senna nodded "You're right, you could have been killed."

"mmmm." He affirmed with a grunt

"But you weren't." she cut in with a small but open smile "And that's what's important." She leaned forward and rested her arms across the straps and placed her head on her arms, moving her eyes to the left to keep him in sight "I…have to say, speaking with you now, you don't seem like the bad person I originally thought you were. But I still don't understand, why didn't you bother to help her? You said she was your friend!"

The man closed his and let out a scoff, moving his body to force her off him and back into the chair "Heh. Don't judge me, but I didn't really figure it out until after I was beaten. I realized that I was afraid." He opened his eyes, as he recalled the memory against his opponent "I should have acted sooner, but I didn't. I was too busy looking out for my own skin and wanting to surpass my Taicho. That I forgot my original dream, to become a soul reaper so Rukia and I could make a better life for ourselves."

"I see." The female Kurosaki said as she leaned back in her chair and clasped her hand together in her lap, with a melancholy look. Turning her slightly head to the right she looked at the wall with a pained smile "I know what it's like to be helpless, to feel like you're at the end of your rope. I felt it when my brother fought the monster Grand Fisher, I felt it when I fought you, and I felt it again after fighting Nanao." She turned back to the man with a frown now "But I'm going to push myself to the day that I die to protect my friends…and Ichigo." The girl stood up and grabbed one of his hands firmly "You said you didn't know why you got spared, right? Maybe it was so we could meet today."

Renji raised an eye brow "What makes you say that?"

Senna tilted her head to the side and smiled childishly "I'm a Miko and I know fate prefers to work in mysterious ways."

"hehe," the man chuckled lowly since his body was pressed tightly against the restraints "guess that's one way to look at it."

"Subaru-san, do you think you could pick the locks on the restraints? You did mention that you are a spy and ex-thief, right?"

The raven haired woman shrugged as she looked to Renji "My happening to have the tools needed to free him depends on whether or not, he's going to try anything after we get him out."

The fuka-taicho rolled his eyes at the remark "I'm not gonna do anything to you guys. I promise to help save Rukia after that we'll go our separate ways. Deal?" he said barely able to turn his arm upward

Senna grabbed it "Deal. Subaru get him out."

Walking to the side, Subaru kneeled down beside the bed and pulled one arm through the sleeve of her shirt while using her other arm to lift her shirt up so she could see. Grabbing her lock pick set, she pulled down her shirt and started to work. After several minutes and a few broken locks later, the man was freed from his confinement.

Rolling off the bed, Renji shivered a bit as his feet touched the cold floor. The man let out a groan as he moved his arm in a small circle to work out the kinks in it. Casting his eyes down, he found his sandals waiting just underneath his bed. As he slipped them on, Senna got out of her chair to get beside him, while Subaru pressed her ears against the door to check if anyone was out there.

"Thanks Abarai-kun. We'll save Rukia-chan for sure."

'_Abarai-kun? That's a bit forward for a first association, eh what the hell.'_ Renji thought "Sure whatever, and just call me Renji, calling me by any form of my last name sounds too formal for my taste."

"Alright, Renji." She accepted quickly, then gave a small glance around the room for the man's weapon "So where's you Zanpaktou?"

"It's in that cabinet over there, but it's got an electronic lock and I don't know the password." Renji said jutting his thumb over his shoulder to the wall past his bed

Walking over to the lock, the amber eyed girl inspected it and quickly dialed in some numbers, which was met with a buzzer sound "Hmm, so it's a four digit password."

"You can crack it?" Subaru asked earnestly, not expecting such a skill from the girl, boosting her opinion of her

"Sure I could," Senna said aloud but inwardly added _'eventually'_

"Then please do that, I was afraid we'd have to kidnap someone."

Senna sweat dropped and turned back to the lock _'let's see…how about…0-0-0-0'_ typing in the number she was met with another buzzing sound '_ahhummm four corners? 1-7-3-9?'_ another buzz

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Renji asked full of skeptism now as the buzzer went off for a third time

Senna twitched at the question "Of course." [Buzz] and started to twitch even more

"Senna-sama…[Buzz]it's ok if you don't know, [Buzz] Please stop trying [Buzz]!" The third seat said with a sweat drop, which was shared by Renji

"I almost [Buzz] got it [Buzz] ok!" she said much more frustratedly, as her anger from the annoying buzzer started to grow her eyes flickered in color. "Open, damn it!" she exclaimed her anger boiling over.

Pulling her fist back, she hit the cabinet as hard as she could which dented the metal inwards, shocking both the team mates by the sudden display of great strength. Pulling her hand back to wallop it a second time she noticed a small piece of paper on the inside of the cabinet which was now visible. She leaned in close to see it had some numbers written on it "ahh, see like I said, I'd get it. It's 4-9-1-3 easy. Hehe." She said with a nervous chuckle, as it beeped positively, she was about to grasp the handle to open it when a wave of fatigue washed over her, and the world started to spin. "ugghh." she groaned out as she started to fall backwards just barely being caught by Subaru and Renji.

"Are you ok?"

"ughh, my head hurts all of a sudden…" Senna replied in a daze, her eyes glowing a very faint yellow which wasn't noticed by either Shinigami "Hey Subaru-chan," she asked as she faced towards the confused woman "have you always looked that pretty?" she said with half-lidded eyes, giving a dreamy appearance

'_Huh!'_ the woman brought her head back a bit, a faint tint of pink on her cheeks, from the compliment? "Are you feeling ok?" she asked, since that statement came out of left field to the spy

Again as quickly as it came it, the gold rims of her eyes disappeared back into her bright amber hue, allowing Senna to rapidly blink before open her eyes fully again "Y-yeah, sorry, about that. I don't really know where that came from, eheheh." she laughed off as she started to get back to her feet and return to get the Asauchi for their newest addition

Renji however was smirking up a storm, which didn't go unnoticed by the girls, and stopped them midway in helping Senna get up "Oh, don't mind me, keep going." He said perversely, back waving with his free hand to the girl, which earning an irritated look from each of the girls.

The two women broke eye contact with the man and looked at each other and hardened their gaze, then they both nodded.

"Subaru." she issued a fully understood command with but a single word

"Of course, Senna-sama." She said as she disappeared and re-appeared behind the man and grabbed both his arms behind his back, leaving his front exposed. As Senna rose she up, she forcefully flipped her sheath into Renji's crotch, then pulled away to deliver a strong right hand to the area a second time, and finished it off by delivering a spin kick to his lowered face, as Subaru flash stepped away, knocking him into the wall in excruciating pain.

"Let's go." Senna commanded with a smirk knowing she'd delivered justice to the handsome but perverted man who was busy clutching his body

"As you wish." Subaru replied following the Ojou out the door with her head bowed submissively, and her arms folded behind her back

Five minutes of recovery time and a thousand apologies from Renji later, the trio finally managed to escape the medical wards of fourth division and were currently on route to the head quarters of the Onimitsukido: the second division.

(Team Ganju)

"Ok, this should put us near the third division and the tower." Hanataro said as he pointed to the manhole above the trio, having finished leading them to this spot and was ready to take a temporary back seat.

Shinjiro walked between his two allies and gripped the seventh rung of the ladder that led up to the surface "Remember you guys wait here, while I lure away some of the enemies up ahead." He instructed looking directly at them to make sure they were listening to him and his words

Ganju hardened his eyes and nodded fiercely "Got it, and good luck, Servant dude."

"We'll see you later, Taiga-san. Stay safe till then."

Shinjiro smiled back at them "Alright, I'm off." and started to climb the ladder, each of his steps making a damp clanking sound. Reaching the end, he poked the lid up a fraction so he could see his surroundings, seeing no one around he popped it open to slide it towards the side and climbed out fully. Now back on ground level he put the lid back on the opening and ran up ahead. It didn't take long for the man to find a small crowd of Shinigami, and with a few taunting words, have them chasing him in the direction of squad two's forest.

Hearing the loud clanging of the metal lid being run over by multiple feet, Ganju and Hanataro presumed Shinjiro had successfully led some of the Shinigami away, so that they could rescue Rukia. As the green clad warrior pried off the lid, he beckoned Hanataro to follow, since the coast was clear.

The men ran as fast as they could through the corridors and up the stairwell. Stopping to make sure that the coast was clear up ahead, Ganju really couldn't believe his luck as it seemed that the Samurai had really lured away quite a few of the enemies, leaving the place seemingly deserted.

"Coast is clear, Taro. Do you know where to go from here?"

"Yeah, I remember the way, since squad four has to clean the penance every now and then." The timid healer answered as he walked down the corridor leading to the stairs that would take them to the upper levels.

Making steady progress through the otherwise abandoned building, they arrived at the high bridge stretching out to the tower, which was guarded by about four Shinigami.

"Halt." One of the Shinigami yelled as he reached for his Zanpaktou

"Not a chance reaper!" yelled Ganju who slugged the Shinigami in the face sending him to the ground

"Quick call back up!" another guard yelled only to be silenced when Hanataro blasted him with a kido spell throwing in a heart-felt apology for his action.

Picking the enemy reaper back up, Ganju smashed his fist into his gut, and then wrapped his arm around the man's head in a head lock and dropped back, sending the man face first into the bridge knocking him out.

As Ganju tried to get back up he found himself on the opposite end of a Zanpaktou ready to come down and slice into his torso. Bracing himself for the strike, he was indeed surprised to see his opponent knocked backwards by Hanataro shoulder tackling into the man sending them both into the ground.

Not one to waste an opportunity Ganju quickly got up pulling his cleaver in the process and threw it at the fourth Shinigami who made a move towards them. The weapon struck the man in shoulder staggering him, as Ganju rushed in and punched him in the face, and used his bigger body to forcefully press the man against the penance door to pull out his weapon. Re-sheathing the weapon, Ganju kicked the man in the gut, forcing the guy to double over, and utilizing his strength lifted the Shinigami above his body and threw him over the railing, his screams echoing all the way down.

Allowing himself to look around, and saw that all the enemies were gone, Ganju wiped some sweat off his face and grinned mischievously "ahh, man. I'm always up for a good brawl." He said "how about you Hanataro?" he said turning to his counter-part, and saw him on one knee almost praying.

"-we hold the fallen within the highest of reverence." He finished reciting to the downed enemies, as he got up and looked solemnly at them.

"You alright?" Shiba asked as he got beside the glum looking kid

"Yeah, I just wish nobody had to die, it's even worse since I'm supposed to save people's lives."

"Hmmm…yeah, I guess I see where you're coming from." Ganju said as he tapped his chin thoughtfully "But if you think about it, they're not dying in vain especially if you use their death's to fuel your determination in something."

"Fuel my determination?" Hanataro asked casting a confused look to the muscular man

Ganju nodded "Yeah, think about. Your buddy, Ichigo. He's out there fighting too. He could even be killing people at this very moment. How do you think he's feeling about it, fighting people he called friends at one point?"

"Just like me." Hanataro answered

"Exactly. But he believes in his cause, and knows that he has to do this for a greater good. I'm sure that everyone we've all fought so far would agree with us, if they knew the truth. So he's carrying their ideals in protecting Soul Society inside him and is using that to keep pushing forward despite how bad it might get." The man placed a hand on the combat medic's shoulder "He's protecting his friends, I'm sure you've got friends you want to return back to as well right?"

Hanataro nodded his head in understanding "Yeah, Isane-san, Unohana-taicho, Ichigo-san and the rest of the 'traitors'" he then smiled brighter than before "I have good friends in Soul Society who need my help."

Ganju locked his arm around Hanataro and gave him a noggy to the head, almost like an older brother would to his sibling "Yeah, and what about me huh? Ain't I in your circle of friends?" he asked rubbing his hand back and forth repeatedly

"ahh, oww, yes, oww, you are oooh now please stop aiiie, your gonna give me eeeah, premature baldness!" the boy exclaimed flailing his arms up and down, desperately trying to break the vice grip around his neck to little avail

"Yeah, I thought so." Ganju said smugly as he let the boy go, who rubbed his hair with his hands to ease the burning sensation while calling Ganju a big meanie. "You ready to do this?"

"Yeah," Hanataro replied as he grew serious, since they were so close to rescuing Rukia.

The two men walked to the door and using the key found on one of the reapers body's opened the door. The poked their head through the door and walked in to the large dimly lit cell that had a spiraling stair case reaching all the way to the top, and a lone window across from the entrance providing a view of the Seireitei for the criminals within. Laying down with her back turned to them, their mark was dazedly staring out the window.

"What do you want of me now?" the girl in the white kimono asked, her face hidden by the darkness of the room and beam of light behind her "I've already told you I know nothing."

Ganju grinned stupidly "That's fine by us, because we're busting you out of here toots." He declared proudly

On his words the imprisoned Shinigami turned around from her spot and looked at the men in confusion that soon gave to horror, though they couldn't see it since her face was hidden by the darkness of the room and the ray of light behind her silhouetted her body "The actions your doing are criminal! Who, what made you do this!"

"Ichigo did." Hanataro said as he clenched his hands together enthusiastically, thinking the girl would be relieved upon such news

He was greatly mistaken.

"Ichigo! As in Kurosaki! Then you…he, your all traitors?" she said backing up fearfully

"Well," Ganju started as he scratched the back of his head, trying to word his answer "were not ALL traitors. Sides your totally innocent anyway, at least from what dandelion head mentioned when we going through the sewers." He then placed his hands on his hips and shook his head "I gotta tell ya, that guy must be in love with you or something, cause I don't see why someone would go through all this just for a single girl, even if she is the key to saving the universe or some crap."

Rukia reddened at the insinuation "We are not in love or any kind of relationship like that!"

"Ganju, stop it you're embarrassing her." Hanataro chided as he elbowed the larger man in the side

"All right, all right." He said defensively raising his hands up in front of him "let's get her to the sewers and then afterward, you can head back to your place and let loose the butterflies." He said turning his back to Rukia and heading for the door, sensing no movement he looked over his shoulder "Come on, shake a leg, times a wasting."

Hanataro moved over to Rukia and kneeled down beside her, throwing in a reassuring smile "You're not hurt are you? Can you walk?"

"I…yes, but," she looked away "I'm no good, I'll get you all killed just like Senna and Kaien. You should stay away from me and flee now while you have the chance." She pleaded

Hanataro however would have none of it "That's not your decision. Whether you think your good or not, doesn't change the fact that people worry about you. All those people you mentioned, would they want you to suffer for something you didn't do? Wouldn't they tell you to fight for what's right Rukia-san?" he placed both his hands on her shoulders "Sometimes we gotta do things we're afraid to do. Take me for instance, I'm scared out of my hakama and want to run away as fast as I can," he said with a good intentioned smile "but I'm only gonna do that if I know your following right behind me." He removed his hand and placed it before her "Ichigo's my friend just as much as I'm sure he's yours. Why shouldn't you trust a friend?"

Rukia blinked unsure of what to say. She briefly allowed herself to think back on her time in the world of the living, her first encounter with Senna that set this in motion, Ichigo and her's first argument, the Quincy Uryu, being part of a TV show, getting the bounty from Urahara, the fated encounter between Ichigo and the hollow who killed his mother. She recalled all of it, the good and the bad. As the last memory played she looked at Hanataro "You're right. I guess maybe I do have some more living to do." She said as she stood up fully

"Hey, are you done kissing in here yet?" Ganju yelled as he walked back into the room with a peevish look, mostly likely from the time they were wasting

"We're coming Ganju." Hanataro said patiently, while the green clad Shiba grumbled a 'whatever' under his breath, and turned to leave. "Come on, let's go."

As the pair followed behind their leader, Hanataro turned around to close and lock the door, when he felt it. A strong powerful spiritual pressure fell all around him, clearly not directed at him since the strength behind it would squish him again the wooden bridge. With a panicked look, he turned around staring past the obvious frightened form of Ganju and Rukia to see the source of the spiritual power.

The source was a pale man, with sharp black hair with three adorning ornaments in it placed in a neat row. Around the man's neck was a silver scarf. The man himself had a cold almost condescending look as he peered at the enemy before him. The man's hand was touching the hilt of his Zanpaktou which was revealed by the wind that blew open the important piece of the man's attire aside from his Hakama

The Haori. The Haori of a Taicho of the thirteen court guard squads.

"Hmmm, it seems both my hunch and Ichimaru's insight were rather…precise." He said calmly to himself, almost unwilling to let his mind register the presence of his foes "I had sensed a great migration of spiritual power here earlier," he then looked specifically at Rukia who fell to the ground quickly from his reiatsu "It's good thing I came to check up on you, Rukia."

Ganju quickly reached for his cleaver and clenched his fist tightly, moving his body just enough to charge the man "Hey girly-man, stop messing with her, and get out of our way before I make you break more than a nail!" he yelled unwilling to be intimidated by this individual

Byakuya turned his gaze to Ganju "What insolence. But I should not be surprised. A savage barbarian such as yourself would be allied with a traitor."

"I'm no savage, 'primadonna-chan', I am Ganju Shiba second warrior of the Shiba clan!"

The captain's eyes widened just a fraction, as did Rukia's for different reasons, but returned back to their cold empty state before the revealing "I see. So you are a member of _that_ clan. So you must be the brother of that one man, Kaien Shiba."

"Yeah, I am." He replied with his teeth barred

"How unfortunate. While I detested the man's unruly behavior particularly to those of higher standing, as well as his gratuitous use of his heart instead of his head, I did respect him to some small degree." _'after all he could do what I could not.'_ "So I will give you a proper sending from this world into his. Ganju Shiba of the former noble house Shiba, my name is Byakuya Kuchiki, current head of the Kuchiki clan, be sure to tell your brother when you arrive." The man then unsheathed his sword and held it vertically to the ground "Scatter, Senbonzakura."

Ganju took half a step back to brace himself when the weapon started to disintegrate from it's sheath

Hanataro and Rukia however knew the dangers of a captain releasing their Zanpaktou against an opponent, especially the one considered the greatest one of the recent decades.

"Ganju, look out!"

"Shiba-san, please surrender, Lord brother please stop at once!

Ganju looked over his shoulder at Hanataro "Hanataro you just be sure to cover me, got it."

"I- alright!" he yelled as he drew Hisagomaru

Ganju quickly turned around to see that the weapon had fully disappeared from sight leaving only a hilt behind in the male Kuchiki's hand. He glanced around his surroundings to make sure there wasn't any kind of trick ready to surprise him from a blind spot.

Byakuya merely tsked and pointed his sword at Ganju, while the invisible to the opponent's eyes, blades rushed towards their unwary target. Within a moment Ganju started to see sakura petal floating down in front of his eyes, at first it was one at a time, then it started to fall faster and faster.

Tssh…

He looked down at his hand that carried his knife to see a narrow sliver on his tricep, while blood started to pour out of it. Then he heard it again the sound of tearing, only this time it was on his entire right side. Soon the sound of fabric and skin tearing blasted in full volume as the man's body exploded in a fountain of blood. The man crashing down to his knee for and instant as he saw Byakuya's sword reform before him.

'_Damn. I lost,' _the man admitted as his vision started to blur, while memories of his family started to flash before him, as fell forward _'Kaien…..ku..ka….ku…'_

Ganju's body finally collapsed against the brown wood that had been stained red by his spilt blood.

"Ganju-san!" yelled Hanataro who ran next to his friend and slammed Hisagomaru against his body to heal his wounds. Only instead of hearing the sound of hissing from the regenerating wounds, he was met with the sound of a depressive 'boop'. "Ganju-san…" he whispered to the corpse of his strange attired yet courageous friend

"I hope this will set things into perspective for all of you. This is no fairytale, I will kill you all where you stand, and you wouldn't be able to so much as touch me." The Taicho said in an elitist tone as he gazed apathetically at the scene before him "Rukia, I hope you take responsibility for your actions." He then pointed at Ganju "That man threw away his life for you. His blood is as much on my hands as it is yours, I suggest you keep that in mind before you make another escape attempt. To try and obscure justice and the laws of Soul Society is a futile endeavor. You cannot change this fact, as much I can."

"You're wrong!" Hanataro shot back as he pulled away from the body, teary eyed "She doesn't deserve this!"

Byakuya narrowed his eye to slits "Do not act to try and command me, boy. Even if you were right, justice without power is impotence."

"And power without Justice is tyranny!" The healer answered, he then made a motion with his sword arm for Rukia to back up, while simultaneously thrusting his free hand out "Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Hado 63! Raikoho!" Hanataro yelled launching the strongest spell he knew. The lightning ball crackled and then shot free from the hand colliding against the Taicho and blew up in a large explosion.

No longer possessing the strength to fight against the insane spiritual pressure due to large amount used in his attack, Hanataro collapsed down fully to the ground pressed tightly against it. His labored breath became hitched in his throat when a familiar voice spoke "Congratulation, traitor." Byakuya said coming back into view, looking unscathed by the fully enchanted attack of the seventh seat "You've managed to get dust on my Haori." He re-raised his sword perpendicular to the ground and closed his eyes "Now allow me to return the favor by rendering you to dust." As he uttered each syllable the weapon turned a bright pink and separated once again into it's deadly petals

Hanataro looked on as the attacks came closer, then closed his eyes tightly "I'm not scared because I believe in you Ichigo." He whispered as he was consumed by the thick cloud of blades, as the attack blew past his body, he was in mid-fall backwards. His blood shooting out from his entire body, spraying the fear frozen Rukia on her white gown and face. _'Isane-san…Uno..hana-tai..cho. Forr give me...I, let…everybody down.'_

As the lifeless body of the seventh seat fell against the wooden flooring, Rukia closed her eyes and looked away. Believing once again, she'd been the cause of her comrade's untimely and avoidable death. Because she wasn't strong enough to face her own fears and demons, she didn't want any more people dying for her ever again.

Arriving on the scene, a white haired man with a white Haori similar to captain Byakuya Kuchiki with just longer sleeves, and whose usual calm compassionate face was riddled with worry, looked to see what was causing the flux of spiritual power. As he continued to look on he covered his mouth and eyed the scene with tragedy in his eyes

"Ukitake-taicho." The stoic man of sixth acknowledged to his peer "What brings you here?"

"I felt a large release of spiritual pressure nearby here." He then looked from the unflinching man and back to the massacre before him "I'm guessing you did this…"

"My hypothesis was correct. I had presumed Rukia was their target, this merely solidifies my statement and makes Ichimaru-taicho's action all the more valid to carry out."

Ukitake looked at Byakuya incredulously "Can you at least sound like you have emotions?"

"I do, but I try not to let it show, and I suggest that you take my advice."

Jushiro was about to respond when he broke down into a coughing fit, to his surprise Byakuya was the one who lent him a shoulder, though he did wonder if it was because he was the only able bodied person still around. "Are you ok?"

"I'm (hack) fine."

"Good." He said quickly as he pulled away from Ukitake and went over to where Rukia was. The girl looked at the approaching man, and straightened herself up as much as she could, prepared to meet death with dignity. The woman's older brother stopped directly in front of her with his sword in his hand, giving her a cold look, that for briefest of moment looked hauntingly solemn. Raising his sword arm up, Jushiro was about to object when he saw the man sheath his weapon and pick up the body of Hanataro Yamada, then flash step over and pick up Ganju, and start to walk back to Jushiro.

"I trust you will be able to lead her back to the cell despite your condition." He queried with the two dead men lurched over his shoulders like a sand bag

"Yes."

"Thank-you, I would also ask that you send a hell butterfly to the Sou-taicho and inform him that I will be guarding Rukia Kuchiki until a certain day."

"I…understand, and those two bodies?"

"I'm going to deliver these leftovers, of wasted tissue and bloated innards, personally to Captain Retsu Unohana." And flash stepped off leaving the sick man to counsel the near traumatized woman before leading her into the cell. With his task done, he returned back to his head quarters for his medicine and rest briefly paying mind to a hell butterfly from Shunsui. The man needed his rest for the long upcoming struggle.

(Senna's team)

Coming down another corridor led by Subaru, the team found themselves outside the second division. Walking as casually as they could, they were immensely surprised to find the building almost deserted. The third seat continued to lead the way until they came to a training field "Senna-sama, you and Abarai-san go wait in the forest over there for me. I don't know how far your identity has spread and it's only a matter of time before they discover you missing from the ward. Stay hidden until I have some new information to go on."

Senna nodded "Alright, but be careful."

"I will." The spy then turned to Abarai with a hard glare "If something happens to her, I will make you pay. And if I fail, Ichigo-sama won't."

"Yeah, thanks for letting me know ya trust me." Renji barked as he walked off

Subaru watched them for a moment longer before heading back inside. No longer having to fear being caught, the spy made her way to the office of her Taicho. Having learned her lesson the first time around, she knocked on the door, since she saw it was barely cracked open.

Kujo felt a barely noticeable rise in spiritual pressure, then heard the words 'enter' from the occupant mouth. Pushing through the door, she saw the desk in front of her empty, then felt a presence beside her. Turning her direction, she found herself looking at Shaolin with her released Zanpaktou, almost ready to strike.

"I have returned back." Subaru muttered, feeling mixed about standing in front of her again

"I am pleased to see that you are ok." Soifon said removing her gauntlet-stinger Suzumebachi from her hand, while the gesturing for the woman to take a seat.

"I apologize for having failed you." Subaru said with a bow

"You don't need to apologize. You're safe that all that matters."

Subaru stood up and gave an almost questioning look for this strange switch in attitude, it wouldn't last long as she needed to retrieve whatever information she could "Have I missed anything?"

Shaolin steepled her fingers together as she rested her elbows on her desk "Yes. Subaru, you are to stay here, and assist me in recalling all our surviving soldiers."

Subaru frowned since that might have thrown a big monkey wrench in things "And why do we need to recall our troops. We need to capture the bastard Ryoka before any more damage is done."

"Exactly, that is why we are going to prepare an ambush on the day of the execution which will take place two days from now." Shaolin replied though inwardly she wasn't happy to see that she was right, in the fact that Subaru probably wouldn't support her new allegiance

'_Two days!'_ Subaru went wide eyed over the information _'So soon? Is this…'_ she needed to know now "Tell me, is there any other news?" she said hurriedly

"Yes, we have recently suffered a loss."

"'a loss'?"

The Taicho nodded "Yes, Sosuke Aizen was found dead earlier today…we have…reason to believe that it's because of the traitors." She threw in a half-lie at the end

The woman's eyes widened as her heart began to beat faster "Where…how did he die?"

"In the courtyards, he was impaled upon a building by a sword."

As Shaolin watched her surrogate sister's expression from her words, she quickly went rigid in posture, and had a very vacant look in her eyes, like she was way off in her own world "I understand." She said mechanically, her fists clenched at her side "Excuse me." She then turned around to leave only to find her path barred by a concerned Soifon

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't you dare lie to me, Subaru." The captain said dangerously

"I really don't want to talk about it."

"Do you know something?" she asked, when the spy looked away full of guilt. She snapped again "Answer me Subaru!"

The spy looked back at the older woman and as calmly as she could clasp her hand "I was scared…I was reminded of a horrible nightmare. In it you died…you were impaled upon a building."

The older woman frowned softly, not expecting that "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Partially because I didn't want you to worry about me. You had too much to deal with at the time." _'And partially because you would never believe me.'_

"I'm sorry for trying to force it. But you should never be afraid to tell me things. So is there anything else?"

Subaru pulled her hand away from Soifon, almost widening the gap between the two of them for some reason "It's not important at the moment. Excuse me, Taicho." She pushed herself past Soifon to head back to the door, only to be stopped by Soifon

"I know we've had our differences recently…particularly about Ichigo Kurosaki. But don't isolate yourself, I'm here for you."

Subaru smiled bitterly at the woman's words which disturbed the Taicho "No, I'm always there for you, Soifon-taicho."

'_Soifon-taicho'_ she repeated to herself, it was so cold and unfriendly in nature that it left a sour taste in her mouth. The woman reflected back on her attitude towards her friends and subordinates. She quickly came to the conclusion, she was going to need to take more active steps in those regards, otherwise she might lose everything again. "I…yes." She said awkwardly "The ambush point is going to be in sector 2-74, west of the Sokyoku execution grounds, we'll discuss more tomorrow."

"Very well ma'am." She acknowledged the coordinates and walked out the room, not giving a second look back in fear of cracking under the insurmountable pressure she was under.

A gesture not missed to the Taicho as the door closed. Raising her hand up she hit the door "Damn it. I pushed them away too far." She removed her hand and looked at it, then clenched it again as she closed her eyes "They'll never go along with it. I just hope they can forgive me and understand my actions in the end."

As the second division third seat left the office in her own misery, she returned back to the area where she had left Renji and Senna. The closer she came to the area the more she heard the distinct shouting between people and decided to follow it. Coming underneath the canopy of the forest's entrance she spotted Senna and Renji with her husband of all people. Senna seemed to be playing the peacemaker of the group while Shinjiro held his arm out defensively and was backing up to give the fuka-taicho a wide berth.

"Will you stop Renji, he already apologized!" Senna fussed back to the stubborn red head. That was when she saw Subaru approaching "Look, she's back ok! Let's all take a deep breath and calm down."

Renji took a step forward and turned his attention to the new comer of the group "Hey, how come you didn't tell me your damn husband was the guy that I fought and got hospitalized by!"

"I already told you, she didn't know!" he said back not appreciating that he was yelling at his wife, and had to fight Muramasa's coaxing in wanting to gut the man

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Everyone be quiet. Subaru-san what's wrong? You look really subdued." Senna asked with her arms touching both men's chest telling them to give the spy the floor

The spy took an inhalation and lowered her head in defeat "I just finished up meeting with Soifon-taicho. It was difficult to say the least, especially to lie to her face, even if it's for her own good."

Senna walked over and placed a reassuring hand on the androgynous girl's shoulder "It'll be all right, you'll be able to make up when this is all over."

"No, Senna-sama. That has become an impossibility at this point." She said frailly and then turned to the rest of them "Abarai-san, Shin-kun, Senna-sama. I bear news, earlier today Sosuke Aizen was murdered, his body impaled upon a building and left out in the open. I'm sure you all know what this means."

'_That means the rest of the captain's are gonna go full force!'_

'_It's the end of the line now…'_

'_That creep Ichimaru betrayed Aizen?'_

"They have also moved Rukia's execution date to two days from now. Not only that, but they've decided to make a trap for us. If we don't show up, Rukia Kuchiki will be executed without question and the Gotei 13 will be able to focus solely on us, and if we do show up we run the risk of being annihilated." She proclaimed, grimly giving the situation for what it was

"So what are we gonna do?" Senna asked "We can't just rush in, we'll get killed. We need a plan."

"That's why you should just follow me." Another voice called to them

Looking around the team spotted a familiar black cat slinking towards them giving them a mischievous grin "Come on, little rebels. I'll take you to the place where Ichigo is training, and from where we'll launch our operation."

(Unohana)

The captain of squad for sighed as she wiped away the sweat from her forehead, she been running around all of yesterday treating all the ones with the severest injuries, while directing the lesser wounded patients to other doctors. Then today she had been performing every known medical diagnosis, procedure and applied every theory she could from her vast library of medical knowledge unto the corpse of Sosuke Aizen, and kept getting negative results.

Spiritual scanners, Blood testing, medical forensics and inspection of the wounds. Just nothing. It was almost like she was examining thin air, even though she could touch the body. She removed her latex gloves and looked at the bloody but peace filled face of Aizen, she had done everything she could that was specifically geared towards Aizen, in the hopes of a positive result. "It's almost like being told to examine a dog when I am clearly no veterinarian." She muttered to herself, she looked over at the clock, and couldn't believe she'd been inside this room for as long as she had been, though it was probably because someone was keeping an eye on her.

The rumbling and loud crashing, as well as yelling of someone not being allowed into the morgue, called the coil haired healer's attention to the door, and the person who entered "Kuchiki-Taicho."

"Greetings, here are the corpses of two traitors I had slain that tried to rescue Rukia earlier." He said coldly dropping both the bodies on the ground callously

Retsu looked at the two men, and felt a stab of pain seeing the body of her seventh seat Hanataro Yamada. "I see. It is most unfortunate. I trust they went quickly."

The male captain turned around "I personally think that they deserved more pain for betraying Soul Society. We are the only source of balance in the afterlife which makes their crime that much worse, by trying to dismantle us and condemning every soul to death. For their folly in such a reckless and selfish endeavor, I would wish for them to burn at the Sokyoku, but to do such thing would sully that sacred ritual."

"That's cruel don't you think?"

"Is it? I am doing my duty efficiently. I wonder if I am really the only person in soul society who is actually looking at the bigger picture here. The law is created is for a reason, in ideal times, it protects the citizens from tyranny, while maintaining the communities valued goals. I am willing to put aside my personal feelings on a matter, for the greater good."

"Then may I ask you something, as one fellow citizen to another?"

"And that is?"

"If you were given the chance, and not need to worry about the law. Would you save your sister?"

"…in a heartbeat. I promised Hisana." The sixth Taicho whispered so low that Unohana couldn't hear, then spoke louder as he vacated the room "I will not as I had made a promise to myself. I will ensure all criminals face their judgment."

Unohana studied the man's answer as he left, and let it go unable to blame him. She looked back down at Hanataro and gently put him on a table for examination, and then a spot in the morgue. "I'm envious of you Hanataro-kun." The woman said as she retrieved a new pair of gloves "You were able to fight for what was right. I'm sure Isane as well as Ichigo would be proud of you for being as brave as you were." She then patted the boy's body lightly "Rest in peace Hanataro-kun."

* * *

Ganju/Hanataro: Ebony and Ivory lived together in perfect harmony.

Ganju: Side by side on my piano

Hanataro: Keyboard oh lord why don't we!

Blackout2010: What are you two doing?

Hanataro (embarrassed): Oh? Oh nothing. J-just a sweeping the floor. [starts to sweep] sweep, sweep sweep.

Blackout2010 (backing away): Okay… (weirdos)

Ichimaru: Till next chapter folks!

* * *

(B.T.A.T. Halloween special)

"You ready Shaolin?" Ichigo called out to his female companion who was in the room putting on the last of her secret costume. Today was the thirty-first of October, Halloween and it was decided that everyone should dress up to celebrate the event.

So that evening Ichigo's ordinary black uniform was ditched for a verdant green tunic and cap. A leather brown belt went around his waist with another leather going diagonally wrapping around one of his shoulder, which held a sheath in his back with a long silver sword with a purple hilt that extended outward like wings. He also had a metal shield that had a bird in the center and three triangles pressed together. According to Senna, he looked exactly like a guy named Link…whoever that was.

"…Alright. I'm finished." The woman said from the other side of the door. The clicking of the door lock and turning of the knob, garnered his attention. What stepped out was a medium sized white billowing fabric with two holes in the front which had a pair of grey eyes looking out of them.

"Uuhh? What exactly are you?" Ichigo asked hesitantly as he looked at the costume Shaolin had on, that fully covered her from head to toe "And what is that?" he then looked harder at the linen "Is that a blanket or something?"

"No, it's not a blanket, Ichigo." She said sternly, and with a hint of embarrassment "It's a bed sheet."

"You're gonna walk around as bed sheet? That's ummm…" when he saw the glare he decided to put it delicately "original…"

"Don't patronize me. What you see before you is two weeks of creativity, in making the most fearsome costume around. A human's vision of a ghost." She scolded at her impromptu outfit or in this case protective covering

"…you mean a bed sheet over your head?" Now Ichigo couldn't help but smirk "And this took you how long to think this up again?"

"SHUT UP! I worked really hard in coming up with this as quickly as I did!" She, from what Ichigo could tell, since he couldn't see physically see her, crossed her arms in front of her and looked away "It's not like I'd do this for my health."

"Hahaha. Well when you look away like that, I don't know about fearsome, but you certainly look cute."

Shaolin wasn't buying it though "Don't think you can talk your way out of this buster."

The woman was staying adamant until she felt the verdant green clad man pull her 'ghostly' body close to her in a hug "Well I don't have to butter you up. It's the truth to me."

"…" the eyes moved back to Ichigo for a second, examining him before looking back down the hallway "Judging by your get-up, you seem to be creative. Maybe next year I'm might ask for your assistance...if I feel like it." She said in a huffy tone

Ichigo just grinned as he pulled her in a little closer, which was no doubt making the woman squirm her wants conflicting with the mood "Alright my friendly ghost you win. But for now let's go meet with Sis."

The two retracted from the hug and headed out from the Building. As they stepped outside into the festive night air, which they had to stop and double take when they saw a guy with blond hair walking upside down in the sky, they saw a girl leaning against a wall. She was in a full white Hakama with black socks and sandals. Wrapped around her hip was a Zanpaktou and over her eyes was a pair of clear sport-glasses that had a bony design.

Hearing the footsteps the woman glanced over and waved, as she approached to see her brother in his green costume, and Shaolin in her ghost gear. "Hey guys, cool costumes." She looked at Ichigo "The hero of time." then to Shaolin "And the original ghost!"

"You see Ichigo! Senna can appreciate the finer arts as well as my creativity." Shaolin said proudly, jabbing into her companion who looked away and muttered whatever "So Senna-chan, what exactly are you supposed to be?"

The girl smiled amicably as she pulled her sleeve up revealing a large black dot obviously done by marker "I'm an Arrancar and this is my hollow hole." She then leaned closer "But don't tell anyone since they're spoilers, because the Arrancars haven't shown up yet."

"Oh right." Ichigo muttered and then recalled his first canonical Arrancar experience "How's Grimmjow doing? Still in a foul mood?"

Senna sweat dropped "Weeell…"

(Flash back)

The female 'Arrancar' walked through Karakura town on her way to Soul Society when she heard the loud crashing from one of the apartments above the street. She stood still as she overheard what was taking place.

"That fucking punk ass author!" the voice of the Espada roared as another loud crashing was heard, more than likely from one of the rooms objects meeting the wall

"Calm down." Said Shawlong

"Don't tell me to calm down, Shawlong! Aggh! Bull shit reason why I can't be out there. All because of fricken spoiler!" Yelled the irate Espada "Tch. Everyone knows that if I were out there now, the viewer rating would double easily, I'm that god damn sexy."

"Maybe that's the reason why, bro." Illfort pointed out

"Or maybe because you have a nasty habit of punching the living crap out of people at night." D-roy snarked

"Oh really?" the voice of Grimmjow said dangerously "Well how about you help me vent some 'frustration' D-roy!"

"Hey, hey ,hey! Get back man I was j-just kidding…dah! Oww ouu, ahh wahh, aghh, I uugghh surre- ahhh!"

As the sound of fist continuously hitting against something else, and the sound of laughter rang out from the room. Senna felt it would be best to leave before something happen to her

…or worse for D-roy.

(flash back end)

"That guy is totally nuts." Ichigo said profoundly

"hmm, well good luck fighting him. You might need it." the amicable ghost beside him said nonchalantly "Anyway, let's go see what everyone else is doing."

The trio turned as headed towards Squad four knowing that maybe seeing some friendly faces would give them, a more enjoyable evening. The three talked for a while and when the subject of inner hollows came up, Ichigo and Senna remained oddly quiet, which perplexed the bed sheeted-Taicho, as she knew that they were supposed to be conjoined at the hip.

"Seriously where are they? I feel an immediate need to know for my own personal safety with two crazed lunatics on the loose." Shaolin said fearfully, and still got the stony silence from both Kurosaki's who looked away still not wanting to think about the two of them

As they rounded the corner, two individuals jumped out of the shadows

"Ooga boga boga!" they yelled, while trio immediately three punches forward and nailed the surprisers in the face knocking them down.

Ichigo looked down, his mind coming back off autopilot, and saw Hanataro Yamada and Ganju Shiba, who were both wearing tattered clothing and had life-like scars and cuts all over there body. "Oh geez, you guys ok?" Ichigo couldn't help but ask as he helped them to their feet

"Yeah we'll be fine." Ganju brushed off as he tilted his head to the side to work out a kink

"So what you guys supposed to be?"

"Who us?" The sturdy Shiba said as he pointed to him and the healer "Why were Zombies of course."

"Y-yeah, b-b-brains…brains!" Hanataro said meekly, which earned a frustrated look from Ganju

"Come on, you gotta say it with more gusto! You gotta say it with pride! Like this (ahem) BRAINS! BBRRRAAAINS!"

Hanataro chuckled nervously "W-Well we got a long night ahead of us." He then looked at his watch "Oh geez we've got to hurry, it's almost dinner time. Bye guys!"

"Later." The trio said as the men limped off further into Soul Society.

"Can we go check out Unohana-san?" asked Senna as she wanted to see the kind doctor and what she was dressed as

Not much else to do, the hero, ghost and arrancar continued until they came to the looming hospital that was the fourth division. Under the black night sky it seemed really ominous, and the decorations they had provided wasn't helping. Seeping out from underneath the floor of the door, and from the second floor window was a chilly light fog, their was also some kind of recording of strange animal noises. Ichigo took a step forward to the building when a loud cracking of thunder broke through the air

"…" Ichigo looked back at the girls "When Unohana says 'here at the fourth division your life is in our hands'…does she mean that literally?" he had to ask as he felt more than a little nervous now. Which judging by the stiffening of the women's posture, he wasn't alone in.

"I'm sure it's p-perfectly safe."

From above them a female voice said in a murderous undertone "The bodies of Hanataro Yamada and Ganju Shiba are missing from the morgue…tell me…do you know where they are…?"

A frantic woman's voice responded "I-I-I d-d-d-on't kn-know. Ahh m-m-miss w-why ar-are you grabbing you s-s-sword?"

"So you lost them? A shame, you're going to have to make it up. So you." A small pause as the voice grew even darker "can replace them."

A loud bloody shriek pierced the air as the trio looked upward and were visibly shaking. The scream died within a matter of seconds, while the team took the moment to compose themselves.

"On second thought, why don't we come back later." Senna said awkwardly "M-maybe when it's lighter out."

"That's a good idea. I don't think I want to imagine how scary Unohana-taicho can be this evening." Soifon chimed as the two girl turned around and started to walk away.

Ichigo looked at the building, and started to turn away when a dark thought occurred to him _'She said Hanataro and Ganju escaped the morgue…and they claimed they were zombies…so does that mean…'_

A plethora of loud screams and shrieks could be heard to the west of his position, from what he could tell the exact direction they came from, so the Onimitsukido member quickly caught back up with his traveling companion, not wanting to let them out of his sight.

Giving the fourth division a wide berth, the trio headed southwards at Ichigo's insistence. Now having regained their nerves, they walked at a much more leisurely pace. Turning around a corridor they came across Subaru who had changed out of her usual uniform and was wearing a white lab coat around her body..A stethoscope was wrapped around her neck and a small blue pair of glasses on her face. She was conversing with another taller woman with blond hair tan skin and a pink ribbon in her head. She was wearing a yellow high collar shirt with a pinkish-red dress on top of it. She had a pair of matching gloves and boots, and had a pink bag in her hand

As the trio approached the two, Subaru and the woman took notice, and one started to smirk while the other hung her head.

"Greetings." Subaru said with a low bow, while her partner did a very small curtsy

"Nice to see you, Subaru-san." Senna replied to the spy "Guess you're a doctor?" she looked at her female companion "Whose your friend?"

When Senna said this, Shaolin coughed forcibly, stifling what sound like a giggle, while Subaru started to smirk even more as she looked at her companion, who was glaring back. "Yes, 'Peppermint' do introduce yourself." She then extended her hand to the team "No need to be rude."

"Am I missing something?" Ichigo couldn't help but ask seeing the grins of individual enjoying an inside joke

"Oh..n-nothing, Ichigo." Shaolin said, her eyes diverting back to the blond girl "N-nice..hehe..t-to see you again …peppermint-…c-chan hahaha!"

Peppermint narrowed her eyes no doubt cursing her, while Ichigo was wondering what was up, Senna took a good look at the woman, and felt she'd seen her before "Have we met?"

The woman sighed "It's me." The woman said in the voice of a friend

"Wait." Ichigo looked back and squinted a bit, then had to stifle his own laugh "S-shinjiro!" The mortified samurai lowered his head and gritted teeth, from the waves of laughter "Oh man, you gotta tell me how you talked Sempai into this!"

"Traitor." Shinjiro whispered under his breath, while Subaru spoke up

"It's a long story so I'll give you the synopsis. Back when we were alive, we made a…bet of sorts. I won, and now every third or fourth date, Shinjiro and I have, he would dress up as peppermint, and would accompany me." She then casted a sly look at her cross-dressing husband "Plus this makes us even for ragging on my cooking."

"If you guys breathe a word of this…" Shinjiro threatened with a visible blush, since he was fine with doing this provided it never got out.

"Come on you two, p-promise him." Shaolin pleaded as she clenched her sides, while Senna was wiping away tears from her face

"O-okay, okay. I promise to never expose 'peppermint'-chan's secret!" Ichigo managed to huff out while the samurai glared even harder

"Lips pfff are sealed."

"Good. Hehe now do you see Shinjiro, your secret is safe." Shaolin uttered

"…" Shinjiro looked over the assembly and then crossed his arms with a frumpy face "Not a word."

Subaru then grabbed her husband's hand "aha, anyway we'd best be off." She bowed slightly "Stay safe you guys."

"Later." The three waved as the strange duo wandered off to another section of the Seireitei.

Seeing that no one else was around, the team wandered a little more to the east, to see if there was anything to do. Coming around the corner, the team bumped into a tall man with white hair and red eyes. The man was wearing a black shirt with a brown over coat and red tie. He also had a scar on his chin, and in his hand was deck of cards that he was shuffling constantly.

"So we meet again Ichigo." Jin Kariya said with an appreciative smile

"Kariya." Ichigo acknowledged "I'm surprised you showed up."

"He's hasn't been introduced to the fic, isn't he a spoiler?" asked Shaolin

"Who the hell is this guy?" Senna asked extremely confused "I don't remember reading about this guy!"

The bount user glared slightly at that last comment "Firstly, I am not a spoiler, I am a cameo appearance." His smile then returned back to his scarred face "I'm sure you all remember me from the glorious Bount Arc, we had some good times."

"Not really." The hero of time said briskly

"Sorry, but I'm drawing a blank." answered the ghost

"Ok, that is sooo a lie! There was no bount arc!" the arrancar replied

The white haired man sighed "Nobody appreciates me." He then turned around "Whatever, I'm sure I'll find better company. Enjoy your screen time for one day, it will be mine." He threatened

As the man walked away Ichigo looked up slightly "Heads up." He warned

A giant thunder bolt came down and struck the man, eradicating him entirely.

Senna leaned forward a bit, and frowned sadly "Even he didn't deserve that…even if he was lying about meeting you."

"That's…" Ichigo ready to point out the hypocritical humor in it but then shook his head defeatedly "never mind. Let's just pretend it never happened." He said with a depressed undertone

"Ah, the central nuclei." A smooth voice called from behind the masquerading Shinigami. As they turned around, they all groaned when they saw Gin and Kaname walking forward, casting flower petals to the ground, for Aizen who was in a black tuxedo and matching cane.

"And what do you want?" Ichigo uttered, less than enthusiastic about the man's presence

"There's no need to be hostile." Aizen replied with his hand held out gently, while his gait came to a halt, the man's two assistants stopping their petal throwing. "Surely, we could both lay aside our differences, for but a day. After all everyone knows that I could kill you with but a thought, on any minute, of any day, should I so wish."

"Uggh…" Ichigo groaned distastefully

Senna let out a sigh and spoke up "So? What exactly are you supposed to be?"

The bed sheet's eyes moved over to Senna "It's obvious Senna. Considering the running gag with him." She then pointed presumably her arm to him "He's supposed to be God."

"I will ask that you don't take that tone when addressing me. I just as easily corrected your Siblings when I encountered them earlier today, Gin stop laughing," he chided as the man had been laughing every so often "As I was saying corrected them just as I easily do you, little miss hide myself." He said with a knowing stare, making her glare back at him daring him to say anything else. Sosuke then turned to Senna "As for you my dear. I am actually THE mayor."

"Of?" asked Ichigo

Aizen's eyes immediately lit up, and spoke passionately "OF THE UNIVERSE!" he declared while the trio face palmed, Ichimaru chuckled harder, while Tosen sniffled reverently at the declaration.

"Why am I not surprised?" Ichigo muttered in annoyed tone at the man's groan worthy statement.

Recovering Senna cast a faint look to Aizen "Hey, since we aren't at each other's throats, can I ask what's the name of your plan? The one you always say 'everything is going according to plan'."

"The plan?" Aizen said with a raised eye brow, then huffed and smiled gently "Simple. Aizen's General Opposition Destruction."

"G." Said Ichigo

"O." Senna called out the next letter

"D." Shaolin said after Senna

"Aizen is god?" the trio said at once stringing the acronym together

"Really? I was going to entitle it originally as Aizen's Killing All Meddling Instigators"

"Aizen is Kami (God)?" Ichimaru said genuinely surprised by that outcome

"It never ends!" Senna yelled frustratedly

Well regardless of name theme, we must be off." The head man said

The trio moved out of the way, as Ichimaru and Tosen walked in front of the guy throwing more petals as he walked by. The former with a huge grin. Once the omnipotent ruler of all things walked by the trio's face lit up and they had to stop from chuckling, when they saw a note written and attached to the back of Aizen's tux

[Kick me, I'm an asshole!]

[Sincerely Kujo, Taiga, Urahara, Shihoin, Kyoraku, Ishida]

Resisting the urge to do so the team walked towards the direction of the first division. About half way down to the destination, having left 'godly' company far behind, did they run into the devious pair of hollows "Well well, Hichigo. It seems we found a rather delectable treat."

"You're certainly right. I especially like the outfit, twin bands is packing."

"Ooohh, you two." Ichigo groaned audible, as he looked at the trench coat wearing Hichigo, and the skimpy attire wearing of Mirokumaru, who after looking behind them had a few practically nude Shinigami behind them "Who the hell are they!" he yelled as he pointed behind them

The hollow pair looked back "Oh them, they're our 'treats' for being quite the naughty pair." They said smugly making Senna and Ichigo burn with embarrassment

Trying to save the situation from turning any worse, Shaolin spoke up "S-so what exactly are you two supposed to be. Your owners didn't really elaborate."

Mirokumaru cast a very seductive glance at Senna who was doing her best not to make eye contact, let she get eaten alive "Soooo, I'm your property now am I? I must say that's rather…dominating of you. Hmmhmmhmm. Ooohh, well what do you have to say."

"Just answer her question and leave us alone."

"You're no fun, Sen-chan. You've been a student of the prudish light side for too long." The dark woman pouted, then shrugged. "Well why don't you go first brother dearest."

Hichigo smirked an infernal grin, and then reached for the buttons of his trench coat and jerked it open proudly, while Ichigo threw his gaze away. Senna looked at his body then downwards slowly getting on tips of her toes as she elevated her position. As for Shaolin…there was some red on the front of her protective sheet and it was certainly not ketchup.

"You see, king. Women like me. I'm a frreee kinda guy." He said as he switched his stance where his right foot was leading

"Just close your goddamn trench coat, before they lock you up. And you know what they do to guy's in prison who are just like you."

"Hell yeah, I know. I turn people into my bitches and whores while I run the goddamn joint. Ain't shit I can't do, King." Hichigo bragged as he closed up his jacket ending the peek show for the girls, and Ichigo much to his relief.

"Whatever. And you?" Ichigo replied dryly as he looked at the blushing Mirokumaru who'd also been watching the show

"Haaah, lord brother, I am little more than a two bit harlot in your presence."

"You got that right." The two women flanking Ichigo said aloud equally annoyed

Ignoring the statement she turned behind her "and these are our legion of toys. We're actually on our way back to Senna's home for a…Halloween bash." She then leaned forward to them and whispered seductively "You're more than welcome to come."

"No, thanks." Ichigo declined quickly

"Ichigo, Shaolin, I'm gonna spend the night at your place." Senna chimed knowing her place wasn't going to be 'minor' safe until mid-afternoon tomorrow…maybe.

"Maybe it's best that I didn't find out." Shaolin said as she placed a hand against her head

Hichigo shrugged as Mirokumaru pulled back with a frown "ehh. Whatever more for us. Let's go. Come on meat holes and flesh vibrators, we got things to do!" he yelled to the crowd behind them who dumbly nodded and chanted 'yes master'

As the two hollows started to walk by with their followers Mirokumaru stopped and looked at the trio, more specifically at Shaolin "So why exactly are you wearing a bed sheet over your costume? Isn't that double dipping?"

The hollow was privy to see that the bed sheet ghost stiffened while the hero of time and the arrancar cast a look at their fellow trick-or-treater "What you didn't know?" she said "Thought it was obvious." She then turned "Ahh I gotta go, my orgies leaving, tata!"

The hollow departed in a burst of speed leaving Shaolin under the scrutinizing gaze of her friends. Turning around slowly she saw the looks that inquired to what was meant by the hollow's words. "Ahh…w-well…I did kinda lie about my costume." She said nervously

"Okaaaay." Ichigo said with a cringe "You're not gonna tell me you decided to be a nudist. I deal with Yoruichi enough in canon."

"No way, I couldn't do that!"

"So then what's the problem?" Senna asked

The woman under the sheet swayed back and forth, mentally trying to come to a decision "We promise we won't laugh."

"I-it's not that I'm afraid you'll laugh." She said with an audible frown, despite her face being covered "Well…ok it's kind of a lie. It's just that Yoruichi-sama, picked it out and…well I couldn't refuse. She said that if I wanted to 'play the servant', I should look the part…." The white head of the specter turned away "and she said I looked cute."

"Still not seeing the problem." Senna pointed out

The blanket wearing girl slumped forward "I couldn't bring myself to show it to everyone in the world! After I put it on and looked in the mirror, I got hyper-conscious, but I couldn't take it off because their a support strap out of reach, so I threw this on top, and decide to ride it out."

Ichigo gave a sideways glance "If you needed help I could have done it, and if not me, I could've gone to Senna."

"…true. But I couldn't be sure Senna wouldn't try to take a picture with her cell phone, which Matsumoto might see later on."

Ichigo and Senna did agree that, Senna might have taken a commemorative group shot, and if the costume was, whatever it was, enough. Humiliate the captain.

"Come on, loosen up Lin-chan it's Halloween, no point in angsting over a costume. You knew know we might like it, right Senna?" Ichigo coaxed a little curious about what the deal was

"Yeah, Yoruichi seems to have a good eye for things." Senna agreed catching the statement ball

The ghost of the group mulled the words over, then looked around the corridor and saw no one except them. "Fine, but you better not laugh or else!" she threatened with death, as she turned around and disappeared behind a corridor.

It only took a second for her to change, but her voice called out to them "All right close your eyes and no peeking!" she commanded, which the pair shrugged and covered their face

"Alright, we're covered." They said

A token silence fell on them, then the heard the clattering of heels walking towards them. "Alright you can look." spoke Soifon

Moving their hands away from their face they saw the second division captain looking away from them with a flush face, as she was decked out in a black and white French maid outfit with a small black bow tie in the center. Running up and down her legs were stocking and instead of her normal sandals she had slightly elevated heels. She had a pair of white gloves and a frilly maid's moppet atop her head.

"Stop. Staring." She gritted out, trying to kill her nervousness which had been boiled over at this point

"A Tsundere/Kuudere maid is really popular in some circles, Shaolin-chan." Senna offered her counseling "Besides it doesn't look like Ichigo's complaining."

"Huh?" Ichigo muttered brought back to earth "I…ahh…umm.."

Shaolin eyes widened for a second then grew sad "I didn't think you'd like it." she turned around and started to walk off "just forget you saw it. I didn't want to wear it anyway."

"Can you stay like that?" Ichigo blurted out, making both women look at him, which he rubbed the back of his head to ease up the stare "I thought your outfit was really bold." He claimed which made the maiden's cheeks turn a slight tint of pink "I don't know about a regular maid, but if you were a Meido (ninja maid/battle maid), I think it suit's you well."

Shaolin silently looked at Ichigo then walked past the man, with a neutral look as she strode on by "Very well. I suppose we are a bit far from the division to warrant a change. So let's be off."

Ichigo watched her continue to walk and then turned to Senna "I doubt she's mad, but I can't say she was too happy. What do you think?"

Senna tilted her head to the side "Tsundere…hmm you're probably still fine." And then followed after the maid

"Tsundere?" Ichigo asked himself, mulling the term over "Isn't she always hot-cold?" letting the matter dropped he ran back up to the group

With the now revealed maid, the team kept walking until they saw Kyoraku, Urahara, Yoruichi and Jushiro huddled together whispering something.

Her cat like senses hearing something approaching the goddess of flash turned to see her students. "Hey come on guys, you can help too!" she said, waving her arm back and forth beckoning towards her.

Ichigo and Senna watched as Shaolin immediately appeared at the woman's side. The two cast a faint look at each other a certain amount of fear in each of them, but both complied. Once the other parts of the team arrived, Yoruichi wasted no time in handing them a couple of eggs and a roll of toilet paper.

"What is with these things, Yoruichi-sama?" asked Shaolin naively, while Ichigo and Senna had a fair idea to what it was for.

"We're gonna trash Yamamoto's division." Kisuke said from behind his fan

He was then hit by one of Shaolin's eggs "I was not speaking with you, you pathetic waste of gutter trash! I was speaking her Excellency!" she was about to turn back to Yoruichi to ask for an explanation behind these actions, but stopped and then looked back to Kisuke with murder in her eyes "You bastard!" she hissed "How could you put up Yoruichi-sama to this base action! I'll rip your throat out!"

"It was her idea!" Kisuke tried to defend moving between Kyoraku and Ukitake to use as human shields

"Then you try to blame her flawlessness to cover your skin!" she was then physically restrained by Ichigo who lifted her off the ground "Your days are numbered!" she yelled as she struggled against her captor, her legs fluttering back and forth rapidly "Let me go, Ichigo-kun. This enemy to all women must be annihilated!"

"Calm down!" the strawberry cried out "Hey Senna!" he looked at his lazy back up "help me here!"

Senna shot a begrudging look "But why? I totally agree with her. He peeps on women, sells videos by black mailing, which I am a victim of, and…ummm…ahh.." she struggled to come up with another reason "oh! And looks suspicious!" she proclaimed using the fact that the ex-Taicho was dressed as a burglar to help her cause, which made Ichigo dead pan

"Yoruichi?"

The goddess of flash, who was decked out in her old Onimitsukido uniform, let out a laugh and walked to the kicking maid "Calm down," she said placing a finger against Soifon's forehead which brought her attention to the forefront "It really was my idea. Just a little harmless fun, little bee."

"I…I don't know. It doesn't seem like the right thing to do…" she replied feeling uneasy about it, since in her mind it was vandalism

"Don't worry about it so much, Lin-chan." Ichigo chimed in, making the woman turn back to him "It's like she said, a little harmless fun. No one is going to get hurt, and we didn't have much else to do."

"Well…"

"I think it would make an excellent prank. It'll be our secret memory!" Senna said enthusiastically

"I…fine. I guess a little fun isn't too much to ask." Shaolin replied, finally giving in to the peer pressure "But!" she held up one finger "if we get caught, we're pinning the blame entirely on Kisuke's shoulder.

"What!" the blond burglar hollered

"Agreed." Everyone else replied ignoring the man

"Alright let's go." Shunsui said as everyone flash stepped off, leaving the genius by himself

"That's…that's just not fair!" and disappeared after him

(1st division)

Kisuke caught up with the group and after telling everyone the plan. They began to put it in action. Ukitake and Kyoraku backed up to the ends of the corridor, and crouched down waiting for the signal, while Yoruichi, Soifon, Ichigo and Senna stood in front of the building with Eggs and rolls of Toilet paper.

"Let's get started!" Kisuke yelled

On cue, the quartet hurled their eggs and rolls of paper at the building, staining the pristine walls a bright yellow, while the white pieces of paper clung unto the roof tops and draped over.

"EVER YEAR IT'S THE SAME AND I'VE HADIT UP TO HEAR WITH YOU INSOLENT BRATS!" the voice of the Sou-taicho hollered from his window on the second floor to the pranksters below.

His anger then hit a new high when most of the four (save Soifon) did rude gestures, like giving raspberries and waving their butts in his face. The elder man climbed through his window to give these whippersnappers a good taste of his cane.

"Move, Move!" Kisuke signaled as he, Kyoraku and Jushiro flash stepped to where the old man was standing, catching him completely off guard

The three of them raised their weapons, Kyoraku and Ukitake's cannon firing a flurry of pillow feather on the sides of the old man, while Kisuke fired his squirt gun soaking the man, and simultaneously making the feather's stick to his person.

The joint assembly couldn't help but laugh at seeing their leader, standing drenched, covered in feather on the roof of his headquarters which was painted yellow with eggs and had draping of toilet paper.

"You…Insolent…" the man started to shake while the laughter amongst the group started to get replaced with fear "Reduce all creation to ash, Ryujin Jakku!" he yelled while his cane turned into a fiery saber

"Head for the hills!" Yoruichi yelled as she led the retreat with everyone else following closely behind

The team kept running as fast as they could, still hearing the crackling of the blazing sword behind them, letting them know to NOT stop.

"(hah) (huff) oooh…" Jushiro passed out from running his illness flaring up

"Jushiro!" Shunsui called out as he collapsed, he then turned his eyes away from behind him and looked at the rest of them "Jushiro took one for the team."

"DWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the loud scream from behind them, letting everyone know that they would be next if they didn't do something.

"Everyone split up, Yo-chan with me, Shunsui try and double back for Jushiro, you three get out of here." Kisuke directed

The group then split up at the next intersection. When Yamamoto came to the four-way intersection, he looked as the group members had each gone down one. Deciding to punish the most he went down the one with three people.

"I'm going to make you three scrub my whole barracks clean when I catch you!" the enraged Yamamoto hollered to the fast running trio

"Your fucking kidding me!" Ichigo yelled looking back and seeing him about fifty-feet back, cursing his luck

"He sounds really pissed!" said Senna

"I knew this was a bad idea!" The maid cosplay Shaolin said ferverently, wanting to take back getting involved

"Senna can't you fly us out of here!" asked Ichigo, hoping to take to the air and avoid being turned to into a burnt crisp

"I can't lift all three of us at the same time and out run him with the extra weight. I'm not that strong yet!" Senna said in a panicked voice

"Then we just need to keep running!" Shaolin yelled, closing her eyes to pour on the steam

They continued running as hard as they could, putting more distance between them, but still sensing him just a few seconds behind. As they turned around a corner, the three saw another division barracks "Quick inside he can't use his sword in there!" Ichigo commanded as they quickly entered the building.

The ancient Shinigami next came around the corner, covered in sweat "(huff) (huff) You will need to do better than that." He took a step forward when he had this strange sensation to move

Not one to ignore it the Captain jumped backwards as the wall erupted in a violent force, as a man in an undertaker's gear complete with a large black hat appeared from the smoke "So it's the old man whose been going all battle happy today." The sadistic voice of Kenpachi Zaraki proclaimed, as his grin took a certain shine to it "Never thought I'd live to see the day. Let's go Sou-taicho!" he yelled as he lunged forward

(Ichigo and co.)

Busting through the door, the maid, the arrancar, and the hero took everything in the immediate entranceway and used it to barricade the door. With the door successfully blocked and able to with stand force entry, they turned around to see the division and paled.

In the opening foyer was a visage of hacked limbs with fresh blood on the skin with bone sticking out, large spider webs that had hints of blood on it with spiders the size of pumpkins looking back to the trio. Near the staircase was actually in fact a pumpkin though it had a face carved into it, and had a sword going through the side of it. To make it even less inviting, a loud bloody scream for help could be heard deeper within the building.

The trio was less than amused

"Anyone else feel like wanting to get the fuck out of here now?"

"This is a horrible nightmare! I'm going to wake up any moment now, in my bed, safe and sound!"

"I think I'll take my chances with Yamamoto-Sou-Taicho and Zaraki-Taicho outside…"

As the trio began to assess the situation before figuring out WHAT to do, a small voice piped up "Huh? Is someone there?"

From out of the hallway a girl with pink hair and wearing an equally pink princess robe with butterfly wings extending outward from the back, showed up.

"President Yachiru?" the black and white clad maid whispered out

"Hmm?" the girl tilted her head like a dog, and then remembered she was supposed to be a 'hostess' "Hi, Maid-chan, Hollow-chan, Green-chan!" she then walked over to the stair well and came back with some cue cards "(ahem) my name is super fairy princess Yachiru Kusajishi, and I am very pleased to make your a aqu…aquint…aqueen…"

"Acquaintance?" Senna helped the struggling girl

"Yeah that!" she replied as she diverted her head back down to read the notes "I'll be your guide through the eleventh division…wait I messed up. (ahem) I'll be your guide through the 'slaughter house'." She said chipperly causing the trio to sweat drop, at the comical if not tragic scene of the destruction of innocence before them "Please follow me, and keep your hands and legs at arms…arms reach! So not to lose…them!" she then looked back at them with a wide smile having finished reading the note cards, expecting some form of praise or compensation for her troubles, but was met by face palms, gestures to ward off headaches, and closing eyes with trying to wrap their brains around this stupidity

"Soul society isn't a child friendly environment." The arrancar girl replied behind her hand

"What is-I don't even…"

"I knew the entire eleventh division were barbarians, but this stunt goes above and beyond my expectations." Shaolin said, glad she didn't have to deal with this level of insanity every single day.

"Hey, your supposed to be saying 'good job super fairy princess Yachiru Kusajishi'! It says it right here on the note card!" the pink haired wonder ball out cried, holding the green cue card out as if to prove her point

The trio seat dropped "Good job super fairy princess Yachiru Kusajishi." They said together which pleased the young looking girl

"AHAHAHAHA! Fight me harder old man!" the voice of Zaraki declared from the other side of the wall, while the barricade blocking the door shook violently

"Oh man…" Ichigo groaned, not wanting to deal with the both of them.

"We need to get out of here." Soifon said affirmatively

"I have an idea." said Senna as she walked over to the pouting princess, who was sad from missing out on watching Kenny have fun, and got on her knees "Say super fairy princess Yachiru, do you like candy?" she asked gently, which instantly got the girls attention as she started salivate at the mere mentioning of the word. Senna reached into her pocket and pulled out a stick of taffy, quickly having to move her arm up beyond the girl head, as she dived for it, and was now munching her arm trying to reach it "Do you really want it?"

"YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES!"

"Ok, if you take us to a safe exit, one that's far away from Zaraki-san, I promise to give it to you."

"Ok, hollow-chan. Yachiru will guide you!" the pink candy eating machine promised as she led the wary trio deeper into the slaughter house.

They passed through most of the 'house' until they reached the 'execution ground', where Yachiru showed them a hidden door. Handing over the promised candy, the group quickly left and made a B-line for the second division, to avoid meeting something else or heaven forbid Mayuri on this night.

"Finally safe." Senna said as she walked under the welcome doorway to the second division, the captain and fourth seat/pending fuka-taicho following close behind feeling equally relieved, that the night was over.

"I'm so glad this over and done with." said Ichigo putting his grip on the night to rest as they made their way to Senna's temporary living quarters.

"Well at least things are never boring around Seireitei!" the bubbly amber eyed girl chimed, despite having feared for her life on more than one occasion

"I guess…" Soifon added, seeing that special nights like this would be something she'd try and avoid in the future. She didn't want to imagine what happened on new years.

Reaching out and grabbing the knob of her door, Senna looked over her shoulder and waved the two goodbye. With their third member gone brining them back down to the two of them, Ichigo and Shaolin made their way back the captain's office.

Pushing open the door, Ichigo flipped the light switch so they could see while the captain closed the door and placed the lock in it's spot. As she turned around she saw Ichigo leaning back in one of the chairs in the room, a quiet aura about him "So what's on your mind?" Shaolin asked

"I'm seriously hoping that the Sou-taicho didn't recognize us." The strawberry harped, not wanting to imagine the old man waltzing straight up to the second division and demanding their immediate appearance or facing Ryujin jakku

"I'm sure we'll be fine, at the very least we can feign ignorance."

"I guess." Ichigo replied as he moved his eye back to the woman, a smirk forming on his face "At least you'll be safe, I doubt he'd believe you'd be running around dressed like that."

The woman narrowed her eyes dangerously at the boy "You're on thin ice. As I said there was this one strap that I couldn't reach, since the dress is in the way." Her hand subconsciously going to the hem line, where the problematic zipper was underneath.

"I'm not complaining you know." Kurosaki said chipperly "I do think you cute." He then got out of his chair and wrapped his arms around her waist "But I guess you wouldn't believe me, since I am you boyfriend."

"No, no I wouldn't." she said sadistically, her smirk reflecting her demeanor

"Well, I'm sure Omeada would agree with me, if you really wanted to ask him."

"Ha! I'm sure the man would probably make another Hentai doujinishi, this time based on my maid costume. I'd rather not be a part of that work of fiction, thank-you very much!"

Ichigo chuckled at the joke "True enough, then again. I'd kill him if he tried it." he then looked back at the worked up maid "But you got to admit he's definitely got an eye for models."

The woman's expression softened a fraction as her piercing stare looked into Ichigo's accepting eyes. She looked away mentally working out if she should say it, glancing back into Ichigo's face. 'Mine as well.' The woman then gave a sideways glance, not totally looking at him "Thank-you for the compliment…..master."

The male soul reaper was taken aback for a moment, and then smiled more as he moved his hand and ruffled her hair playfully "You looked so moe saying that, you know that 'French Maid Lin'."

A tick mark formed on the woman's head as she tackled him to the ground "Shut up, Fairy Boy Kurosaki!" she yelled lightly hitting his chest, as Ichigo laughed out loud teasing her more and more.

Yeah, for them it was definitely an interesting Halloween.

* * *

For all you guys and girl out there I did in fact see, a fanart of Ms. Fon in a maid outfit before, I will try and locate it, but for now I will upload 'peppermint' just for personal chuckles amongst you. Later!


	21. infilTraitors: known heart, found path

Author explanation about the status of Ganju and Hanataro:

Given the nature of the world I am depicting, 'dead' is a really bad term to use, since you know, there already on the otherside. However I've found a way that best describes them and it's as follows: Ganju Shiba and Hanataro Yamada's souls have returned to the cycle of reincarnation.

To my understanding, when you die in the human world (unless your eaten or killed by Quincy) you are destined to go to either SS or hell (removing you from the cycle of reincarnation). From SS you will stay until your soul is guided back into the cycle of reincarnation, returning you back to earth, unfortunately you lose your previous identity and remember nothing of the past so it's a bit mixed for the survivors and friends of the dearly departed.

That's why I say dying is a bad word to use, since no one really dies permanently, unless of course you are killed by Quincy [like that one guy last chapter] or are condemned to hell. By the way I also believe this extends to Hollows and Arrancars too, case in point Orihime's brother and Nel and Nnoirta's interactions suggesting they were once human, and Hime's brother getting konsoed

* * *

Author's acknowledgment to unknown reviewers:

To Jason

Well, I guess I'm allowed a little more lead way in killing people off because, this isn't my lively hood where people can die willy nilly (though if you read my take at the top, maybe it might give insight.)

Now for the Bankai idea, I have to thank-you for bringing that up, as it let me think of a few other ideas. But I do think yours would be interesting, a healer who could focus purely on healing herself and keeping her Bankai out, while the sword fights until it 'breaks'. I will take it into serious consideration, maybe it could be put together with other bankai's after all like Byakuya it could have multiple stages.

So I hope you enjoy.

As for everyone else, still accepting ideas.

* * *

Aizen: Where are you, you staring at your internet capable device reading a pointless story that involves a magnificent man named Sosuke Aizen. Stop. Don't roll your eyes. Pay attention to your screen. You'll see the reflection of someone in it trying to kill you from behind. Look back, no ones there, look to the screen. You'll see that I was just messing with you. Sadly while you were listening to me you missed that noise. What noise you ask? Investigate. Check your closet. Did you? You might already be dead as Gin was waiting with Shinso to skewer you.

Aizen: You probably scrolled down and read the next text and avoided death, as I had planned. Blink once, now blink twice, now breathe. Don't you see you've been under my command this entire time. Read on, now stop. Look in a mirror now back at me. You'll notice, sadly, you are not me but I can be you.

Aizen: Look down one sentence.

Aizen: Now once more.

Aizen: Stop. Breath. Check your mind and ask your self are you really in control? Stop reading, Think to yourself. Now look back. You'll see me smiling, because I've been using you this time. Look I have a Hogyoku and you have played an important role in allowing me to obtain it.

Aizen: You thought I was done? Ha. Fool, now go on and read. Remain ignorant as I take over the world.

* * *

Infil-traitors: Understanding my heart and finding my path.

(Day:4)

(morning: Ichigo)

Prying open his eyes the main fugitive of Soul Society raised his head from the hard ground as his internal clock informed him that it was time to get up; by allowing his body to move again and get back to training. Pushing himself off one of the vast rocks in the area, he grabbed Zangetsu and made his way back to the center of the huge training ground, that had served as a death arena for him in the last two days.

Once he stretched his muscles and limbs to work out any kinks, he started to make his way back to the Tenshintai; while his mind travelled back to what had first transpired shortly after arriving at the cavern.

(flash back: Day 2)

"All right Ichigo. Now that you're all better, I'm going to explain how this works; before, I step back to make some plans in regards to what to do." The golden locked shopkeeper instructed. His and Ichigo's hair returning back to their natural color from the hot spring's water. He walked over and clasped a strange white shaped object that he slanted against a nearby rock. "This is the Tenshintai." He said as he raised and brought his hand back down against the vaguely humanoid-doll's shoulder "This is the device that's going to help you master Bankai."

"So what exactly do I do with it?" Ichigo asked with a questioning look

"As you know, it takes close to ten years of dedicated training and understanding to manifest ones Zanpaktou and attain Bankai. This method I've created cuts that time down immensely, by forcing your Zanpaktou spirit out of you and into our world."

Ichigo's eyes widened at the claim "That's incredible Urahara." He said with a smile, already imagining the look on Aizen's face against the millions of Bankai users he'd have to fight. "With an invention like this, we could have everyone on our side learn Bankai."

"Not quite." Kisuke reproached waving his finger in a 'no' motion "While this does cut it down substantially, it's probably even harder than the ten year method. This way actually requires you to have completed it before three days are up, any longer than that and you're probably going to die due to spiritual source severance (1), which is when your Zanpaktou is away from the soul scape for an extended period of time then your current abilities allow thus causing you to have unfortunate circumstances." He said while knowing that it also had a chance of causing hollowfication from Reishi needing a substance source which after a contained mishap that had helped lead to the breakthrough, called: Hogyoku. "That's why I never standard issued this as a substitute for the ten year training." Kisuke then shrugged disenchantedily "But we don't have that luxury, so we need to get started almost immediately, because knowing Aizen, he'll do everything to get that execution to pass as quickly as possible."

Ichigo nodded his head silently understanding the graveness of the situation. Urahara backed up a bit and then pointed at the center of the white doll-like device "Now, stab your Zanpaktou in the center and we can begin."

Walking purposefully to the device, Ichigo pulled Zangetsu out and stabbed it into the dolls chest in one fluid motion. The creature's dull eyes lit up, and reishi started to flow out of it at an alarming rate. The doll started to then vibrate and shake before it was enveloped in a pillar of light that reached the top of the ceiling, forcing the two men to cover their eyes from the glare. As the vertical supernova lowered in intensity, the two men looked back to see a man with wild black hair and stubbles of facial hair around his chin. The man was wearing a brownish visor that his eyes looked through. The man's clothing was similar to the Hakama in terms of color and design the difference was the jagged edges of the collar and jacket's ends.

The man looked around allowing himself a moment to look at his surroundings then focused in on Ichigo, giving him a slight nod of respect.

Ichigo returned the slight tipping of the head, and was about to speak when he felt something, wrap around the back of his neck and, dip down after something rested on his shoulder. Turning his gaze he saw a white limp arm casually laying there like it was all the business in the world. Turning in the other direction Ichigo had to really fight back the urge to groan when he saw a certain full white specter with golden eyes looking at him smugly

"**Hey King, how ya been?**" his face then immediately jumped to feigned surprise as he removed his arm from Ichigo's shoulder and held it in front of his open mouth **"Oh wait, don't answer that! You've been 'fucking' busy haven't ya! HAHAHA!"**

Ichigo glared at him menacingly "Shut up with your lame jokes, you piece of sperm."

"**Now what's up with that?"** Hichigo asked obviously annoyed with analogy, as he took his arm from around him **"Didn't you know I was helping you and rooting for ya too! Shit, how do you think you knew what you were doing?"** The creature smiled while jutting both his thumbs at himself in a cocky manner **"Simple man, I'm the horse. I'm built like a god damn stallion, and I KNOOOW what women want! You didn't think I was lying when I said I can bed any woman, did ya!"**

"Good lord…" Ichigo said as he turned to face Hichigo, his teeth gritted revealing his vexation "I swear; if your ever growing ego could make you get any more big-headed, you'd be a damn bobble head before the execution is over!"

As Kisuke witnessed the two hot heads bicker back and forth, he was instinctively measuring up the strange creature he saw. He was easily able to deduce that this creature must have been a type of hollow, due to the extremely clashing personalities but identical physical appearance and structure as revealed by Shinji when he first described the experience after the betrayal by Aizen. The scientist stared harder and also noticed the trade mark gold eyes similar to the original Vizards he had fought to subdue and later helped. '_I better keep an eye out, only the Hogyoku should allow something like this…'_ his eyes narrowed in contemplation remembering those who had survived the hollowfication process, and cross examining with the childish nature the teens were acting in _'but the way their acting it's almost like the hollow's domesticated…it could be a Kurosaki thing as well.' _ A chilling realization swept through him. _'Then if that's the case I'll have to check on Senna too'_

"**That's- (hack)…why I- (cough) tell..in ya ki..ng…should…pounded harder…(koff) (Koff)…and called her…a naughty maid… she'd…have…called you…Goshujin…sama."** Hichigo choked with a huge smile despite the fact that Ichigo was in the middle of crushing his hollow's wind pipe. The perverted demon closed it's eyes as it wheezed out **"Just…thought for next time….totally do it!"**

"How about I break your neck and walk away!" The orange haired teen replied darkly as he enjoyed seeing the breath of life escape from his inner hollow, it was good stress relief in his opinion.

"Ichigo." The older man dinged in getting Ichigo's brief attention, since he really really really wanted to watch Hichigo foam at the mouth for what he was saying about his girlfriend so shamelessly

"Yes?" he grunted out as he released his kung fu grip on his inner hollows throat, sending the creature to the ground with a dazed look since it was lost in it's own fantasy of what would have happened if HE was in control when they met. His erection was short lived as Ichigo kicked it, already sensing the demon's thoughts. Returning back to Zangetsu he spoke "Yeah, sorry about that, what's up?

"We should begin at once." The black garbed man said as his white counterpart quickly recovered back unto his feet "Are you ready?"

"Yes." Ichigo said as he raised his sword to fight, the older man smiled and walked over and touched the steel blade. The weapon glowed before shattering like glass and shooting the fragments out in every direction. As each individual piece of the collective Zangetsu touched the ground a weapon, specifically another sword, emerged from the spot embedded into the ground by it blade. It was then that Hichigo left his spot and a dark energy started to develop in his hand then swirling and shifting before taking the shape of a ball which he then cocked back and proceeded to hurl it into the air darkening the roof by sucking light towards it. The golden ball hung silently in the sky as it stabilized itself, acting as overseer to the fight that would soon take place.

"What's all this?" he questioned to Zangetsu as the two Zanpaktou spirit's reached for the nearest sword and retrieved it, while Kisuke flash stepped on out of the way determined to do his own thing while Ichigo dealt with this.

"If you truly desire the power of Bankai, Ichigo then we will do it upon my own terms; which you must overcome." The dark clothed man extended his hand encompassingly to the large collection of swords that could graciously outfit good sized army "Somewhere within this resting ground of blades lies the only sword that can be used to defeat us. Only it can force our submission all others will succumb and break to our will eventually."

"**However it's not as easy as pickin' a blade to get a test feel. You've gotta find it before we cleave you in half got it? You gotta run and gun while trusting your instincts."**

_'Instinct is the way to go huh.'_ The Shinigami then looked up into the sky "And that?" he asked about the strange golden orb.

"That is the moon phase. For this test, you merely need to defeat one of us, as our powers are the same, as you already know. As we continue to clash and engage, the moon's phase will change the fuller the moon becomes the stronger I will become, where as the other will become proportionally weaker."

"So this isn't just a test of body, and combat instincts but it's a test of mind as well."

"**Got it in one Ichigo. You have to find the right weapon, and then overcome one of our might before the three days grace is over. Lucky for you since the both of us are out here, we won't be able to heal should time run out for today. So we'll be as banged up as we left off, the only saving grace you're gonna get."**

"So why are you here?"

"**Aww, you didn't want to get all buddy-buddy with me?"** the creature said rudely and then shook his head disappointedly **"That's cold you got me right here."** He said tapping his heart in a low beat **"But in all seriousness, the reason I'm out here is to see how strong you've truly become. I was forced out because both of our powers have come very close to being comparable to each other. Once this training ends, you might actually be strong enough to kill me…I'm looking forward to giving you a hard time."**

Ichigo scoffed "Tch, whatever. More like, you just wanted to take this chance to go skirt chasing." He replied dryly, making the inner hollow laugh aloud

"**Funny man."**

"If you are prepared Ichigo on guard." Zangetsu replied as he pointed his sword to Ichigo who grabbed the nearest one and settled in a battle stance

"Let's go!" he replied quickly as the pair rushed at him

(flash back end)

"Ichigo." A voice called from behind him. Turning around the man was quickly pulled into a hug by a slightly smaller person in Shinigami Hakama with purple hair and a red ribbon in the back of her head.

"S-senna?" he asked confusedly, as his own arm wrapped around the woman's back automatically, returning the gesture "When did you get here? And how in the hell did you find this place?"

Senna pulled away from him just so she could cross her arms with a puffed up pout "That's mean. You're not even going to ask if I'm ok mentally, what my journey here was like or if I'm hurt possibly dying? You're a lousy guy Ichigo, one big meanie." She said in a good natured tone despite her façade of unhappiness

Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle at her way of trying to get attention, since it did seem to remind how some sibling Shinigami acted back at school "Haha… alright, alright. I'm sorry. So let's try this again how have you been Senna?" he seemingly reset everything with a tilting of his head to the side, genuinely interested in her words

Senna looked back at Ichigo analytically, and faked a moment to consider if she should answer the question, before smiling bemusedly coming clean with the act "I've been good, Ichigo-kun. But you look kinda busy so I'll just give you the synopsis now and tell you every detail later. I'm perfectly A-okay and Subaru-chan has been helping me keep out of trouble. In fact she, me, Shinjiro-san, and Abarai-san happened to find this cave yesterday thanks to Yoruichi-sensei. But you were busy fighting those two guys so we went around the sides to not disturb your training."

The smile on Ichigo's face stopped beaming and began to work downwards as he stared at her wide eyed. His mind going quickly imagining a multitude of bad scenarios this could turn out towards "You saw that?" Ichigo asked with hidden shame stemming from the fact that she might have seen Hichigo, and with possible further inquiry learn him to be a hollow deem him a monster "Did you…see everything?"

A look of shock was something the High school student hadn't expected from the start of the recap "Y-yeah, I saw you guys fighting. But I thought you were doing spectacular!" she then started flailing her arms up and down "Y-you were so strong, and fighting against two guys at once, you were really something even if it was a tie."

Ichigo frowned and placed his hand on her shoulder, making the teenager wonder what was wrong with him "That's not what I mean. I was talking about specifically about the person that looked like me, except was all white in color."

"I did." Senna answered softly, calming down due to his touch and seriousness in mood

"Do you know what that is Senna?"

The younger girl shook her head in a negative response "I don't know one-hundred percent what it is or called Ichigo, but…if it makes you feel more comfortable around me, I promise I won't say anything. In fact I do think I have one too."

"Really?" Ichigo said as he took in a breath

"Yeah." She then looked at his Zangetsu and pointed at it "You called him 'Hichigo' or 'Zangetsu' on occasion, so I guess mines called Mirokumaru or…the dark half at least."

"Hmph…I guess we're more alike with each passing second." He then laughed "hehe it seems were bound to be outcasts by any normal standard given certain legal issues."

Senna shook her head "That's ok." She reassured as she moved both her hands behind her back and smiled sweetly "even if we were outcasts my feelings about you wouldn't change." She replied as she swayed between the tips of her toes and balls of her feet

"Feelings?" Ichigo quoted in a shocked matter by what she said

Seeing the sudden distress, Senna quickly sputtered out "Dah...uhh, I mean kindred-ship! Yeah, feelings, family feelings! Y-ya know, brother-sister camaraderie…eheheh…" Senna said with a blush and then turned around and ran off while saying "You're busy so I better go! Take care Ichigo-kun!" '_I can't believe I just said that!'_

Ichigo only had his hand raised partially as she fled, but brought it back down with a puzzled look over what he just witnessed "What was that all about?" he then sighed and shrugged not having the time to dwell on the little things "Whatever, at least she's ok." Turning back around he returned back to Tenshintai and placed his sword back into the doll and it sprung back to life revealing the scarred and dirty covered Zanpaktou spirits that made up Zangetsu.

(Senna)

Having fled at the speed that would make Yoruichi proud to call her a student, Senna came to a grinding halt to catch her breath. She allowed herself to look back in the distance before crouching down and pressing her hands against the sides of her head "What the heck was I thinking for blurting that out!" she yelled to herself as she dug and twisted her fists in hard against the side of her head "I made things totally awkward between us, ughh…" she then removed her hands and rested it against her knee caps "besides why am I so caught up about it all of a sudden? And why did I have to say it like that! I know he loves that Soifon chick, so whhhy did I say it like I was confessing my love to him." Her tone then dropped slightly "And speaking of that girl why do I feel angry about her?" She muttered contemplatively. She kept thinking as to what could make her feel and think that way until she painfully found her answer. "Uggh…" she groaned out in denial as she brought her hands back against her head and closed her eyes in frustration "…stupid, stupid, stupid!"

As Senna agonized over the slip up, the light half of her Zanpaktou spoke to her "Senna-sama can you hear me?"

"Huh?" she replied as she tilted her head upwards "Oh, hey Miroku-chan what's up?"

"…" the good sage opened her mouth and closed it, she knew the reason of her odd interaction with other's recently, and would tell her later, but for now she had to stay focused "I need you to come back inside for some training. It is time that I will teach you ultimate art of myself. It will greatly aid you in your fight against the dark half. Your inner hollow, to be precise."

"So it is my inner hollow." '_I guess that explains why she keeps saying I'm her and she's me.'_ "Alright, but I want to talk to her afterwards."

"Thy will be done, your ladyship. Now please return back to my domain."

(Shinjiro and Subaru)

Shinjiro gave his wife a kiss on her lips, as they separated from each other's embrace "Have a good day and please promise me that you'll stay safe Subaru-chan. I don't want any more things to have to worry about." He politely requested, making his concern for her safety known.

Subaru pulled her face mask up and nodded "You can rest easy, I'll be careful." She said as she held his hand "And I both apologize and thank-you for waking me from my nightmares again. I'm really sorry for burdening you Shin-kun, but you know you're the only one I can turn to, who'd actually understand my situation."

"Don't fret. It's not a problem for me." Shinjiro looked tenderly at her. Accepting of the unneeded praise while washing away her doubts as best he could "Anyway," he said growing solemn "You can bet I'll protect the medical supplies you brought back from fourth."

The woman nodded again in understanding but replied "Depending on how things go, you or I might be holding onto it. So long as it stays safe, we can possibly procure the time necessary for Ichigo to defeat Sosuke, though it's still a gamble."

Shinjiro took the bag from her other hand and muttered as he turned away to go check in with Urahara and Yoruichi "We'll see…personally speaking, I'd rather not depend upon Ichigo's abysmal luck in catching breaks."

"Neither would I, so we need to do our absolute best; as sister is also at risk." The spy replied as she headed off in her direction to return back to the barracks for all the information she could obtain

Unbeknownst to her Shinjiro gave one final glance back at her rather morose _'The guilty is really doing a number on her.'_ He turned away to try and focus, but the image of his stressed and tired wife remained at surface of his thoughts "Subaru…"

(Renji)

From where the fiery ex-fukutaicho of squad six was sleeping the previous night, he looked over to where the battle between the guy, he originally thought responsible for all of this, and his Zanpaktou were battling. Renji smirked and turned away to go finish his own Bankai training with Zabimaru, knowing that should something fail or go wrong with the kid at least he could rescue Rukia.

(Soifon)

Having received a detailed report from one of the spies that Subaru recalled, she was quite unhappy to hear what had happened to Hanataro Yamada at the penance tower. The female Taicho sighed, as she got up from her chair to put on her Haori. As she finished putting it on, showing all that she was prepared for duty much to her annoyance, she looked back unto her squad's movement reports and could see that almost all her squad was in the ambush zone, with the exception of the seated officers who were doing various duties. _'Hmm…this is going to be difficult. I don't have a solid idea where Ichigo is going to be coming in from and even less on where the other Taichos are in relation to me. Hmm…perhaps I can eliminate some guess work.'_ The twin banded captain then reached into one of the nearby cabinets and thumbed through looking for something.

Having found it folded up she pulled out a map of Seireitei and laid it beside her other pieces of paper on her desk. Her fingers pressing lightly against the map as her eyes darted back and forth, co-relating each spot around the execution ground. _'The execution grounds to the north has high sheet-like cliff, getting up there would be impossible even with climbing gear, so that's out as I doubt anyone is going to be guarding there.'_ She moved her hand down to the large sea of green _'Here's me. My soldiers haven't spotted any other forces moving passed or towards them either, so then Yamamoto-Sou-taicho must not be suspecting them to hit by the sides. He must trust my forces to be able to handle anything or distrust me what with my previous association with Ichigo and have me in a spot away from any possible rendezvous point. A very rational decision that will unfortunately still bite him if I have anything to say about it.'_ sliding her finger to the south she frowned as that would reasonably be the area of heaviest resistance _'Right there is the only stairwell leading up to the execution ground. So, more than likely a strong central group will be there with the rest in the corridors in front of it to protect it.'_

"All right, this should be all I need to know. I'll have my forces blindside that central unit after the execution has commenced, knowing Ichigo and his knowledge of the wilderness, he's probably going to come through the forest of squad two and head my way following along the same path as me. Perhaps if I'm lucky I might be able to deduce where Ichimaru is, and find out the truth once and for all." She recited the impromptu plan

'_What are you going to do if Ichigo was really just playing you like a flute?'_ Suzumebachi asked cautiously of her mistress, since it was still a possibility even if the captain might not want to admit

"Patience Suzumebachi I must be patient. It is something I have learned from this experience, and it is now, more than ever, must I exercise it. His actions will speak volumes here, and should he prove false, I will eradicate him." The captain then smirked and spoke with finality "But I assure, it will never come to that because he does not ever break a promise, especially to me."

The Zanpaktou spirit remained quiet, as a knocking on the door signaled someone waiting at the door "You may enter." Soifon commanded as the door opened up to reveal her troubled third seat that walked in and stood at attention. Her eyes closed, head bowed submissively, and arms folded behind her back.

"Third seat Subaru Kujo reporting for duty, Soifon-taicho."

The captain put on a false smile, and while she was very annoyed underneath with the visual distance in greeting, she knew that she had to keep up the appearance of the woman who wanted this rebellion ended at once; since that had been what Subaru would come to expect. "Acknowledged, take a seat." The bluenette replied gesturing to the chair that the spy took automatically

Once the spy was settled in the seat, Soifon got up from her desk and walked over to the door locking it to make sure no one could barge in, before heading to the windows and closing the blinds. With her precautions done she walked back to her desk and sat back in her chair to address the third seat "Sorry for my paranoia, but I can't risk anyone hearing what I need to say here."

"So should I swear an oath of silence, Taicho?" Subaru asked her tone lying somewhere in-between seriousness and sarcasm

The Chinese woman shook her head in a negative with a small smile "There's no need to do all that. All of the squad members knows what I am about to tell you, I just can't risk unneeded ears listening in." when Kujo nodded her head again in understanding, Soifon launched into her explanation "Yesterday around 18:37 hours [Tran: 6:37 PM], we had a breach in the penance tower by our opposition. The ones who broke in were a Ryoka whom according it Captain Kuchiki was previously of the Shiba Clan, and the other was, our comrade and friend, Seventh Seat Hanataro Yamada of squad four."

Subaru's eyes widened and she leaned forward, already understanding what this meant if she was saying it so calmly "How did it end?" she asked fearfully not wanting it to be true

Too bad the surrogate sister's voice and facial expression didn't change as she continued "I'm sure you already know. Kuchiki-Taicho showed up, and eradicated the opposition…there was no survivors aside from Rukia Kuchiki, who has allegedly agreed to be executed, provided that we, the Gotei 13, not kill anymore of the 'traitors'. That request is still pending upon the central 46's judgment." The captain informed as she watched Subaru bow her head and close her eyes, giving a moment of silence to their friend. An action she would have scolded in anyone else, for showing pity or regret to those who wronged the law, but, wouldn't, not this time around. "I also have a lead that might end the conflict here."

'_A lead?'_ the androgynous spy thought to herself "What do you mean by that, Taicho-

"Shaolin," Soifon corrected quickly, having gotten fed up with the constant avoidance in speaking to her normally, effectively cutting off the spy mid sentence, "From this moment onward you are forbidden to refer to me as 'Taicho', 'Captain', 'Soifon-taicho', or any other dialect of speaking that does not involve my real name."

'_That's not what I anticipated from her…'_ Subaru pulled back slightly, not expecting her to correct her as she did "But why? I don't wish to appear rude and it's very informal if I were to say that in public."

The other woman shook her head, keeping an even look at her subordinate and said "You misunderstand. I find it inappropriate and highly insulting, if you did not address me as such. We have been friends for well over fifty years, I'm quite sure I know everything I should know about you, but…" the captain got up from her desk and looked sympathetically at the woman in front of her "I do feel as if something has come between us."

"What makes you think that?" Subaru said unknowingly diverting eyes from the woman, which Soifon clearly saw as an admission of guilt.

"Right there," she said calmly, pointing her index finger to Subaru "you didn't so much as look me in the eye when you said that. So now I know something is burdening you." She closed her eyes and placed her hand against her wooden desk, taking a deep breath in the process for the hard part "I do admit my fault on that. I've probably put you under a lot of pressure, and I apologize for that. Yesterday after you left, when you called me Soifon-taicho I-I-I…" she momentarily struggled to think of a way to say it without having to mention certain incidents "I had an epiphany of sorts." She half-lied, since it was partially in thanks to Ichigo for allowing her to see things unbiased, that she was now able to spot Subaru's own odd behavior and reflect upon her own conduct. Since it could be a catalyst or even worse the cause for it "I don't know where along the line things happened, but we're not as close as we used to be. You're hiding something from me, and I you."

"We…both have our own problems, it is understandable." The masked spy answered trying not to crack from guilt, so was doing her utmost to avoid the subject

"Understandable? Yes, but not forgivable. So I wish to apologize to you, I'm sorry for how I have been and would like your forgiveness."

Subaru looked at the woman thoughtfully as she brought her hand to her mask, a quiet smile found itself upon her along with some needed relief from the tension, brought the mask down to reveal herself, and she embraced the woman "You are forgiven Soi-Shaolin." The women separated now on friendlier terms, but both could still tell the other wasn't being entirely honest, though neither was going to push it since the peace was ever fragile "So what is this lead you have?"

Soifon in took a quick breath and looked at the third seat with a sharp eye "I believe the source of the conflict lies with one Gin Ichimaru. A certain…source gave me such information, and I was wondering if you have any firsthand experience." She alluded to Toshiro Hitsugaya, though it was lost to the spy

The other Onimitsukido member fiddled with her fingers for a moment as she contemplated what to say, "Yes," she said finally after a short wait "I was attacked several days ago by Gin."

"And why did you not report it?"

"I did report it." she said and then continued a little weaker, wincing at the next part "Just not to you. I told Hitsugaya-Taicho about the odd behavior, since he was looking for possible suspects. I didn't tell you because…well…weren't exactly…" she frowned and left the statement hanging

"Very well. I understand your predicament, but don't let it happen again." Shaolin replied sternly; not fond of being kept out of the loop like that. She was about to continue speaking when she saw that Subaru looked a little more fidgety "Is something the matter, Subaru-chan?"

"I was merely wondering about something." She said softly "Shaolin-sama, you treat me like your own sister would, correct?"

"If I had one, then yes. I would treat you exactly the same as I would treat her."

"So does that mean you would forgive me; if for instance, I did something that seemed bad at first, but was ultimately good for you in the end?"

Shaolin stopped and considered it for a moment, seeing perhaps the cause of the spies melancholy _'Hmm…Perhaps this is the thing that has been troubling her. I'll play it safe for now, but I better keep an eye on her. Maybe I might catch her when she stumbles and get her to open up on it.'_ She decided before opening her mouth to provide something of a neutral answer "That depends on what it is that you did. I'm not a saint so I can't be all forgiving, but I'm not a person YOU, Subaru-chan, should fear or be afraid to converse with. If you tell me what it is, maybe I can help you with It." she answered with warm sincerity

Subaru however shook her head, resisting the action with all her will power, denying the outwardly impassive but inwardly disappointed Taicho what she had sought from her "I'm sorry, but I just don't have the heart to tell you. You would more than likely scorn me as you did with…'_her'_.

"Don't you dare compare yourself with _'her'_." Shaolin snapped angrily "She's nothing but a…" Shaolin's voice soon dissipated at the last word of her sentence actually registered to her, and couldn't be thrown around carelessly anymore. A word that she had now come to realize meant her as well. There was no difference between Yoruichi and the two ladies, unbeknownst to the other "traitor." She said with soft finality as she kept up an impassive front, but was inwardly considering her new status. _'I wonder…is this what Yoruichi…san felt like when she learned that bastard Urahara was a traitor? Is that why she left all those years ago? Because, she felt it was the right thing to do, just like I do now?'_

"Shaolin?" Subaru whispered breaking the girl from her thoughts

"It's nothing." She lied so transparently that she couldn't believe it herself, though thankfully Subaru chose not to comment, allowing them to both drop the subject "We're getting off topic. Tomorrow is the day of the execution, and we have many preparations ahead of us. I'm giving you the rest of the day off to prepare yourself. Just let me know when you will be leaving the barracks, to head over to the ambush zone. Rukia Kuchiki will be at the execution grounds at 11:00, but the execution itself won't happen until 12:00, so we can bait the enemy. And please remember I need you at full strength so don't do anything risky."

"I understand I will ensure that I keep this information locked away." _'Till I meet the others.'_

"You do that." Shaolin replied. As the spy unlocked the door to leave she was stopped when she felt her surrogate sister's hand upon her shoulder "One last thing before I let you go."

"Yes?"

Soifon's steely eyes peered intently into Subaru's violet eyes, to judge the answer to the question she sought "I know it's a little out of the blue, and may seem completely off topic, but I want you to answer me honestly. I want you to tell me when you married Shinjiro was it a 'logical decision' because it was for mutualistic survival or was it something else?" she asked wondering if her own decision was akin to something her friend had experienced with, between choosing between the heart and the head

Subaru looked back thoroughly confused, when she saw that the woman was completely serious in expecting an answer, she couldn't help but blush "W-well, in honesty it was a little bit of both. Logically, speaking being able to count on another to assist greatly increases the likely hood of survivability. I-in nature weaker organisms band together all the time, forming colonies and herds for the sake of protection."

"And not so logically?" Shaolin couldn't help but smirk at her friend's fluster, which made the world around her feel much more like the previous year. The year when she, Subaru, Shinjiro, and Ichigo were happy together, a time she cherished and was trying to get back again.

"I did it because I love him…" Subaru answered with a playful pout "he cares about me greatly, and whenever he's around I find it easier for me to smile and relax. Even if we have our rough patches, and even if we don't tell the other everything that worries us, that is one decision I wouldn't change."

"I see. Thank-you for that you may go." She said removing her hand from the woman's shoulder to allow her exit, as the door closed the captain turned around and looked to the kitty clock on her wall, the one she both adored and hated at two very different points in her life. She watched the pendulum of a tail swing back with the eyes shifting left and right, and couldn't help but smile further. "It seems even after all this time; I am still following in your footsteps. But I guess this is because you followed your heart, where I did not, but now that I am I feel much lighter because of it." she then turned away from the clock and said one more thing before returning to work "I guess even when you're not around, you are still teaching me things, Yoruichi-sama."

(Midday: Elsewhere)

Not too far away from the squad thirteen ponds two Shinigami were discussing to each other about what one had seen. The first man was scruffy with long flowing hair going out in a messy wave, atop his head rested a large wooden bowl shaped hat that travelers from the feudal era wore when crossing from country to country, the man was wearing a Haori to show captainship, and had two Zanpaktous at his sides, which were partially hidden by the pink woman's overcoat he had on.

Across from the healthy and flamboyant individual was a calm but sickly-looking, man who had long white hair. The man's paler skin wasn't as white as his Haori but could do with some extra color. The man's arm was covering his mouth as he coughed it revealed his Zanpaktou from underneath the jerkin.

"Are you sure?" the thirteenth captain Jushiro Ukitake asked, as he reached into his jacket and then gulped down a small vial of medicine to combat his flare ups

"Without a doubt, from what Yoruichi-chan told me, and from what I saw, that girl is definitely the daughter of the miracle worker." He said recalling when the Neko entered his office, and after talking him out of a fight, led him to the balcony where Nanao and her were fighting.

"But I thought she had died in that horrendous fire almost fifteen years ago." Ukitake pointed out, since Masaki had been devastated for a while, and requested the tools to erase the incident all together from Ichigo's mind, less he suffer from trauma growing up.

"You and me both. But I felt that girl's spiritual power and it's almost exactly identical to Ichigo's in every way. The only way such a thing is possible is if the parentage is the same. Take your third seat and her sister for instance. If it wasn't for the fact that there was such a huge distance between squad four and squad thirteen, then no one would be able to tell them apart just by sensing for them. When I looked at the girl going at it against my Nanao-chan from the balcony, I only sensed Ichigo in front of me."

"I guess that explains why Masaki had requested of me, you and Unohana to never reveal his sister. She must not have wanted him to grow up knowing he lived through such a tragedy, and lost a sibling. But then does this not prove that something is amiss?"

"You hit the nail right on the head, and that's what Yoruichi explained to me. Think about it, Masaki retires to Rukongai and doesn't tell you, me, or Unohana the reason why. Next many decades later Masaki has two kids and neither you nor I knows who the father is, with our only lead being he's apparently a noble which no family has laid claim too, one of them 'dies' in a mysterious fire, and the other grows alongside his mother to protect soul society. Years later Masaki is considered 'killed' and her son goes through his period of mourning. Everything's going like it should happen normally to any other individual. Suddenly Ichigo is the one being accused of being a traitor, and we have evidence backing up the claim Masaki was involved, you with me so far?"

"Yes."

"Ok, here's my problem with it so far. If Ichigo was truly telling a lie about his mourning then why is it that none of our lie-detectors picked up on it?"

"Lie-detectors?" The sick white haired man repeated, thinking on the word "You mean the second division, Unohana and Tosen don't you."

"Exactly." Kyoraku said snapping his fingers "Unohana has consistently, ever since that fire, visited the Masaki household, every free day that she could at the same time for the past fifteen years. She grew up with Ichigo around her, so she should theoretically know when something is wrong with him or when he is lying. So unless Unohana is involved with the rebellion, she shouldn't have been fooled by his false mourning considering the fact that she had been monitoring him during his recovery. Now number two Soifon-chan's forces, the entire division is made up of human lie-detectors of varying ranges. Soifon-chan's also a tough cookie when it comes to empathy so she'd easily be able to see through any lies he might have got backed up, and knowing the little lady she isn't going to turn traitor any time soon. Lastly was Tosen own admittance to the fact that Ichigo did genuinely feel disturbed in his soul over the events, Tosen is devoted entirely to justice, so in his mind to lie is to obstruct that one truth about himself."

"That is true." Jushiro muttered as he clasped his chin thoughtfully "and there is the fact, that if she were to reveal herself to be alive after the period of mourning making that tape very recent, then she'd couldn't stay in Soul Society, but couldn't flee to earth because we'd sense her and Hueco Mundo is a death trap. She wouldn't really have anywhere to run, I mean unless she had a safe house in the human world but that's pretty iffy considering how rare it is for a Taicho to be warranted down on earth."

"That's good Jushiro, now consider this. If Ichigo and Masaki were traitors as is claimed, then how does that relate back to Rukia Kuchiki? What goal can Rukia fulfill if she were alive and well?"

"Well…she knows Byakuya Kuchiki, a high ranking captain, but other than that I don't see much point, and it's not like her ice Zanpaktou is anything too special. Hitsugaya would be more appealing if we're looking at raw power."

"Good, so as you can see they get nothing out of this, at least from where we're standing, which brings me to why I wanted to talk with you." Kyoraku stood up and looked at his best friend "I have a hunch that this Rukia girl will bring about an end to the conflict, that's why I'm going to go capture her at the Sokyoku execution grounds. If Rukia is important then the enemies' actions will show through. If Ichigo's actually good we'll let him keep her, if he's not then we have no choice but to remove him."

"I suppose, but how exactly are we supposed to stop a weapon with the power of one million Zanpaktous, Shunsui? Even we couldn't do that!" the frail Taicho referred to the Sokyoku

"Let's just say that a little kitty told me quite a bit, in where to go to find a certain something, to stop it." He insisted playfully. The scruff man then leaned over and looked behind his friend and at a nearby tree "And you two stop eavesdropping, it's a bad habit. Well at least for guys, for girls that's kind of arousing and adds to the whole moe shrinking-violet thing."

Jushiro looked back and saw Kiyone and Sentaro both fall to the ground as they had been standing on each other's shoulder to stay out of sight. The friendly commander sent them a wave followed by a sigh when he saw the two of them bicker over whose fault it was that they got caught. It seems it would be a long day for the man.

(Underground training facility: Shinjiro)

Resting his back against the smooth boulder, the samurai of the infiltration group meditated to mentally prepare himself for the task ahead of him. Using the immediate silence to sharpen his mind and perform much needed self visualization of his task being accomplished flawlessly.

His attempt at finding his own inner peace was interrupted by the sound of hard boots, stepping harshly against the rocky ground disturbing the samurai greatly, who opened his eyes to see the world had faded to gray, symbolizing that time had stopped.

As the footsteps came closer, Shinjiro tilted his head to the right, awaiting this man's arrival with much distaste. Finally the footsteps came to a halt as a person appeared from the other side of the rock, the samurai was leaning against.

The figure had brownish-black hair which was done up in a spike tuff in the back of his head. The man was wearing black plate mail armor that with golden lines in a strange design on the abdominal region of the armor. In the man's hand was an ornate war sword that was gripped tightly by his gauntlets. A long flowing purple cape fell down behind the man, as he looked at his counter-part that he shared much history with, with arrogance that befitted the man of his stature.

"Oda Nobunaga." Shinjiro gritted out to the armored man beside him, the samurai's contempt for him clear as day.

"Hmph. How many times must I tell you boy?" he mocked in a heavy accent "I no longer go by that name, at least not anymore." The man smirked evilly, as he felt given their personal connection; he'd address him not by his proper name but rather his current one.

"Muramasa." The younger man corrected himself, as he turned away though not letting his guard slip in the slightest "What do you want?" he asked though he meant 'speak then get out of my face.'

"I merely wished to see how fairs your pointless struggles, foolish fencer." The man's smirk grew harder, when he received a dark glare from Shinjiro for his words "There is of course no need to answer. As I've seen how desperate you and that wench have been as of late."

In the blink of an eye the blood thirsty Zanpaktou found Shinjiro's blade pressed firmly against his neck, while the man spoke in a deathly whisper "You will never speak of Subaru's name in such a derogatory manner again, am I understood you demonic filth?"

Nobunaga merely laughed "Huahahahaha! Such insolence! Such defiance! Such HATRED!" the man then moved the weapon away from his neck "If only you had felt those intense emotions the first time around, then this might have not happened. But then people only learn through pain, agony and death."

Shinjiro removed his eyes back from the man and tried to concentrate on quieting his heart. It was the only thing he could do, and not allow himself to give in to anger.

The Zanpaktou wouldn't have it though "Tell me, do you remember that day?" he asked rhetorically, "The day I descended upon your filthy rat-infested city you called home?"

The samurai's arm shook a bit as he closed his eyes, and could only remember vague things, none of the faces of any of the people who were with him, except for one moment. The moment of the end. "I would never forget when you killed Subaru, Nobunaga." He then brought his shaking hand to his chest "The five ring mandala mark over my heart would always prevent me from forgetting."

"Do you not mean when WE killed Subaru? Had you not been indecisive, had you not been so naive in your hopes to defeat me, only one of the six of you would have died that day." The man shot a disgusted look at the not so tranquil Samurai "You are a disgrace to the Yamato name, Taiga Shinjiro!"

With the final words uttered, Shinjiro leapt back up and gripped the collar of his mad sword spirit and pulled out his katana from it's sheath. His dark black eyes turning just a hint of red, as he felt his energy pulsating inside of him, screaming to kill the murderer of both himself and his wife.

The black armored man merely smirked dangerously "Yes, yes! That is it! Give in to your hatred! Kill, Slaughter, Maim, And Destroy! Purge this world in a sea of blood; destroy any foolish aspirations of hope. Let the darkness consume your soul and forever sleep amidst the corpses of your enemies!" The man then gripped the collar of Shinjiro Hakama and spoke in a dark whisper "Do you remember what I told you, before I was sealed inside of you, before we had died? I told you that I would take away everything you held dear. First your compassion," An image of a blond white woman in a blue uniform briefly appeared in Shinjiro's mind "then your courage," which was replaced by an African American woman in a black suit "your trust," a small girl with brown hair and a green suit appeared next "your hope" a fiery red head appeared in a red suit "and finally…" the last woman was replaced with Subaru lying in a pool of blood with Nobunaga standing over her, looking back at him clearly enjoying the kill "your love."

The two glared darkly at each other, with Shinjiro doing his utmost to restrain himself. His sword arm shaking rapidly with killing intent and excitement "No." he said as he let go of his hand and back handed Muramasa's off him "I won't be you." He said with a shaking of his head "You might be sealed inside of me, but I will never lose my humanity. The very same humanity, which you abandoned in loyal Ranmaru; when you killed him in your first attempt to kill me back in Azuchi castle." Shinjiro said as the spirit faded away, returning Shinjiro's spirit back to his sitting body. He opened his eyes and tried to calm himself "I will never become like you, Dairokuten maou: Nobunaga Oda (Devil King of the Sixth Heaven: Nobunaga Oda)."

Shinjiro stood up and took in some much needed deep breathes, to calm himself and reaffirm himself in his beliefs, ideals and actions. _'A true warrior stays his sword, and opens his heart to serenity. Only then can he be at peace with himself.'_ He kept repeating to himself, still feeling guilty to this day for being a major factor if not cause in his wife's –at the time girlfriend- death.

Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he wiped away the sweat from his brow. He was going to try and find himself a center again in mediation when a loud voice yelled out from nearby "That fucking bitch! Ooooh! I am soooo gonna use '_that_' move and blow her scrawny ass to the hereafter!"

Wondering what the commotion was the samurai walked to the source not too far off. Figuring maybe it might help him blow off steam.

(Mind scape: Senna)

High upon the mountain in the center of her soul scape, A sweaty, tired, and horrified Senna fell to the ground, panting and wheezing. She was hunched over on her knees, her hand covering her mouth to stop from throwing up whatever was in her stomach. Tears were pouring from her eyes, as her free hand gripped her Shakujo for dear life.

Standing above her with a concerned gaze was the good half of Mirokumaru, who had to forcibly command herself to not move from her spot and assist Senna. This was something she had to push through on her own. The Taoist designed Miko, watched as the girl on the ground closed her eyes and then threw up unable to hold back the bile.

The female Kurosaki wiped away the drool and intestinal mixture from her mouth with the sleeve of her hakama, breathing very hard from the scene and images that flashed in her mind "W-(gulp)what was that?"

The ascetic kneeled down and forced Senna to look up to where she could only see her mouth. "What you saw was your fate, your death."

"I don't understand!" She huffed trying to steady herself and catch her breath "That older looking woman, who was lying in the pool of blood surrounded by broken glass in the middle of the street. Who was launched from the passenger's side after being slammed by the semi, that was me!"

Mirokumaru nodded "Correct. The technique that I have taught you is much different from any other attack I could bestow. The mantra to perform the attack is quite long, but the attack is nigh unstoppable. However the travesty of your action will be paid upon by your soul."

"Are you saying that…that attack, its killing me?"

The unrevealed witch hummed to herself. Trying to think of a good analogy, to answer her student's and mistress's question "Think of it like paying off death. In exchange for eradicating the opposition, it will bring you that much closer to death. Originally you were supposed to live to be about 68 years old, but going off from that vision I would say, now you will be lucky to reach 40." She answered sending a chilling shiver to run down Senna's spine, knowing she could very well choose her death "It is quite powerful, and perhaps the only thing capable of defeating your dark half. However your health is most important to me, do not use it flimsily, or you will die Senna."

Senna looked down as she continued to push the horrible scene out of her mind. Putting her free hand on her knee she steadily pushed herself up to stand on her own. The woman looked at the unrevealed face of Mirokumaru, and glanced back down to the rocky path in thought. After thinking something over, knowing of her finite time making it seem like a dwindling hour glass, the ribbon wearing girl clenched her fist and turned fiercely to face her Zanpaktou spirit

"Mirokumaru, I want to speak to the dark side especially after that. There are some things I want…no, I need to ask her, otherwise I'm going to have a lot of regrets."

"…Are you certain your ladyship?" She said uneasily, unsure if the woman was desperate from seeing such a scene

"Yes." Senna said to affirm her command and wash away an doubts she had.

The spirit lowered her unseen face back down and put a hand to the tip of her hat bringing it lower. A small breeze blew from behind her, the many strands of black and white hair riding the wind and dancing lightly in Senna's direction and with it, the female Kurosaki sensed the change inside the Seer as she flipped from Yin to Yang.

The creature removed her hand and brought her head back up, only enough to reveal a razor sharp grin on her face **"Well, well, this is certainly a surprise. So what pray tell does my little servant girl want with moi?"**

Senna scowled slightly at the words "This 'little servant girl' wanted to speak with you on a couple of things." She then closed her eyes and put a hand on her hip "The first thing I wanted to say was simply 'Thank-you'." She almost had to force out "Thank-you for helping me back there, I don't completely understand what you did to me, but it kept me alive."

"**Huahaha! Wow, here I thought I'd never hear any praise from you."** The monstrous priestesses replied, basking in the praise since it made her heat race, while her mind fill with ideas** "Ahh, how I relish it. Yes, you certainly should be thankful, now I want you to show it for me, so strip naked and get down on your hands and knees then beg for me to take you, if you reeeeeeaaaally mean it."**

"Don't push it, Mirokumaru!" Senna shot fiercely, which made the dark priestess laugh hard

"**I'm joking, I'm joking. I'll accept that for now,"** she leaned in a tiny bit closer to Senna, which to her was already too close **"since it's the first time you've ever complimented me in our little affair."** She whispered seductively, then leaned back and spoke louder **"But I won't pretend that seeing you so dark and ominous didn't turn me on. The thought of my own 'relief' was why it took a second to ensure your safety. By the way on an unrelated note; if the whole being a goody two-shoes doesn't work out, I do think evil really does become you. Just something to sit on for a bit, love."**

"Thanks for the career advice." Senna replied dryly, ignoring to the best of her abilities the woman's extra commentary on what she was feeling during the Shinigami's time of mortal peril "I also wanted to ask about something, that I think I may have learned since I started this journey."

"**Go on. I'm listening."** The devilish creature said with a sadistic smile

"It's the fact that you never reveal your face to me. I always wondered why you never showed yourself, but after seeing Ichigo and that white doppelganger of him. I think I've come to the conclusion that you are a hollow."

"**mmhmm…"** the creature hummed urging her to go on

"So I guess my question is, when you say that 'you are me and I am you' do you mean that literally? And if I am right I want you to show me your true self."

The dark monster paused for a moment in seemingly contemplation, then smiled gleefully **"Congratulation, you've managed to take one step forward in understand who and what you are."** The woman then raised her hand up, her robe's sleeve now falling due to gravity and revealing a pure white limb that reached for hat that had remained on the creatures head for years. Within a few seconds the woman pulled the hat off and shook her head, to let her long flowing strands of black and white hair that had once been confined out. Bringing the hat to her side, she dropped it to move some of her hair out of her eyes.

As Senna watched the action, she found herself breathing a little harder as the woman's face, which was revealed to be her own face. Senna remained staring at the creature, remembering every detail of the face, everything matched the only difference was that instead of her own amber eyes, these were a bright gold with black sclera. The woman hair wasn't done up in the back like Senna's but was all in braids flowing downward. As the female Kurosaki continued to look her eyes widened even more when she saw what was wrapped around the foremost braid beside the now grinning girls face.

A single red ribbon wrapped around the strand of hair and intertwining downward.

"Y-you…really, you are me." Senna fearfully said as she gazed at this seemingly older version of herself.

"**So glad you noticed."** The hollow replied with palatable sarcasm **"To be more precise though, I am your dark half. The Yang to your Yin. We are both one and the same. The only differences between us, is personality, morality and power, which is even then already blurred significantly by our situation."** She alluded to their merger which she deliberately failed to mention.

"But if what you're saying is true, that there isn't any difference between us, does that make me a hollow like you?" she couldn't help but ask, since if she herself was a hollow, she was certainly a big oddity, since she didn't crave human souls or walk around with a huge mask on her face.

"**It's complicated. Truth be told, I am not even certain as to what you are called. But I know what made you, so I will leave that part in the dark for you to investigate. Is there anything else that you wish my servant or shall I return you whence you came?"**

The ribbon wearing teenager continued looking at the beautiful face of her dark half, before closing her eyes and gripping the spot just above her own heart. She thought hard about this, and decide now might be her only chance of finding out this…fact she couldn't ignore. "Mirokumaru, you've said that you are me, even though I guess were separated, right?"

"**That is what I said, yes. What of it?"** the pale duplicate asked with tilting of her head and a neutral expression on her face

"What do you feel about Ichigo?" she said quietly, like she didn't want to be overheard even though they were the only two sentient creatures in this world _'Maybe this might explain that twinge of…jealousy I guess?'_

Senna was easily privy to watching the stoic face of her opposite suddenly bust out into an aroused and dreamy expression **"You mean lord brother? Hmhmhm, He can own me. Haaaah~…I am contented in being little more than his personal chew toy that he can abuse, lick, suck and gnaw on whenever he so desires, however many times he desires, eternally at his beck and call."** She said with a deep panting, while her body began to heat up from her lustful thoughts. She remembered her place before she could try and relieve herself, and instead turned a scandalous look to the troubled girl, ready to tell exactly what she wanted to hear **"But then you want him. Don't you."** She stated matter-of-factly with half lidded eyes, knowing it wasn't a question **"You want to see him looking at you, no doubt like he looks at that girl he's always talking about. You want to be able to kiss, hug, and hold him like the man that he is, not caring for insipid and nigh unfounded beliefs of taboo actions. Don't you, you depraved little harlot?"**

The accused woman looked away quickly, not attempting to dignify it with a response. This action only egged the dark shaman on **"Senna, Senna, Senna. You can't hide what you feel for him; especially from me. I know he's everything you look for in a man; because, he's everything that you had been told by daddy to look for in a guy. A good person, cares about others, is true to himself, faithful and reliable, stays his anger, he makes you laugh, and most of all he makes you smile. His mere presence brings you joy. Ahahahu, He's a modern day knight in shining armor, like all those wonderful fairytales your dad used to read to you when you were so much cuter."**

Senna gritted her teeth "Just stop. I don't want to cause unnecessary grief for Ichigo." She then added almost spitefully to the person who did have his heart, somewhat accepting the reality of the situation for what it was "Besides even if there was some truth, he already has someone."

Now Mirokumaru scowled **"What a pathetic excuse."** She said as her arm jerked Senna to face her again, not believing in the path of self-sacrifice. In her eyes if you wanted it you took it. **"Senna, do you honestly think that your feelings are just going to take flight on their own? If so, you are more naive than I originally anticipated. If you love him like we both know you do, you will find a way into his heart."**

Senna pushed herself out of the dark half's grip and turned around, with a slight blush but still mostly frowning face "I...I couldn't do that to him. He loves her. He's willing to go to war for her."

"**Senna-chan, do you honestly think he wouldn't go to war for you?"** the abomination cooed using all of her manipulative abilities to ironically deceive herself by using the truth

Senna looked down and thought the words over, her heart beating faster as she let the train of thought bring her ideas. "P-probably not for the same reason." _'Then again he's never exactly designated me into the 'friend only' category and we're 'family' in word only due to lack of evidence.'_

"**Hmm, perhaps you have a point."** She then shrugged nonchalantly, but her smile grew into a wicked grin **"But I think you should at least go for it, after all you could end up winning into his heart another way. Recall we are not on earth, who knows what they allow here."** The hollow then snapped her fingers opening up a rift connecting Senna back to her body **"Just something to think about."**

Senna went completely rigid at the proposition. She looked back at the other woman with owl eyes, and was feeling quite perturbed. _'She…ughh I hate to say it, is right. Well…I guess I could try, I mean it's…not like I have anything to lose.'_ The woman would have continued her line of thought when she felt her face get pulled to the left and found her lips once again interlocked with Mirokumaru. This time around Senna didn't push the hollow back, but remained stock still, as the creature let her tongue into Senna's mouth, the teenagers eyes dropped about half-way and a blush turned on full force on her face. As the dark half pulled away, leaving the girl to return back to her correct state of mind, she quickly whipped around and kicked Senna in the stomach sending the red woman back to her body

Landing back on her feet the hollow looked back into the rift as it closed _**'She didn't resist. I even think she enjoyed it.'**_ She then smiled _**'It seems kinkiness is going to be a shared trait. Ooh god, I can't wait till our fight, it will be most delectable to hear her moans of pleasure and pain. Hmmhmmhahahaha!'**_

(SS: Senna)

Senna's soul returned back to her body in full force. The woman blinked for just a second then loudly yelled "That fucking bitch! Ooooh! I am soooo gonna use '_that_' move and blow her scrawny ass to the hereafter!"

'_**You know ya liked it, Sen-chan. I bet you were hoping that I'd take you right there, while you were in your dazed bliss from my kiss, and perverted thoughts of Ichigo-goshujinsama.'**_

A very red Senna shot back at the woman's unheard words "Screw you! You hear me! SCREW! YOU! And why do you keep kicking me! What is your obsession with your foot and my stomach!"

Dark Mirokumaru laughed _**'Simple, I am practicing. I am practicing the fine art of finding the correct spot to place my foot upon you, when you lay on the flat of your back, broken and beaten into submission, staring back at your sex goddess.'**_

"You're fucking insane!"

"Senna-san," a perplexed Shinjiro started with a raised eye brow "Whoooo," he extended "are you yelling at?"

The girl looked up to see Shinjiro look at her worriedly, it was then that she remembered that she wasn't alone nor speaking in her inner monologue. So she sheepishly looked away and scratched the back of her head "ah..haha…n-nothing. Don't mind me."

Shinjiro sighed from the obvious lie, but let it go since she didn't seem physically distressed, though he wasn't gonna touch on mental trauma "Alright, but keep it down. I'm trying to meditate." He intoned softly

"Y-yeah. Sorry." She eeped out. The man shrugged then walked back off in another direction.

'_Hmm, maybe…I should go see what bro-Ichigo is up to.'_ She decided now that Shinjiro was out of sight, outta mind. Getting up from her spot she went over to where the constant clashing of spiritual power was raging back and forth.

(Ichigo)

_Courage_

"Damn it." Ichigo yelled underneath the 'full moon', as his forty-fifth sword broke against the smooth shaven hollow spirit. He back flipped and threw the jagged hilt at his other opponent who swatted the weapon aside due to his increased strength under the 'full moon'.

The older Zangetsu leaped high into the air to cut his wielder in half, but connect with air as Ichigo quickly flash stepped down to the ground taking off to find another weapon after dodging another strike from his hollow counterpart.

Running through the trench as fast as his legs would move, the male Onimitsukido member was keeping a sharp eye for any of the swords that had that certain feel to it in nature. He didn't bother turning his head back around as he heard the four extra pairs of sandals meeting the dirty and letting him know their owners were hot on his heels.

"**Get back here, I wanna murder you a little bit King!"** Hichigo yelled while his fellow spirit grunted continuing to observe Ichigo's action

As the strawberry continued running, he grabbed what he knew was a worthless sword and chucked it behind him hoping to slow them down, only to see them break it with their own weapons. Allowing himself to look at his surroundings, he sensed a very powerful feeling blade to his right hand side. Utilizing his flash step he appeared beside the imbedded weapon.

The sword itself was a small narrow blade, it would have easily passed as any standard issue katana, the only really difference between it and asauchi was the guard had four prongs each bent at an angle, and the diamonds running down the sides of the hilt were red like his rosary.

Not wasting an instant, Ichigo picked up the weapon and turned to face his opponents.

_Selflessness_

He heard the word ring in his mind after settling in a defensive stance, taking just a brief glance at the moon that was now in the waning position. With a renewed vigor, Ichigo swung his much smaller weapon and cut into the battle scarred torso of Hichigo who jumped back and threw his weapon like spear, while the older Zangetsu locked with Ichigo blade to hold him in place for the projectile.

Letting one of his hand fall away Ichigo pointed at the incoming attack "Hado 31: Shakkaho!" and launched the weapon melting the metal of the sword and engulfing the blade in it's entirety.

_Strength_

He heard as the weapon faded out, letting him know what part of his soul was 'destroyed'. As he continued to fight back against the older man, the younger version flash stepped in between them and kicked Ichigo in the face launching the man in a barrel roll across the ground.

As his body crashed into the nearby rocks, he fell down slumped against it. Breathing out a ragged breath he forced himself back to his feet, stumbling slightly from his own accumulation of wounds. As the two enemies charged forwards to him, Ichigo heard a word enter his mind. He smirked devilishly, as he felt his spiritual energy begin to rise up around him until it exploded upward.

Raising his sword so that the end of the blade pointed towards his oncoming opponents, he pulled the blade to his left hand side and closed his eyes, allowing the energy to flow into the weapon. The hollow and spirit seeing what their king was doing stopped and followed suit, one with a maniacal grin the other with an impassive stare.

"Ge-" a fierce Ichigo started

"-tsu-" The smirking hollow continued

"-ga" The oldest one uttered

The three of them all whipped their arms around as they yelled the final word "TENSHO!

As the word left the men's mouth three gigantic particle beams flew out of the weaponry and collided with each other in the space between them. The attacks struggled back and forth shaking the caves walls with the intensity behind it, getting everyone's attention inside the cave. The crescent wave of energy soon erupted, both sides canceling each other out, launching up a huge cloud of dust forcing almost everyone to cover their face.

Old man Zangetsu brought his arm around to shield himself, while the hollow looked onward not bothering too, since he was so caught up in the beauty of such a devastating attack. They were about to turn around when they heard a cracking of metal. Both of them looked to see that their weapons were completely broken in half.

"You lose." A single voice uttered as it raised his sword to the neck of Zangetsu, who felt the cold steel.

Both spiritual embodiments looked over their shoulder to see the orange haired teenager, looking at them with determined battled hardened smirk. His arm holding the powerful weapon, purposefully, ready to cut down his partner, if he needed too. Zangetsu looked into the eyes of Ichigo, and saw beyond what he expected, then nodded his head, seeing his unyielding desire to protect those even at the cost of himself burning brightly within him "I yield, the victory is yours." He proclaimed softly

"**Heh. Well, it was definitely fun while it lasted. I'll be seein' ya round king."** The specter said as he started to fade **"Because I finally think you're ready to see your true potential."**

With the third party gone, Zangetsu looked at Ichigo fiercely measuring him up. Picking up his hand, he lightly grabbed the sides of the weapon with his thumb and index finger, moving it away from his neck, and brought it to his side, as he did this the man's coat started to break apart and wane over towards Ichigo's persons.

"You have grown strong Ichigo. Stronger than I thought imaginable." He uttered as his particles began to flow towards his Hakama and reshape it "But you must not allow yourself to stay complacent with your abilities."  The clothes morphed until it resembled the strange black Gi that the spirit himself always wore "You must keep moving forward. You must walk without fear into the grave unknown." The blade itself turned entirely black, the red diamonds becoming much stronger in color with the new back ground, while a black coat started to billow behind the man, it's red lining clearly visible against the wind the spiritual pressure was creating "If you stand still you will age, if you hesitate you will die. Ichigo! If you desire me to fight alongside you awaken my power!" The man yelled as he completely vanished into Ichigo's mind scape leaving the man alone with his weapon and new found power

The man closed his eyes as he felt his spiritual pressure raging inside his body, and it felt incredible, like he could take on every single captain of the Seireitei and come out on top. "Open the path, Zangetsu (Cutting moon)." He stated the release command of his Zanpaktou that he had only ever had to utter once, while he shifted his arm slightly bringing the miniature sword around "Now hear me: Bankai. Tensa (Heavenly chain)." The man opened his eyes as black energy wrapped around his sword "Zangetsu (Slaying moon)!"

Whipping his blade around a huge black wave of energy fired of the weaponry and slammed against the Seki Seki wall. As it dissipated leaving a indentation inward in the once nigh-impossible to destroy rock, Ichigo felt himself go light headed before collapse upon himself. Just as he was about to hit the ground someone or something caught him, and he only heard a soothing feminine voice saying 'he'd be ok', before blacking out.

[Sometime later] (afternoon)

Dpp…

A noise registered within Ichigo's weary mind

Dpp…

The noise rang again much louder

Dppp, swwshh…

The man heard much more clearly. He opened his eyes to find his arms lying stretched out in front of him, and his body hunched forward. That's when he heard the sound of the dripping noise, and something falling and clatter against some kind of liquid surface, then he felt something soft touch his bare back and go reaching down until he stopped feeling it below a certain level. "uggh…" he groaned as he started to feel something hot at about waist height.

"Oh good, you're awake!" a voice behind him called cheerfully, then he found something extremely soft pressed against him while a pair of arms wrapped around his body pulling him into a hug. "I'm glad these hot springs work like Yoruichi-san said they would." Ichigo then felt a small peck on his cheek from most definitely the lips of a woman.

Feeling his energy return to him, Ichigo pushed himself up. Briefly touching his healed chest and stopping to breath before turning around to see a wet, naked, hair loosened Senna smiling back at him. Standing completely unashamed in her nudity with a yellow sponge in her hand, pressed slightly against her C cup breasts.

Ichigo's eyes twitched slightly at seeing the naked woman "w-w-w-w-w-wh-wha-" he just couldn't utter the words he was trying to formulate in his mind

Senna seeing the action smiled sweetly even if she was blushing up a storm on the inside _'I can't believe he's look at me, naked.'_

"I-I'm happy to see that you're ok, Ichigo-kun." She uttered doing her best to strut past her nervousness

"Wha-what the hell! SENNA!" he all but yelled, as he tried to turn around to leave, but was quickly restrained by the woman, her firm mounds once again pressing against the back of Ichigo

"Please stop, your wounds will reopen. Please listen to me!" she pleaded not wanting him to end up hurting himself again

The blushing strawberry seeing her point stopped thrashing, allowing Senna to release him, but kept the annoyance clear in his tone "What the heck are you doing in here with me? What the hell was everyone else doing!"

Senna sheepishly scratched her cheek "Weell, what they said was…

(Mental flash back)

"I was gonna do it, but Senna was opposed to it for some reason. Shame really, I could have had some fun with that." Yoruichi mused with a finger to her chin "Hmm, maybe that was the reason."

"Bzzt, ah-uh, wrong answer. You're a guy, I'm a guy. I don't do that kinda thing buddy!" Renji yelled with his arms crossed in an X above his chest

"I would have, but I was too injured from earlier training, I couldn't lift you. I hope you forgive me Kohai." Shinjiro explained with an apologetic bow

"HAHAHA! That's practically brother-sister incest. Do you know how popular that is in some parts of the world? I'm not gonna deprive myself of a cash cow, you seem to be turning yourself into, my dear girl" a smiling Urahara said with his trademark fan opened up

(Mental flash back end)

"…and I was the only one who could lift the blade; because, our energies are so close to one another." She briefly summarized finishing the impromptu recount

Ichigo looked absolutely impassive after Senna finished, and then face palmed "So aside from Shinjiro, and maybe Renji. The others didn't have an excuse, why am I not surprised?" He removed the hand from his face and let it fall into the water "Well, thanks, I guess. It's appreciated." He then splashed some water on his face, rubbing the heated liquid against his features to wash away the dirt and sweat build up. As he brought his hands back down he saw the blushing woman across from him smiling sheepishly as she leaned back against the pond's rocky wall "What are you so happy about?"

The purple haired teenager adjusted herself bringing her knees close to her chest, which was now hidden underneath the waves, and behind her smooth skin "Well…it's just…this is the first time. I've ever been naked around another guy besides dad. It's a new experience." _'One I'm glad to have with you!'_

Ichigo frowned just a little bit "If it bothers you so much. I can leave."

"No, no." Senna replied back quickly standing up enough where her upper body was exposed again, making Ichigo divert his eyes to the side "Please. I…I want to have this experience, with you of all people."

"What do you mean by that?" Ichigo said with a noticeable edge in his tone

The Miko easily picked up on it and spoke mostly a true statement "Well, I was the only one who could help you, and I know for a fact that you won't think of me too badly, if you were to see me."

'_**Hell no I won't! I think you're a Grade A woman! Hey king I know your dating "Kuno-sexy-san" so I'm calling the "Sultry Sister"! Hehehe!'**_

'_Shut up.'_ Ichigo dead panned "I'm flattered that you can trust me," he said adding a quiet "I guess" at the end

The words made the woman's heart beat faster and she gave him a bright innocent smile "Thanks." She took a step forward only to trip, because of a unseen pot hole at the bottom. His instincts kicking in, Ichigo leaned forward with his arm spread out to catch her, knowing if he moved she might hit her head against the hard rocks and give herself a concussion or worse.

The sound of water splashed loudly back and forth as the beautiful naked woman landed upon the man who had one of his arms on her breast while the other was wrapped around her back, the woman's body was mostly pressed against the orange haired teenagers chest. Her legs were cut out from under her completely, while his were spread out entirely. Both people were looking directly into the face of the other, both blushing considerably, though for entirely different reasons each.

Senna tried to move down and away when she stopped mid way through having felt something really hard brush up against a certain spot between her legs, making croon her head downward and close her eyes tighter to hold back the stimulating sensation that the dark side of her was telling her to keep going and embrace. "Uhh, sorry about that," she apologized spazzing out from the sudden intimacy she perceived from the moment, "…must..musta been a rock. I'll move it." her hand then quickly went underwater and when she tried to move the 'rock', Ichigo winced and groaned slightly

"I don't think that's a rock Senna." The man painstakingly replied back making the girl freeze in her actions, while going completely red in the face now knowing what she touched. The girl gulped slightly as she looked at Ichigo and she opened her mouth just enough to take the shape of an o.

But a loud clicking noise soon caught the both of the people's attention, and they looked back to see Kisuke Urahara with a camera that spat out a very interesting picture of the two of them in that compromising pose. He then looked at them with a winning smile knowing he now had an entire market to cater to "Oh, no. Don't stop on my account just keep going." He egged on turning the camera slightly to get a land scape shot.

Senna quickly erupted in anger with having the mood ruined, right when she was going to kiss him and confess her feeling. Faster than light Senna jumped out of the water and ran after the man, who immediately turned around once things got sour; Ichigo remained in his position for a few seconds as the sound started to get further away, right when he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a humiliated Senna returned grabbed her clothing and staff, and then flash stepped off again no doubt to continue the chase better equipped.

Waiting just a little longer till he was certain she wouldn't come back, he allowed himself to let out that held sigh of relief "(sigh). That's was crazy, I'm never gonna pass out again. Man…I hope that never gets brought up, Shaolin would be heartbroken…well or she'd kill me…one of the two." He closed his eyes and leaned back to try to relax, though he did think a cold shower was in order.

(Tosen and Sajin)

Following the noise of blood splattering, cries of horrified agony, and chilling laughter, they came to their target who was swinging his sword madly into another unfortunate soul. The man's division was fighting all over the place attacking and killing whoever entered their sight.

"Are you him!" the battle consumed giant asked as he swung his sword cleaving the skull of another Shinigami in half "Guess not." He then lunged to the next one "How about you?" when this victim was impaled, the man kicked the weak piece of crap off his weapon "Which one of you is this fucking Kurosaki kid! I'm getting bored here without a decent challenge!" he yelled out over the loud sounds of battle

Turning around after kicking some nameless Shinigami in the crotch, Yachiru yelled out to her adoptive father "Ken-chan, look Bucket-chan and Visor-chan are on the roof!" pointing towards the two captains who took above the battlefield

Turning around, the demon of Zaraki district looked predatorily to his newest challengers, his sword being brought up to rest on his shoulders "Well, would you look at that! To what do I owe the pleasure of the crippled justice-faggot and his large toilet bowl headed companion? I didn't miss another meeting did I? Hahaha!"

Tosen scowled as he stepped forward "You crazed insolent beast, how dare you cut down your fellow allies!"

Zaraki lifted his head back and laughed even harder "What are you talking about? I'm looking for the traitors." He turned and then impaled someone else on his sword, then looked back smugly "See he would have said 'Stop Zaraki-Taicho, I'm innocent'. I'm just doing my duty as a Taicho!" Zaraki then pushed the man off his sword and looked back at the two men "In fact you guys might be traitors too."

"You try and cover up your actions with thinly veiled lies. Deplorable." Sajin snarled, disgusted by the way this man was killing Shinigami left and right for little more than his own amusement

"Thinly veiled Lies?" Kenpachi repeated with no small amount of contempt at the insulation "I'm calling it as I see it. I honestly don't even know who the hell the bad guy here is, so I'm just doing what I do best." The man spiritual pressure flared considerably as he charged forward at them "Destroying everything!"

The two captain's jumped away as the mad beast crashed through the wall, going elsewhere to fight these opponents who were much stronger than the fodder he'd been swathing through for the past while. Just maybe he thought it might lead him to Ichigo.

Yachiru seeing Kenny go off turned to Yumichika "Peacock-chan, you watch over baldy while I got chase down Ken-chan. He's gonna get in a fight and I need to cheer him on!" she said bubbly ready to sit down and watch the man go at it attentively

'Peacock-chan' tilted his head in consideration, narrowly dodging a wayward sword strike "Hmmm, that does sound interesting, and I'd hate to miss out on watching our Captain fight elegantly, but I have my hands full. So be sure to cheer him on for the both of us!"

"Ok, bye-bye!" she yelled back waving her hand behind her before darting off at incredible speed

"What an energetic girl." He mused to himself as he automatically brought his hand back around to block a sword strike. He then turned back to his opponent "Ohh, right. I had forgotten about you ugly swine. Shame, why couldn't you have stayed out of my mind for a little longer?" The fifth seat shook his head disappointedly and then pushed the man back "I guess we'll pick back up where we left off. You said something about an execution, right?" he asked resuming the fight against the ax men

(evening: Gin Ichimaru)

The perpetual smiling Captain of squad three was slinking through the corridors of Seireitei. He had just recently went to go visit Byakuya-chan, who was watching over the penance tower. After a short proving that he was in fact not there to pull a rescue attempt, like had happened yesterday to two…pathetic souls, he engaged in some small witty banter with the cold captain. Lofting praises off how he was able to keep a cool head despite his sister's imminent death, and going further on to say that if the nobleman ever needed a word of friendly advice he was only a butterfly away, to even further show his good will, he promised to accompany the man, noting that with two captain's it would scare off any would be 'saviors', even pointing out that whenever he was around Rukia didn't seem quite so talkative, so it helped with remaining unnoticed. It was a win-win for sure.

The man allowed himself to chuckle oh so lightly as he walked through the tormented Seireitei around him, the sheer confusion, the routing out of the weak, the fight for survival, was a melodious orchestra to his fine tuned ears, all thanks to him and his fellow allies to Mr. Godhood himself. As he kept walking forward, one leg at a time, he stopped and snickered "You shouldn't follow someone like you do, its pretty creepy." he turned around as his smile grew wider at whom he saw "People might also get the wrong idea about us and start rumors. I, for one, rather appreciate the light people portray me in, don't you agree Toshiro-kun?"

The white haired boy stepped forward his sandal hitting the ground so hard, that it cracked underneath the spiritual power that was fluctuating around the boy "I've been looking for you for quite some time, Ichimaru." His face morphed into a fierce scowl "Or should I say traitor? You've certainly been playing everyone for a fool so far."

Now, Ichimaru turned fully, his smile growing just a fraction wider, yes he was clearly enjoying the attention he was receiving "Me? A traitor?" he said curving his index and forefinger at himself, with a curious tone "That's a bold claim." He then shrugged and spoke a little higher "But if that's the case kid genius, then tell me, why are you still alive? If I was a traitor, like you insinuate, I would have used Kamishini no yari to put a hole in your heart a long time ago." The silver haired man put a hand over his mouth "In fact maybe you are a traitor. I've been doing a little looking into this business myself, and I've got plenty of information that points to you."

"Really!" The white haired captain snarled sarcastically, doing his best to not laugh "I would just LOVE to see this information, you so boldly tot around!"

"Hmmm, nope! Can't trust ya, you might just ice it up and destroy it." the man said smoothly, turning back around to get ready for the next part of the plan "Tata." He waved off

Toshiro immediately flared his spiritual pressure "You're not going anywhere, Ichimaru." As he jumped into the air and attempted to cleave the man in half, only for Ichimaru to calmly block it, and push the man away.

Ichimaru's grinning face turned to a neutral look as he tilted his head and pointed in Toshiro's direction "I think I should, she seem to be a bit irritated, and I don't want to be around when she snaps."

Using his sixth sense, since he wasn't trusting of taking his eyes off the guilty traitor, he did sense someone behind him. Not wanting to risk being caught by something that might be worse than Gin, he wiped around to see the vacant face of Momo Hinamori

"M-momo?" he questioned startled not expecting her to be here when she should be back in squad two detainment block "You shouldn't be running around! You-

The friendly reunion was apparently lived only on Toshiro's side as his friend pulled out her sword and pointed it at Toshiro "I'm sorry Toshiro. But I can't let you kill Ichimaru-Taicho, he and Captain Aizen are going to bring down your and your masters rebellion."

"What!" Toshiro snapped reeling from the words she was uttering "Aizen's dead. Momo, we…all saw him…" his voice faltered, not wanting to bring up the painful memory to the girl who loved the man for his outstanding kindness and dedication

"You're wrong." She shot back getting the white haired boy attention "Aizen came and set me free yesterday from the cell I was forced into. He told me everything. He told me you were the one who framed, Ichigo Kurosaki. You were jealous of the fact he had the power to become a Taicho, and would replace you as the title of genius." Momo closed her eyes and spoke softly "I…I couldn't believe it at first, but I know that Aizen-Taicho would never lie to me. He then took me back to his office and showed me all his documented proof. He admitted at first he thought it was Gin Ichimaru because of his odd behavior, so he confronted the man and forced him to admit the truth. Ichimaru told Aizen that he was investigating it himself and showed him all the proof he had. When combined both of their findings pointed to another suspect: you."

"That's insane! Your being lied too, can't you see it!" he yelled ready to go Bankai and tear this place apart, knowing that Ichimaru must have screwed with her in some way, maybe drug her to where she saw Aizen instead of Gin

"Captain Aizen said you'd say that." Momo frowned and let her sword's point touch the wooden floor "Back when that red crystal was first discovered, you were there along with the others. Ichimaru claimed to have received this letter from Rangiku who also suspected you of acting weird, why don't you read it?" with her free hand she pulled out a small envelope

Letting his guard down he picked up the letter and in a rapid haste started scanning it like his life depended on it. He looked at the date and time finding it to be about two days after the incident, the hand writing itself, was undoubtedly Ichigo's. He read over the document, reading how it thanked him for the save at the hot springs, and telling him how the crystal was impeding them from calling for help, but also asking why the cold treatment after the battle was over and wondering if he did anything wrong?

"Still not convinced? How about these?" she then threw at his feet a photograph of the squad two member that had visited him, delivering his requested documentation and who shared that story about being attacked by Ichimaru "Ichimaru followed this girl, after she attacked him, and noticed the interactions between you both. He came to the conclusion that you had someone who was in the Onimitsukido give you information on the layout of Soul Society so that the enemy could invade."

"That's not true!" Toshiro yelled at her "That second division member delivered only the asked documentation of Ichigo's mission report during his time at squad two. I requested it to see if he had an interaction with squad thirteen's Rukia Kuchiki."

"You can't lie to me. Aizen took me to your office, he used his Zanpaktou to make Rangiku go with Shuhei and Kira to find out what you were doing, while we went inside and found a battle plan detailing everything that's happening right now. In. YOUR. Desk. Drawer." She then re-raised her sword and stared at her clearly shocked, and in her eyes, guilty friend. "The final nail was when both Aizen-san and Ichimaru-san noticed you over heard their conversation, so they decided to lead you into a trap. They had to know how you would react, which Ichimaru reported was definitely an anomaly in that. You let yourself become personally involved and abused your power, the first signs of tyranny. Which made them both put together that you were insecure of anyone who could challenge you, but they both came to the conclusion, you're just another pawn being used by someone else."

"That doesn't make any sense! I've been trying to prove Ichigo has been innocent this entire time! You know that!"

"You have but then, after looking at it from another perspective, it's just an empty gesture in the end. Of course there would be no hard proof to make your claims reality. You just did it to maintain the persona you had always shone, particularly in front of Rangiku-chan, since she would have thought something wrong with a sudden cold turn of denial by association."

"You can't seriously believe that, can you Momo!"

"I…honestly don't want to believe. I just find out my best and oldest friend is really a traitor, my Taicho is still alive and had to trick us to find the truth. I can't trust anyone just yet, but Captain told me, that I can't let Ichimaru die. He's the only one who has the ability to find the truth and save Soul Society. So I'll fight even you to save this place."

Now it made sense to Toshiro Hitsugaya. Gin must have grave robbed Aizen of his Zanpaktou, as he clearly remembered in the demonstration that it allowed him to use water fragments to confuse opponents, also taking into consideration that a Zanpaktou could be used after someone's death provided the weapon accepted the person, since it was entirely possible for two people to command the same spirit. Ichimaru could very well be alike to Aizen, but this brought a strange splitting point, as to whether Aizen was like Gin, or Gin was like Aizen.

'_Was Gin suspecting something all along and went to investigate, but accidently misread it and came to me or…'_ his eyes hardened '_Is Aizen-Taicho more than meets the eye?'_ Taking a split second to glance over his shoulder he found the poisonous viper long gone, no doubt using the distraction caused by Momo to get away, he turned back around only to see the cold hate in Momo's eyes apparently she didn't seem to register the fact that she was being used or that Gin was no longer there.

"Momo stand down! I know how this looks, but I know for a fact that Gin-"

"Snap, Tobiume!" she cried not listening to another sentence of her ex-friend. As the katana morphed into its tri-pronged attack mode, Toshiro quickly pulled his sword around to counter the woman's attack

"Momo, you need to stop!" he yelled as he blocked another attack from the girl "Look, Ichimaru isn't even here, he's just using you."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Hinamori cried as she clutched her head "All these voices in my head. I don't want to hear them anymore." She then looked at the perturbed captain and launched a large fire ball at him

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyorinmaru!" Toshiro released the ice dragon swirled around him intercepting the incoming attack _'Voices? What did that bastard do to her!'_

The white haired captain didn't have much chance to continue the thought as the woman started to send a barrage of fire balls at him. Not seeing much else to do, Histuguaya cloaked his body with Hyorinmaru to endure the attack, then flung it around freezing the ground below her to keep her in place, and weaken her to where she couldn't resist his spiritual force.

The bun haired woman saw what was coming and jumped into the air to avoid the attack, high enough to avoid the upward grasp of it. She was wrong though to believe she was safe, as Toshiro used his long chain to wrap around her foot and bring her back down to him.

Momo crashed to the ground on one leg, but quickly snapped the metallic whip with her weapon, and then charged at the cold captain, who remained steady awaiting her attack so he could effectively stop her safely and pursue Ichimaru.

Toshiro's ice cold blade once again stopped Hinamori's wooden saber, the delusional and manipulated girl trying with all her strength to kill her friend. The girl's face continued to glaze over in anger as she put more effort into her task.

_Squelch_

The sound of weapon piercing flesh made both of them look to see who was struck. Hitsugaya's chilly turquoise eyes saw that their blades were still in a dead lock, he then felt something touching against his Hakama, looking down he saw a blade protruding just in front of him and going through the body of Hinamori. "Momo!" he yelled looking back to the girl who spat out some blood as she slumped forward her strength fading. Hitsugaya caught the girl and watched as the blade retreated back into the distance, far beyond his line of sight. "Damn you Gin." He cursed since he was the only one he could think of that had a Zanpakatou of such length.

"Ai..zen…tos..hiro…" the girl croaked out, while her body started to shake, feeling incredibly cold

Hitsugaya sheathed his weapon and scooped the girl up in his arms "You did the one thing I told you not to Ichimaru." He said with a deathly chill "Next time I see you, I'm going to leave you trapped in an eternal ice age!" he then departed to get her some much needed medical attention.

(Gin)

As he retracted his Bankai, verily impressed that he could hit someone from over five kilometers away without looking, he moved towards the central 46 to hide out and lay low, until he would show up tomorrow, since Toshiro would either be hurt and die if he attacked him, or would be ok but still unable to attack him since to do that would get him killed for treason. Aizen had already worked out the plan, and would be sure to get out of dodge once the Hogyoku was safely in their grasp, as he already had a legion of followers that just needed to cross the barrier and give him the army needed to clear the path to his dream.

The smiling snake continued his steady gait "The weather is certainly lovely this time of year…" he mused to himself, his smile growing wider and wider to the point where it looked like he could swallow someone's soul "has that certain feel of…change in it."

(Kenpachi)

With another slash with his sword the captain of squad eleven dead locked with the now revealed animal face of Komamura. Zaraki smirked at the strength the dog-man possessed even after the various cuts on him.

Komamura was equally impressed in that the demon of Zaraki district was not only able to force Tosen to retreat from his wounds, but also keep up with him, and he hadn't so much as taken off his eye patch yet. "Come on, you can do better than that right, dog breath!"

"Silence, wretch." The large wolf answered back as he pushed the excited man sending blasting through one of the nearby walls. He wouldn't get a breather however as the scarred man just came back through the wall, making another entry point.

The dog man jumped back landing on the roof top a ways back. He gritted his teeth as he weighed his options in his mind, and seemed to come to little choice but to use his Bankai. He raised his sword to perform the art when his nose detected the scent of more people coming towards him all of them mixed with the smell of blood and Kenpachi's own foul odor. _'Damn. It seems I am too late to assist those troops. I have no choice but to retreat.'_ He begrudgingly admitted since his Bankai while powerful left him open to multiple attackers, and given that all of the Zaraki Squad were powerful fighters, it would be suicide which would deprive Soul Society a much needed Taicho.

"This is far from over Zaraki!" the wolf howled as it disappeared in a flash step, executing a tactical retreat to lick his wounds.

"What! Wait hold the-" he yelled at the cowardly Taicho "Damn it!" he cursed as the man had vacated, leaving the thrill seeking captain into a huge let down state of being. The man tsked as he brought his sword around to rest on his shoulder since there was nothing else he could do. He turned around, and saw the forms of Yachiru, Yumichika and Ikkaku along with a few other men running towards him.

"Booooo, Bucket-chan's ran away too!" Yachiru loudly disapproved as she started to climb the back of her captain to her number one perch

"It not like it's my fault!" Kenny said angrily, as he looked over his shoulder "The first one couldn't take more than a couple of hits, and the stronger one just punked out a second ago, it's friggin maddening!"

"Haha! Well then I think I've got some good news for you, Taicho!" Yumichika said in a swooning sing-song voice

"Oh really?" Zaraki said with an interested sharkish grin, knowing that the weirdo number five only seemed to have hearts in his eyes like this when it was something worth cheering about.

(Soifon)

As Soifon sat at her desk meditating mentally preparing herself for tomorrow, a soft knock brought her attention to her wooden office door. "It's open." The woman said opening one of her eyes while remaining in her spot

The door opened up revealing a neutral looking Subaru "Shaolin, I just came to let you know that I'm heading out." The woman half-lied with her hand still on the door knob

'_Alright, now maybe I can see what's got you so worried.'_ The Captain nodded "Very well. I will try to be along later, Subaru-chan. Stay safe." She said as she re-closed her eye, feigning going back to meditation. As she heard the door creak to a close, the Onimitsukido master opened both her eyes intently and killed all her senses with the exception of her sixth, keeping her mind focused intently on Subaru's signature. Easily knowing the layout of her fortress, she grabbed her things when she saw the woman's spiritual pressure head down to the west towards the training field.

The captain, upon exiting the room, killed her spiritual pressure to the point where she blended in with the background around her, for anyone trying to sense her. Using her expert stealth skills and control on her power, she proceeded to tail Subaru staying far out of sight of the spy, who was unaware that she was being followed. The spy walked to the far end of the training ground and went down the dirt path. _'Just where is she going?'_ Shaolin asked herself as she continued following her, since she originally hoped that maybe she might catch the woman in a moment of disturbed doubt and show up, pretending to be passing through, and get her to talk about it. Now she wasn't so certain that her plan was going to go like she had intended.

Though she was most unwilling to turn a blind eye, since she didn't want to worry that Subaru might get attacked especially in her funk. She continued following her further into the forest, the buildings and tile grounds being rapidly replaced by green trees and patches of shrubbery. The Onimitsukido master continued to follow her spy being mindful of where she stepped, as a single wrong crunching of grass or snapping of a twig would set off the third seat's evasion instincts, and she would be unable to find out where the heck she was going.

For the next twenty minutes, Subaru kept walking and then suddenly making sharp turns and zigzagging in another direction, then walking a few more minutes before making another ninety degree turn and going somewhere else. She kept repeating the action over and over, and Shaolin was starting to wonder if Subaru had actually gone out for a walk to clear her head or was completely lost.

Shaolin now much closer, but hiding out of sight because of a tree, was debating on whether or not to leave, when her patience was rewarded, as Subaru stopped walking and then quickly looked around her, checking to see if anyone was following her, and then turned to the right and started running briskly. The captain waited a moment and then silently ran off in the direction as well. She kept moving her spiritual focus still on Subaru when suddenly Subaru's spiritual pressure disappeared entirely.

'_What the? She's gone.'_ captain Soifon concluded as she came to a halt, looking around in her immediate vicinity she saw nothing but trees in every direction. She kept looking around until she decided to try and follow her spiritual trail before it suddenly cut off, raising her reishi output just a fraction she closed her eyes and called up a bunch of spirit ribbons and grabbed the one that had her sister's spiritual signature.

With her newfound guide the woman picked up the path and continued until she came to an easily miss able cave, that even she didn't know of _'What's she doing here? And why has she never told me about this place?'_ the captain wondered as she released the spirit ribbon and placed her hand at the entrance of the cave mouth. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she entered into the dimly lit entranceway and followed the linear but snaking tunnel until she came to a giant well lit cavern.

The woman looked around and spied some rocks that she could use for cover. Crouching down she stalked her way, and once she was close to it quickly turned her back to it to sidle. She stopped for a second to catch her breath, and listen in for the sound of anyone approaching. When she heard no footsteps, the Chinese spy slid to the edge of the rock, allowing just half her face to be exposed while she looked past it.

Down past some rock formation she saw Subaru conversing with a taller woman with purple hair, a red ribbon and a bigger –in comparison to her and Subaru- bust. Soifon gripped the rock harder when she saw a large golden Shakujo in her hand. _'That's the woman Jidanbo mentioned. The one with Ichigo back at the gate!'_ she moved her gaze back to her third seat _'How do you know her?'_ she asked herself, then it hit her.

All the avoidance of contact, all the feelings of melancholy and guilt, that widening of the distance between them in so short a time, the constant lack of communication; it was all because she felt the guilt of betraying her, that every moment beside her was a constant reminder of what she was doing behind her back. The captain pulled herself back behind the rock, and let out a tired exhalation "That explains it. (Pfff) I wonder how long this has been going on, days maybe? Guess I can't be surprised she'd hide this, what with my initial infuriation at Ichigo and my history with traitors and backstabbers."

The woman got back up on her feet and slid back around again, this time her eyes widened considerably and her heart nearly stopped. Standing next to the initial traitor who always made her blood boil, Kisuke Urahara, was a dark ebony colored woman pulling at the collar of her orange sweater and wearing black pants, adorned with tennis shoes of some making she couldn't discern, was _her_. The goddess of flash. Her Mistress and teacher. Her Yoruichi-sama.

Unable to control her surprise the captain's spiritual pressure rose just an inch, but that was all it took. "Hey did you feel that Subaru-chan?" the lighter skin toned purple haired girl asked Shaolin's surrogate sister, looking over in Shaolin's vicinity, the compromised spy able to hear them despite the distance.

"Stop calling me that!" an irate Subaru grunted correctively, not happy at being called that by anyone she hardly knew "It's Subaru-san, Kujo-san or Subaru-kun. Not Subaru-chan or Subaru with no honorific." She shot back angrily before calming herself and looking in the direction Senna was "But to answer your question, yes I did feel that. I couldn't tell who or what it was because of the Seki Seki rock though."

"Let's check it out." The first woman said "Better safe than sorry."

As Shaolin's ears heard the approaching step of the two women coming closer, she cursed as she was stuck where she was behind the rock. She couldn't try and sneak to another hiding spot on account that there was only open air for two or so feet around her, before another rock. So since the two women were looking her way they'd see her crossing, which also tossed out the option of using her throwing knives and tossing it somewhere else to distract. Her option of flash step would also be nothing more than a proclamation of 'I'm here! Just kill me now'.

"Shiiit." She mumbled to herself as she brought her head back to rest against the rock. Hoping that something distracted them, they didn't find her, or they gave up. Though as they continued approaching, her luck didn't seem to be holding up '_I could always surrender, but can I take my chances with Yoruichi and Kisuke? They could be manipulating Subaru for all I know.'_ she then twisted her frown to one side considering things harder _'But that wouldn't make sense since the staff girl is with Ichigo. So either they're with Ichigo or that woman betrayed him to work for another organization.'_

As the duo came closer Shaolin closed her eyes and clenched her fists, mentally gambling she could try to knock out the two and get out before Yoruichi could catch her, but they'd need to be just a little closer. The noise of footsteps suddenly stopped from her position just a few meters away

"Huh? What are you guys looking at me for?" a rough and cocky male voice said in a questioning manner, clearly not expecting the two girls to be looking for him

"(Sigh) It's just Abarai-san we sensed." Subaru confirmed sounding relieved that it wasn't a dangerous enemy, while Shaolin was ready to thank her lucky stars. "I must say Senna-sama, your sensory skills are impeccable. When did you find the time to hone it?"

"Mirokumaru taught me something dangerous. So I spent a while learning how to get precise amounts of spiritual power, before she taught it to me. It was hard, but I managed to do it, though it has to be pretty close to where I am." Pause "I hope one day to be able to do it from the skies above Karakura or Seireitei, I'm sure it'd be helpful."

"Indeed."

"So did you guys want something?" the voice of Renji asked in a brash manner

"Oh, nothing." Pause "Oh hey it looks like Yoruichi-sensei and Ass hat-" at this Shaolin smirked deviously from her spot, liking the girl already, and looking forward to maybe being able to work alongside her against 'Ass-hat Urahara' "-are calling us. We better go find out what they want."

As the collective sound of their footsteps began to fade with distance, Shaolin peeked out from her spot, seeing Yoruichi and Kisuke by a table near a series of rock formations by pools of water, she looked around and found a path covered in a plethora of rocks which she knew with her expert ability and now not having any more surprises, would be able to find out what the other people were being called to together for.

Waiting three seconds she quietly zipped to the next rock, and then got down on her stomach and crawled using a large, flat but stool sized rock collection to sneak on. Once behind a larger rock she peered out and saw Shinjiro now who quickly embraced Subaru in a hug, more than likely elated to see her unharmed. _'Even Shinjiro is in on this? Now, I am worried.'_ Turning away, she jumped down into the nearby trench, that from the looks of it was not natural of any kind, and ran all the way to the end. Then she climbed up the stone wall out of the rocky gutter which put her only a small ways off from the steamy ponds, which she now recognized on closer inspection to be hot springs of some kind.

Edging closer to one of the ponds, and the area where the meeting was taking place, Shaolin crouched down and pressed her body against one of the larger rocks not too far from the trench to listen in.

"All right, looks like everyone's here." The annoying, to her ears, voice of Kisuke Urahara chirped "It's about time I unveil the last part of our plan. As I've heard from Yo-chan the execution is gonna be tomorrow. I had to throw a real curve ball at our enemy." A small crisping sound of paper was then heard by the Taicho "This here is the Sokyoku grounds. Considering who were dealing with, I'm sure the enemy is going to be heavily focused on the center area right here. What their current strength is, is uncertain. Since, we've all had various different exploits done different amounts of damage."

"If I may," spoke Subaru deciding to thrown in some needed bad news "I think you should all know two things: the first is that the exact time for the execution is to be at noon tomorrow, and the second is that a pre-emptive rescue will be impossible to mount because Byakuya Kuchiki is more than likely going to be at the penance tower along with any of his forces. Hanataro-kun and Ganju-san managed to break in to save her but…it…ended in failure."

Shaolin felt the rock she was pressed against shake violently from an impact of some kind, followed quickly by the cursing of 'damn it' by a familiar voice.

"I…see." The voice of Kisuke said deflated "Well, it was bound to happen. We all knew the risks, even Uryu, who apparently also couldn't join us." He said with audible disappointment mixed with worry

Shaolin turned her head to look over the ponds, practically feeling the somber mood of the 'traitors'. Allowing herself to think about what they were actually feeling, but remaining engaged enough to still pay attention.

"We need to make do with what we can. We owe them that much." The voice of Shinjiro said, even though it sounded bummed from the news.

"You're right. So let's get back to the meeting. (ahem) The majority of the enemy is going to be guarding the main entrance. This stairway is the only constructed path up to the Sokyoku."

"What about it? Knowing that ain't gonna get us up there. More than likely all the divisions are gonna have order to kill anyone who gets even remotely close to the stairs." Renji pointed out

Kisuke nodded affirmatively at the criticism "I know that's why we're going to do this." He placed his hand against the green area on the map "Yoruichi, Subaru, Myself, Senna and Shinjiro are going to go through the forest beside the hill. We'll then break up with Yo-chan and Subaru engaging the squad that was probably placed right around here: keeping them busy. While we attack whoever's over here in separate places sending everyone in a panic." The man then ducked down underneath the table and pulled out what looked like a cape with the Shihouin seal on it. "Yoruichi also brought along the Tentoken. What this little cape is gonna do is fly both Ichigo and Renji up the hill. Where Renji will get off about three-fourths of the way up, while Ichigo picks up Rukia and, using his speed and strength, throw Rukia to Renji who will get her outta there. Knowing who were dealing with, we won't have to worry about a certain pair being anywhere nearby. And with what we're doing, Unohana would be compelled to go treat the wounded, while leaving you alone Ichigo."

"I also spoke with Kyoraku, so he'll probably fully support you in dealing with the old man, so you'll probably only need to deal with Byakuya." Yoruichi said calmly from her spot

"I don't know is this plan really going to work?" said the voice of the unknown girl

"Trust me Senna. It'll work. The thing about this plan is, we need to give our adversary an opening. Sokyoku hill is the spot that has the largest spiritual pressure in all of Seireitei, so if he's to make his escape route it's going to be there. He also won't show up until he believes the time is right, which is about when the battle is in full swing and both sides are wounded. That'll also be the time where we'll be counting on you Renji to be able to hold out."

'_Who are they talking about? Ichimaru?'_

"Once everyone sees him, they'll be able to put it together, and that will nail him. He'll either have to fight all of us and pray he can win, or retreat without the Hogyoku."

"What about his Zanpaktou?" asked Shinjiro "It's Shikai and Bankai abilities, can we defeat him before everybody kills each other?"

"Unfortunately, I can't say. As Hanataro, Ganju and possibly Uryu have demonstrated, death is very real. No matter what scenarios I can think up, there is no guarantee of success, least of all survival. The plan will work in eventually flushing him out just maybe not succeed with us still alive." Kisuke shot back grimly, which made everyone including their eavesdropper think for a moment "We could all go out there and be annihilated before we even get started or we could emerge completely unscathed at day's end. It's not up to me or you. We can only do our best. Whether it's our time to go or not, we'll find out tomorrow." He finished

"Then there's no point in worrying about it." the voice that Shaolin now recognized as Ichigo's "We have to win, as simple as that. We go in, do our thing, and walk out with no regrets." He said almost like it was a command from a general to his soldier

"Heh, you don't have to tell me twice." Renji snorted in a cocky tone

"Wow…that was pretty smooth Ichigo. You looked really cool there." The woman known as Senna replied amicably

"Certainly know how to take command Kohai." Shinjiro commended

"A fine leader indeed. People will need that." Subaru complimented

"Oooh, looks like Mr. Strawberry is stealing your thunder, Kisuke. Better win your troops back over before a mutiny occurs." Yoruichi cooed

"Haha, very funny." He replied dryly before speaking in a puffed out tone "BUT what can I say he certainly learned from the best. He's probably been studying my tapes, taking notes, a true student of the game."

"Whatever it's all natural." Ichigo replied with near feasibly seen rolling of the eyes

'_I see.'_ Shaolin thought to herself, processing the information she heard. She then started to slip backwards to retreat out of the cave before anyone would notice. She backed away slowly, keeping as low to the ground as possible, turning her head back just enough to where she could see the edge of the trench so she could lower herself back down.

Taking another step, her eyes widened in terror, when she felt a rock slip behind her and fall off bouncing off the wall. While it was just a normal cracking noise, to the woman it sounded about as loud as her Bankai being fired at five paces from a wall.

"What was that!" Ichigo yelled as he looked around the rock Shaolin had spent the better part of the conversation hiding behind. The strawberry saw nothing on the flat surface behind him. Turning over fully he jumped on top of the rock to scan the nearby vicinity. While he saw nothing he still had the nagging feeling that something was out there, so he jumped off the rock and started to walk over near the trench he made during his clash for Bankai.

Ichigo pulled out his sword as he came to the edge of the cliff, and looked out over it seeing nothing, his weapon's blade dangling over the edge. Directly underneath him holding her breath was Shaolin. The petite captain was taking small almost inaudible breaths through her nostrils while she clung her back to the Seki Seki wall, watching Zangetsu wave back and forth, it's user no doubt turning his body to scan for her.

Ichigo from his spot turned back around to his audience and made a gesture with his hand for them to carry on. "Guess it was nothing." He said to himself as he returned Zangetsu back to his resting spot.

Shaolin closed her eyes, and waited for the sound of footsteps. She inwardly smiled hearing the joyous noise of feet shuffling going a little further off. Pulling herself off the wall, the woman quietly ran to the end of the trench desperately not wanting to push her luck any further. The woman turned to face the wall and jumped up so her hands clasped the ledge to pull herself up.

"Busted." A voice ominously called from above her making her go wide eye at being caught.

'_Damn it. When he walked off it was to the end of the trench, not back to the group!'_

"Either you come up here, or I'll cut your hands off, whoever you are." The voice of Ichigo said fiercely, placing the steel of Zangetsu against the person's hands to show he was serious.

Silence passed over them, and Ichigo was about to carry out his threat when he heard a small grunt and from the channel emerged one dusty, dirt covered, Shaolin. Moving on autopilot, he kneeled down and gave her a hand up, but kept a firm grip on her arm "What are you doing here? How did you find this place Shaolin?"

The woman sent him a dirty look "I'm almost insulted that you don't bother to ask 'how I've been?'. It's unlike you."

'_Wow, twice in one day.'_ The carrot top rolled his eyes, and helped her to her feet, freeing her arm allowing her to dust herself off "I take it you heard."

"More than enough, but some things are a bit hazy still." She said simply, then sent an even look at Ichigo "So when were you going to mention that you were working alongside, Kisuke-baka and Yoruichi?"

Ichigo grimaced "Possiblllllly never." When he saw the woman furrow her eye brow, his voice dropped a bit "Don't give me that look, you wouldn't have trusted me, hell you barely listened to me when we fought. If I had thrown in a 'oh yeah, the woman you've been hating on for the past half-century is helping me!' probably would've gotten me killed."

Shaolin at least had the decency to look apologetic "Iii…ahhh…(sigh). I concede. You have a point."

"Ichigo, are you coming back anytime soon?" the voice of Senna called out wondering where he was and what was taking him so long

"Yeah, just a minute. I'm double checking to make sure no one's here." He yelled over to them and then looked back at the intruder in front of him "So what now?"

"I have to return back to where my squad is. The only reason I found this place is because I followed Subaru." The spy captain quickly summarized the events leading up to now "I'm on your side, but don't let Yoruichi-san or Subaru-chan know that I know what's going to happen." She then smirked viciously "It'll be more fun that way, when I see them tomorrow."

It was with that statement that Ichigo was able to detect, somewhat of a small change in her "You're calling Yoruichi by her name. What prompted that?"

The captain closed her eyes and folded her arms behind her back "I had a revelation. You see after we parted, I had started to think on, who I was pushing away. I realized that it was all the people who mattered to me. You, Subaru, Shinjiro, Hanataro and others, it was only after seeing that distance that I attempted to reconcile. Which led to an interesting talk with Subaru, she compared herself to Yoruichi, and I snapped saying that 'Yoruichi was nothing but a traitor'." Shaolin opened her eyes and looked out with an impassive frown "That's when I realized that I was indirectly referring to myself as well. For the first time since she had left, I was able to draw a reason for why she left. For years I hated her, unable to comprehend why she would throw away everything for a traitor. The Yoruichi…sama that I had loved and known about all my life was skewed by my spite. I was so caught up in the moment of betrayal, that I had forgotten what she was like. She cared about people, especially that insufferable lazy idiot Urahara, she would walk willing through fire for a friend. So in unbiased retrospect, I really shouldn't have been surprised that Yoruichi had left all things considered." _'I just wish she would have told me why, or let me know she would have been back. I could have lived with that.'_

The once impassive captain looked back at Ichigo with a small look of concern "And that is where I draw the parallel. I'm doing the exact same thing she did over fifty years ago. Both of us had a friend who was accused of being a traitor," the small concerned frown turned upward just a bit as she spoke a little more amused "I also astutely hold unto the belief that she kicked his ass, much as I did yours at the first opportune moment."

"Keep telling yourself that little lady." Ichigo rolled his eyes, and then winced when the smaller woman kicked him in the shin, sending a heated glare at him for his choice of words, which then melted into a kinder smile at reliving the better times

"And both of us decided to do what we believed to be right." She finished

"You told me I was important to you above a lot of things actually. Even above your pride, something you invested quite a bit of your life into, I don't want to see it go to waste because you defected and then I died." Ichigo said quietly clasping the woman's dangling hand "You deserve better."

"Hmph. You misunderstand, little boy." The older woman said with an arrogant smirk on her face now "I don't NEED Soul Society. Soul Society NEEDS me. My pride is to my duty, my duty is to do what is right for Soul Society, and what Soul Society needs to set it right is a certain rebellious teenager. So I'll be vigilant in protecting that teen, everything else is either irrelevant or will figure itself out, with or without my direct involvement."

Ichigo looked at his best friend's face, and smirked when she said it as contently as she did "You're always thinking about duty, pride, and honor. I wonder if you'll ever loosen up. A simple 'I love you and will always protect you' will suffice."

The captain scoffed "I will go on record and say this once and only once. I will never, ever, even at the possible chance of salvation for Soul Society, say that 'I am in love with a traitor and will protect them'." The captain then turned away, holding Ichigo hand a bit harder, averting her eyes with a small dash of pink on her cheeks "Though I do admit to having a soft spot for heroes."

The woman then felt a peck on her cheek and quickly looked back with Ichigo giving a spirited smirk "You really are the cutest girl, I've ever met." He said, while the girl puffed a bit and silently shot down his words. The man then draped his arm around the woman's back and pulled her into an embrace, which the girl returned "I'm glad to see you again. Stay safe, Shaolin."

"I'm very careful. It's you who I can't afford to take eyes off of." She replied back in her usual confident tone. Then she gripped the edges of Hakama tighter, and spoke quieter "So stop making me worry, you big dumb idiot."

The two separated and stared at each other for a moment longer, then both nodded and Soifon retreated back the way she came, while Ichigo headed back to the camp. As he stepped back to the meeting ground he sighed and stretched his arms out trying to play things cool "It was nothing, just some rocks that fell. I went to go check out the entrance to make sure it's still ok for us to leave through."

"Oh, well that's good. I'd hate to be trapped underground for god knows how long." Renji commented not wanting to experience being buried alive first hand, the others thinking the possibility over and each gave their own thanks to Ichigo for looking out for them, which felt like tiny invisible jabs for his lie.

"Alright, everyone rest up we got a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Kisuke claimed clapping his hand to help shoo them off. Ichigo watched the groups disperse, Shinjiro and Subaru going off talking animatedly amongst themselves, Renji rotated his arm to work out the kinks before heading over to the hot springs to chill out, Yoruichi morphed into a cat and jumped unto Kisuke's shoulder as the pair disappeared out of sight, the last member Senna stretched her arms and walked over to Ichigo.

She smiled as casually as she could and grabbed Ichigo's arm dragging him with her "Whoa! Hey! What's up! Will you stop pulling I kinda need my arm!"

"Just a second, I want to make sure no one hears us." The woman said trying to justify her actions, once she was sure everyone was out of earshot, she turned around and looked at Ichigo "I know this is sudden but I want to talk to you about something."

"Sure, but I don't see why you couldn't say it back there Senna."

Senna childishly puffed her cheeks up and started to wave her arms up and down like a kid "Well I was really embarrassed to say it anywhere near ass-hat!" when Ichigo gave a confused look she clarified that she was talking about Kisuke "I ahh…w-wanted to apologize. In retrospect, maybe I should have waited till you woke before dragging you into the water like I did." She felt her face heat up at the memory of the event, and it did kind of excite her despite the embarrassment "And well, I know you like that one girl Shaolin-

Ichigo raised a hand up "It's ok. I forgive you." He then slinked an arm around her and gave her a hug "You were worried about me and thought I was gonna die. It's cool, I would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes." He answered completely missing the point

'_I would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes.'_ She mentally repeated, the word almost making her jump for joy "I'm glad, just really worried is all." The woman then twisted her sandal against the ground and tapped the tips of her index fingers together, fidgeting just a bit "Umm, I was j-just wondering, if ahh if you know w-would you s-sleep with me." She then panicked and spoke much louder "I mean n-not 'sleep with me sleep with me', you know I'm tired, your tired, we can sleep nearby the other an-

She was silenced as Ichigo brought his hand down karate chopping her in the head "You're babbling, and I don't understand you. Take a breath, and tell me again." He commanded his a wry look on his face _'She's really trying to fit into that whole kid sister thing ain't she Hichigo?'_

'_**I'd sleep with her.'**_ the creature commented care freely, when he found himself immediately slammed against a building he looked up to where Ichigo was _**'Hey don't blame me! She's a **__**fine**__** woman, and you don't plan on sharing that sexual urge raging, fine piece of ass, you call a captain, anytime soon. So don't go hating on me, just because I make observations and my boner agrees with them.'**_

'_Note to self, never ask Dark Zangetsu for advice.'_

"Are you even listening?" Senna asked as she saw a glazed over look on Ichigo's face, one that Subaru mentioned she had on occasion. The girl put a hand on her hips and tilted her head curiously "Was your mental chat, so amusing you'd ignore a beautiful woman in front of you making a request?" She asked a seemingly rhetorical question in her mind

"Yes." _**'Hell no!'**_

The female Kurosaki closed her eyes and felt her smile twitch, while she tried to calm down her nerves "I hope you know, I'm going to hit you after this conversation is over. But going back to what I was saying before, I wanted to know if you'd please sleep beside me." The woman opened her eyes and spoke seriously "We could very well die, and I'm a little scared because of it. So I'd like to at least know the feeling of sleeping next to a…wonderful person, before I might die."

'_Wonderful person? Doesn't she mean brother?'_ Ichigo asked himself, not sure if she made a mistake with her wording. He shrugged it's not like he was cheating on Shaolin, Senna had a point they could die tomorrow and she wanted to sleep easy next to her brother. Easy as pie. "Sure, why not."

"Wonderful!" Senna exclaimed cheerfully and quickly grabbed his arm "I found this great spot over here!" she claimed as she led the way for the pair

"Wait! 'Great spot'? Why do you have this all planned out!" Ichigo yelled as he was dragged off by one energetic girl who was doing a bad job at passing herself off for tired.

* * *

Aizen: So it ends. Now hit the review button.

Aizen: Did you do it? Foolish. That was the self destruct button for your house. Quick run outside. When you get there read on.

Aizen: I lied, go back inside. Then read more.

Aizen: Did you feel that breeze just now. I did. Do you know what it was? That was me passing by you and subtly touching the back of your neck before letting the thought of strangling you go. Stop. Try and rationalize it. Think. Am I lying? Or do I speak well. Sleep easy, and I bid you ado. I will be watching you in your sleep tonight. And remember anything is possible when your name is Sosuke Aizen. Look this chapter is at an end. (2)

* * *

Guideposts of numbers.

1. I made it up. I mean Yoruichi didn't get a chance to tell Ichigo what would happen if he didn't finish within the three day period. So I had to think of a horrible fate that seemed plausible.

2. After watching an old spice commercial, I wanted to try one with Aizen given his egotistical nature at times.

* * *

Happy Turkey day from me to everyone out there!

-Blackout2010


	22. infilTraitors: Imperial code

Author's note: This chapter brings the end to Arc 3: Clearing the name arc. I hope you enjoy the final battles. I don't own Bleach that belongs to Tite Kubo. This chapter was greatly influenced by Daisuke Ishiwatari's 'Imperial Code'. Merry Christmas you all. Here's to hoping I finish by next year! (^v^)/

* * *

(OST: Bud light Real men of genius)

Blackout2010: Bleach The Alternate Tale presents: Real people of genius.

Gin: Real people of geeniuuus!

Aizen: Today we salute you (points dramatically). The various people that make up the audience.

Kyoraku: All the various people that make up the audience~!

Yamamoto: It's because of you, that otherwise unsung heroes, not only get there fanfare put on full blast, but played on the loudest speaker...this side of the galaxy.

Yumichika: Better get some crackin' headphones!

Kenpachi: You allow crazed individuals a chance to express themselves, and then give feedback ranging from positive…to downright cynical.

Hichigo: Let me have what the author's smoking!

Byakuya: AU. High school. Time travel and more. Nothing escapes your unquenchable appetites for good quality work; except Mary sues.

Mayuri: I don't believe in Perfection~!

Ukitake: Come rain, sleet or shine. You will always find a place to pop a squat and read some hard core fanfiction. Because that is how you roll.

Isshin: One more chapter before sun up!

Ichigo: So crack open another chapter in your list of Fanfics, you readerous-maniacus type A; because, there's no one, quite like you, out there in the sea called the internet.

Kisuke: All the various people that make up the audience~!

Uryu: Bleach is brought to you by Tite Kubo, while BTAT is written by J.L.O.

(OST: end)

* * *

Infil-traitors: Imperial code!

(Final day: Day five)

The steady marching of feet rang all throughout the execution grounds. Low murmurs and suspicious glances were cast between some of the lower Shinigami soldiers. For them it had been one week through the understory of hell whose dirty roads were paved with uncertainty, betrayal and death. Friends fighting friends, family fighting family, all for the sake of a rebellion that not a single one knew was real or just a mass hysteria. The many men and women looked to their Taicho and Fuku-taicho's seeking some kind of guidance, but all were met with the same distant stare, which was filled with nights of contemplation and days searching for traitors and answers.

"Well, well…" a voice piped up as it's owner stopped the escort guard and looked up to the fearsome mountain above him. His compatriot Byakuya Kuchiki stopped as well, his hand holding the crimson tether that reached to their captive's choker "You can certainly feel the electricity in the air. The anticipation of the kill always gets my blood roiling. Though, I still can't believe that were going to have such a grizzly event on a beautiful day, like this. Such a shame." The silver haired man said with a hint of sarcasm

"If you are done with your poetic gawking, Ichimaru-Taicho, I would appreciate to get this plan over with so we can finish the Ryoka." Byakuya commanded despite his inner feelings of disgust, of how easily the man showed his remorselessness especially to his sister.

Not that he was brother-in-law of the year.

The man gave a tug on the woman's cord forcing her to take a step "Let us put this farce to rest."

The barefoot woman in white stumbled forward. Her violet eyes staring demurely at the symbol of six on Byakuya's back, her gaze faltered as she followed silently behind her brother, remaining silent to allow herself to keep pace into the darkness. She remained silent under Ichimaru's chatter, her heart not having the strength to embolden her spirit. Her spirit which was crushed from witnessing the death of innocent people one too many times, she shouldn't be the one who continued taking their lives.

The death squad soon began it's march up to the Sokyoku where justice would finally be served.

(Ichigo and co.)

"All right, ladies and gentlemen welcome to the end of days!" Kisuke said dramatically with his paper fan wiped out like salesman ready to make a killing from his latest cash cow. The man was promptly shut up by Senna diving forward comically, introducing her golden Shakujo into the back of the genius's cranium.

"Don't say it like that, ass-hat!" the woman exclaimed, since the first thing she didn't want to hear in the morning, after such a great night's sleep, was the reminder that they might all die today, even if it was true. For her you had to stay optimistic.

The blond shop owner quickly latched onto Yoruichi's shoulder snuggling his head against her bosom protectively with childishly tears "Yo-chan!" he cried out in a toddler like voice "Did you see that, your ungrateful second student bopped me in the noggin and gave me a booboo. Will you kiss it and make it better?" the man's eyes then sparkled dangerously, and a large grin stretched across his face, as he switched into pervert mode "Or we could do a little more intimate healing, my lovely goddess of flash…"

The man's efforts only got him a hearty laugh from most of the group, a playful kiss from Yoruichi on the impact point, and Senna banging her weapon into another part of his anatomy. Pushing the hair out of his eyes, Ichigo took a minute to glance at all his friends and comrades who were here, embedding their smiling faces or playful antics in his mind. The edge of Ichigo's lips tugged upward invisibly _'We're gonna make it.'_ he silently vowed as he lost his smile and put his serious face on for what lay ahead "Alright guys, let's get this show on the road. Renji, come on let's go."

"Yeah, yeah leader man." The red head grumbled to himself, as they went for the exit and get a kick start on things due to the long flight ahead.

"Shinjiro-san," Senna said as she gained the Yamato swordsman's attention "let's do our best out there!" She fist pumped already set, prepared and ready to go for the mission of fighting to save and rescuing of Rukia.

"Someone's fired up today." The samurai mused calmly ignoring Kisuke's moan of 'What about me?' before turning to his wife and kissing her on the lips, his brown eyes revealing trace amounts of nervousness to her. "I'll be waiting Subaru, so don't do anything too risky." He said as he gave a small reassuring squeeze on her hand

The spy nodded and brought up her face mask "I will. Remember to do your best, Ichigo-sama and Shaolin are counting on us." The woman then looked back when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder, which turned out to be the goddess of flash.

"Come on, we gotta go meet my bumbling little bumblebee." She said cheerily, wondering how she's been and how she was gonna have fun playing with her.

(11:00 Sokyoku hill)

"Geez, not much of a turn out." Marechiyo Omeada complained as he looked at who else was topside with him. From his spot, as the second squad's representative, he saw old man Yamamoto himself standing just below the execution scaffold one hand on his cane Zanpaktou while his other hand stroked his beard gently, a gesture that the representative mistook for senility instead of the man working his mind in an attempt to discern where the enemy was going to be coming in from. Waiting by the top of the stairwell was Nanao and her Taicho, Kyoraku who had said that Kiyone and Sentaro were helping Ukitake up the hill.

The gelatinous man looked back and sighed, "This sucks." He said morosely "Why couldn't I be down there with Soifon-chan and the rest of the squad?" He then found his question immediately answered by his considerable ego "Oh right, grand executions and stuff are usually Taicho only eyes. I guess that means she's ready to step down and make me the new leader," the man then smiled wickedly, as things started to come together in his mind "then we'll have our marriage once the rebellions over and things have settled down a bit, then finally get a little busy in having some kids. Hmmm, maybe four or five rascals, haha yeah that the sign of a good marriage (1)! Yes sir-ree, I got the good life ahead of me." He laughed perversely with his plan now in full swing, he just had to account for two things. One would be his nuisance in-laws Taiga and Kujo, but he was sure he could handle them, given time. The second would be that ever vexing upstart Ichigo. Oh, how he couldn't wait to wring the man's neck and put him in his place permanently before this battle was over. _'Come on, strawberry. Come and let me smoosh you.'_

(Soifon's position in the forest)

"All right, I want everyone to listen up." Soifon commanded, turning back around from various foliage before her to face the collected squad, who were standing on various tree limbs awaiting instructions "As I'm sure you've heard, there has been numerous rumors of dissention as of late." When the men and women nodded some allowing themselves to whisper to their neighbor "I am going to tell you this now, today we put an end to the conflict that is destroying us, that is also why I want you to do exactly as I order when I order it. No questions asked." She turned back around to face the forest "I've seen our ranks, they are considerably thin, I'd gauge we are only about 60% total strength and our enemy has the power that rivals my own. That is why I'm going to appoint one of you, should I become indisposed of, in charge. That person will be acting Taicho until I return. You will follow his or her orders as if I said them myself, am I understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." The Shinigami said in one voice

"Good." She said coldly ending the conversation, as she lifted her head up to the sky. Her eyes closed shut feeling a change in the breeze '_It begins…'_

(Unohana's position ahead of the center)

Retsu Unohana walked through the center of her assembled squad, she had the battle capable of her division divided in two with one half facing towards the Sokyoku and the other in the maze leading up to them, sandwiched between the two was all the expert healers, who would serve as battery to heal anyone injured on either side. The woman ended her walking abruptly to look back at the execution ground "It's almost time." She whispered bitterly

"Taicho! T-Taicho!" the panicked voice of Isane called out to her Taicho, as she ran as fast as she could

"Calm yourself, breath. Now, tell me what is the matter Isane?" the doctor asked concernedly, seeing the panicked expression on her Fuku-taicho's face

The silver haired giant in took some air and spoke in a more rational sounding tone "Approaching from the south is an army of Shinigami! We're under attack!"

Unohana frowned at the thought of having to fight Ichigo, but she would and knew that she must for the sake of the afterlife, even kami forbid fight her beloved sensei "Lead the way." She replied as she headed off to fight the threat to the south.

(Yoruichi and Subaru)

As the stealth pair dashed through the green forest having separated from the other three who moved to the east, the weaker of the two called out to the stronger one "So Shihoin-san, how do you plan on defeating Shaolin?"

"Well Bandit-chan, to answer your question with my own two hands!" she replied with a confident smirk as she jumped from the next branch to the one after, sensing the pessimism she then spoke more seriously "Don't worry. I already know what you'd ask of me, and all I can promise is that I will try not to kill her, but just remember we do need to stop her, before she does too much damage. If push comes to shove she'll fight to the death." The ebony woman then looked back at her pale companion "But then you already know that."

"Yeah…" She said guiltily, not wanting it to come to that since she was doing all of this for her sake, even with her she constant success in undermining her.

"I know it's difficult, but bear with me, ok? If you're ardent in ensuring she stays safe then just do what I say. While I deal with her, you make sure no one leaves to either help her fight or get reinforcements. Last thing we need is for us to get swarmed and when I cut loose to even the odd I take her out by accident. So stay focused and be prepared for a hard fight." The woman commanded as she looked back now seeing quite a bit of the color black, meaning waiting Onimitsukido. 'An open invitation by these guys? This sloppy ambush plan can't really be you doing, right Soifon?'

(Kyoraku)

The rugged captain of squad eight looked on as captain Byakuya Kuchiki and Gin Ichimaru walked the somber prisoner to the scaffold, he had kept an unreadable expression on his face as they passed but once they were gone, he looked back to see Ukitake approaching the stairwell beside him was Kiyone and Sentaro, carrying the device Yoruichi spoke of, the one that had the capability to destroy the Sokyoku. Shunsui made a motion with his hand signaling for them to halt and power the device up, then they'd make a dash for Rukia if the traitor's didn't show up.

(Urahara)

The three warriors moved as quickly as possible through the forest's under grove, they had sensed the spiritual power of the Sokyoku rise with each second "Get ready you two the funs about to start!" the blond manager yelled as he saw the clearing up ahead where they would be fighting it out, or more precisely sabotaging.

The woman of the group looked back to see the large halberd in the center loom before the scaffold in which Rukia was probably being set to be impaled upon 'Don't worry Rukia, we won't let you down.' She thought as she continued to keep pace

(Renji)

"Set me down right there!" the fiery red head yelled to his airborne commander, who glided them unto the stairwell not too far from the summit. The two men looked up as they felt the spiritual pressure above them rise higher "You feel that?" the man asked rhetorically as the pressure began to press lightly against their body for a split second before fading back into its siphoning sequence "It's almost time. I should be up there in no time flat, but you're gonna need to fly around the back to get to Rukia, so you better get moving."

Ichigo merely turned around and grabbed a firmer hold on the Tentoken "Just be sure you're prepared to catch her and run like hell, we're only gonna have a few seconds." He said after a pause

The Fuku-taicho turned to where he was facing the ascending steps "Shinigami aren't allowed to fail. Our success doesn't depend on me catching her." He took a step forward as he started to make his climb up "It depends on you protecting her."

Ichigo watched the man out of his peripheral, a smirk working on his face "Way to take responsibility, Fuku-taicho Abarai." And leapt off the mountain to fly up and save the captive Kuchiki.

(Yamamoto)

"It is time." The ancient Shinigami said as he banged his cane, signifying the start of the execution. With the signal given Byakuya walked with Rukia until both were underneath the scaffold, the man tugged slightly on one end while Gin tugged on the other. The chocker around Rukia's neck came undone, and the woman turned around to face the gathered captains and lieutenants. Ichimaru flash stepped off to go 'join' his division, leaving the brother and sister pair a moment of privacy.

"Lord Brother…" the small woman whispered to her brother, who let his gaze falter to the woman "Please don't look so sad."

The man closed his eyes and turned away "I don't know what you're talking about." He replied somberly "Please make peace with yourself and don't look at me." _'I am unworthy of it…'_

The lady in white nodded sadly "Yes…lord brother."

The tormented sixth Taicho moved away from the condemned as Yamamoto performed a small Bakudo, forcing the woman's arms apart. Two small white cubes sprang from the ground up to the height of the woman's arms while a third one went up to about her kneecap. Rukia took in a small breath of air as she felt her body move upward towards her demise.

"Release the Sokyoku!" the old man commanded after the woman reached the top. The gigantic halberd levitated a few meters off the ground, and the spiritual energy inside of it started to envelop the weapon. The cloud of energy turned a crimson red and soon erupted outward as the weapon changed it's appearance in the large explosion. The large flames contorting into a spherical shape until it started to slowly move outward and two large fiery wings shot away from the body, while a bird's beak became visible from the slow raising of the neck. The gigantic legendary phoenix Zanpaktou opened it's mouth and let out a loud piercing cry as it stood triumphantly over the plateau.

The Sou-taicho looked back towards Rukia with a serious expression and opened his mouth, muttered the words that was on so many people's minds, the mind's of both enemy and friend, the words that signaled the beginning and end of the conflict "Now let the Sokyoku fall!"

The blazing phoenix's eyes slitted as it sighted Rukia, with another roar the beast charged forward intending to incinerate the regretless woman when from the sky a loud yell was heard "GETSUGA TENSHO!"

As the words were uttered, an equal large beam of light seemingly appeared from nowhere and crashed into the bird knocking it backwards. As the creature shook it's head to steady itself, a panicked expression ran unto the face of most of the individuals gathered. As someone or something just attacked and knocked back the single strongest weapon the Soul Society had in its collective arsenal.

"Never thought I'd find myself here," a familiar voice said beside Rukia Kuchiki. The raven haired woman, in disbelief, looked over her shoulder to see the smirking face of Ichigo Kurosaki standing atop the white metal frame looking over the masses. He then turned his gaze on the bound girl "or you, Rukia."

"What are you doing here?" Rukia could only ask in wonder

The shrieking cry of the large flaming bird warranted Ichigo's immediate attention. The man gripped Zangetsu tightly and focused his energy to fire off another beam, when he saw some kind of noose wrap around the bird's neck restraining it. Everyone looked back to see Jushiro Ukitake and Shunsui Kyoraku standing together with some kind of strange contraption, whose extensions were tangled around the Sokyoku.

"What is the meaning of this you two!" Yamamoto declared seeing his two loyal pupil's unexpected act of treachery

"Sorry old man"

"But we need to do this."

The two men placed their blades into the slots sending energy into the ropes which tightened around the flaming bird. The phoenix struggled against it until it slowly disappeared from the sky, leaving the halberd which broke in half. From the stairs Renji Abarai appeared which Ichigo took note of, quickly picking Rukia up much to her protest he jumped off the scaffold, high into the air and cocked his arm back "Here RENJI CATCH!" he yelled as he tossed the woman who was now screaming knowing firsthand how she was gonna be getting down.

The woman let out a blood curdling scream as she soared through the air and crashed into Renji who jumped backward sending him tumbling some ways down the stairs. Ichigo landed in front of the two semi-friendly Taichos, and looked back pleased still sensing Renji's spiritual power. "So what made you two decide to help?"

"Don't get the wrong idea sonny." Kyoraku said as he stepped past Ichigo "We wanted to see what your intentions were, we still haven't quite decided yet what to do with you."

Jushiro stepped forward and continued speaking as he grabbed his weapon "However, we do think your innocent. So we'll let Rukia remain at large until we have a solid story for what's been going on." The man then looked at their furious teacher "It seems this will be difficult, Shunsui."

"Tell me about it."

"I'm very disappointed in you two." Yamamoto said sadly seeing his two star pupils, doing one of things he explicitly taught them not to do. Obstruct true justice by defending the traitors. "As Sou-taicho I am ordering any and all loyal Shinigami here to capture Abarai and Rukia Kuchiki. I will deal with these two."

As the declaration was made the three Taicho's disappeared in a burst of speed, leaving only Byakuya, Nanao, Kiyone, Sentaro, Omeada, and Ichigo topside.

"It seems we are not needed here replacement representative for squad two, Ichigo Kurosaki." Nanao said as she pushed her glasses up "Do as you like. I need to go deal with all the fighting going on below."

"Of course, Madam vice-president Nanao." Ichigo answered as he pulled Zangetsu and held it in front of him, as Byakuya Kuchiki scowled seeing the face of the man who was responsible for all of this.

Kiyone looked at the guy she once had a crush on and looked over to Omeada who was looking positively furious at this point, the woman grabbed Sentaro and wiped around in front of Ichigo "Me and stupid here, will take care of Fuku-taicho Omeada!" she said cheerfully as she flash stepped to where the man was before grabbing and disappearing with him.

'_Damn and I just had the perfect excuse to kill him…'_ Ichigo frowned bitterly, since the energetic woman didn't even give him a chance to answer. He watched as the emotionally distant nobleman, drew his sword and looked coldly at the male Kurosaki.

(Yoruichi's team)

The two females continued to run forward, already sensing the many officers of the Onimitsukido around them, but were perplexed when none of them so much as made a move to either attack them or impede their path. Only after passing into a large clearing did they see their target, who was standing above them with a curious look.

"Well if my eyes don't deceive me, my little bee's wearing a captain's Haori. They haven't started giving them out for free have they?" Yoruichi asked with a cocky smirk as she tilted her head bemused at the marvel she was seeing _'Guess she really did manage to take things over, she's grown up well.'_

The woman in charge tilted her head in their direction "Yoruichi." She said warmer than either woman had anticipated, the captain's gray eyes then moved over to her companion "Subaru." She acknowledged with another nod, which was met with the woman closing her eyes tightly really wanting to disappear.

The cat woman seeing the tension didn't like it one bit "Let's not have a family feud here." She said casually her eyes dancing between the two of them, and decided to change the subject "So I couldn't help, but notice that none of your boys have so much as lifted a finger on our way here." She stated getting the captain to shift her eyes away from the backstabbing sibling.

"Yes, because I was expecting you."

"So the others weren't hearing stuff. You were the one at the cave yesterday."

"Correct." Soifon admitted unashamed as she removed her Haori, she then looked at her clustered soldier and gave a harsh glare "You are all too follow my last two orders which are as thus, you are to leave this area immediately while I deal with Yoruichi, and the second." She then pointed directly at Subaru "She's your temporary commander until I've returned, any orders she gives are to be taken as my own, am I understood?" she ordered shocking the two women who now didn't know what was entirely going on.

"Yes, Ma'am." A resounding cry rang out amongst the leaves

The captain then looked at Subaru with a hint of mirth "I understand. Don't worry about it. We can talk when this is over." She then looked back at her opponent, while still speaking with her "Just make sure Ichigo wins."

Subaru looked surprised for a second and despite the chosen words, allowed herself to find contentment in knowing that Ichigo had managed to reconcile with her. "Yoruichi-san good luck," She whispered and then spoke much louder "Squad two follow me, I'll inform you of your objective along the way!"

With her order given, the woman and all the other squad two and Onimitsukido members vacated, in a swirl of speed, leaving the teacher and student alone. "I certainly wasn't expecting this from you. You hate traitors like me with every fiber of your being. What prompted this change?"

Now Shaolin's smirk grew wider as it seemed to almost promise pain "If you are asking what changed well…" she narrowed her eyes "maybe I'll tell you when you tell me what really made you leave all those years ago. But that can wait because right now, I have fifty-two years of pent up frustration, annoyance, and anger. I trust Yoruichi-sama; you can take responsibility for your actions!"

The ebony woman scoffed and shook her head in mock disappointment "Fifty plus years and, you still haven't figured out I'm a really free spirited woman? Responsibility's kind of a no-no word for me." She then raised her fists up ready to take her on "But, I guess as long as you make this look good for our real enemy, I'll play along and agree to your demands."

"You shouldn't play Yoruichi. I'm much stronger than last time. And maybe just maybe, I've grown even strong enough to have surpassed you." The woman kneeled down with her hands at her side, taking precise aim "So with that possibility in mind…" and then kicked off the tree, springing towards the woman with her arms cocked back "If you don't take this seriously you're gonna die!"

The ebony woman deflected the punch, and returned with one of her own, which the woman forced upward with her free hand. Soifon using the opening she created tried to knee the woman in the stomach, but the Nekomata used the extension to leap over the woman kicking her in the back of the head, while she landed softly on some nearby trees "Oooh, I think I have plenty of reason to play, after all I'm ahead!"

"Not for long!" Soifon answered fiercely as she disappeared in flash step, reappearing momentarily behind the ex-captain. Yoruichi quickly wheeled around and struck the woman, only for her to find it was a mirage of some kind. The soft tapping of shoes made Yoruichi look back in the first direction just in time to see her protégé's fist strike her stomach.

With a successful strike, the Chinese captain struck with her other fist and quickly spun around her leg using the centripetal force of the rotation to try and take the head off the woman. The attacking captain's eyes widened that now it was Yoruichi that had disappeared in a mirage. Shaolin turned to her side and saw the woman smiling like everything was a-ok. "So when did you switch with the Cicada?"

"Oh, right before your initial hit against me. It seems my cicada lasts longer than yours. So I'm still ahead." The woman answered chipperly, while the captain scoffed

"I hate to say it, but it seems that staying off the battlefield as long as you have, doesn't seem to have dulled your fighting ability." The captain then pulled out her sword "However! It seems that you didn't bother to bring your Zanpaktou with you, a mistake on your part." She then lifted it vertical in one hand "Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi." She invoked, her weapon shrinking down to a golden talon that wrapped around her middle finger and went up to about her forearm.

Yoruichi tilted her head curiously to the side as she eyed the tool in her little bee's hand "If I didn't know any better I'd say that it got a little bit longer than the last time I saw it."

"Oh, that's not all." The student said sadistically as she disappeared and struck Yoruichi from behind "It also will kill you in two strikes, and has an indefinite time limit." She then leaned closer to her goddess ear "So you better start running."

On cue the goddess of flash separated herself from the killer bee, her nerves feeling the cold sensation of the Homonka mark upon her flesh. Soifon was about to step forward when she heard a loud sonic boom, and couldn't help but look up as a bluish-white beam of energy began to fade in the sky. Her face turned to surprise at who she was feeling. "I-ichigo." She whispered in disbelief. The woman, as she continued to feel the energy, felt the corner of her lips curve upwards into a pleased smile "You're still fighting hard, so I must push myself too." She then turned back to her opponent who was getting away "Stay safe till I return." And disappeared feeling much more inspired to fight harder.

Yoruichi had started up running through the trees again, already feeling Soifon's spiritual pressure back on her heels, most likely having stopped to briefly observe the intense fighting that was going on at the hill. She kept going as fast as she could, using her knowledge of the geographical terrain to find a nice area for her Shunko technique.

"Come on, don't you wanna play?" Shaolin taunted as she followed not too far behind her mentor "It'll be another game of deadly flash tag, just like old times!"

"You're really letting you anger get to you, huh?" the cat woman replied as she reached the next branch and jumped forward while turning around "Too bad that makes you sloppy!" she yelled throwing a bunch of Anken at the girl

Shaolin braced herself as she knocked down whatever blades she could, since there was no way to dodge in the middle of her jump. She managed to block most of the more dangerous ones and was only cut on both her deltoids and once on the outer edge of her thigh. She stopped to land on a branch and closed her eyes to concentrate her spiritual pressure.

The energy started to wrap around one of her arms and both her legs and then erupted outwards in a heat like aura "Now let's see who's faster." The woman said to herself as she utilized her unnamed technique on most of her limbs. She crouched, for but a moment, and then kicked off the tree completely destroying it, as she zoomed forward crashing into Yoruichi like a cannonball. As the pair started to fall to the ground both of them were trading blows back and forth, Shaolin, despite the increase in speed and power, was surprised to see that her mentor was able to keep up so well. As gravity almost made the two combatant crash into the ground, the two separated both sides leaping back to a tree behind them and springing back to connect in the center of a mostly clear area.

Yoruichi, while thoroughly impressed that her student had been able to pick up that technique all on her own, was easily able to see that it was really exhausting her for holding it up for as long as she had been. Still for her it was a major accomplishment on her part and it shone in her eyes how proud she was of her little bee. A sign which wasn't lost on the woman as they broke apart from another violent clash

"You seem enamored by my technique, Yoruichi-sama!" the tired woman yelled from her side of the battlefield, breathing rather heavily, as she lowered the output to just her forearm now. "I've been spending quite a while to get it down as well as I have, though it's still incomplete."

The ebony goddess wiped away some of the blood from her lip "'Your technique?' Do you even have a name for it?"

"I was thinking of calling it 'Nǚshén jiàng' [Chin. Tran: Fall of the goddess/Death of a goddess]!'" she then tilted her head and smiled smugly and spoke with a decent amount of sarcasm, which perked the interest of Yoruichi "I dedicated it to you! Tell me what do you think? Is it to your liking?"

The goddess of flash despite the heat of battle couldn't help but laugh "Ahahaha, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you found the important marble in your collection that was labeled 'sense of humor'! Tell you what, I'm feeling generous, so I'll tell you the REAL name of that technique." She then raised her arm, in a manner that made all the color drain from Shaolin's peach colored face _'no way…'_

"It's called…" she said with a huge smile of her own, the golden Reishi colored energy started to swirl around her persons, but unlike Shaolin's it actually covered all her back and shoulders, and simultaneously destroying the outer jacket she had on revealing a stealth force's master uniform just like hers "Shunko." The woman twisted her arm and clenched her fist and swung in Shaolin's general direction, the girl reflexively shielding herself with her arms as an intense light shined brightly and loud roar blared in her now ringing ears.

As the sound of dirt, rock and burning forests settled down. Soifon opened one of her eyes that she had unknowingly closed when threatened with that attack. When she looked in front of her, the arms she had been holding up fell to her side, she stared at the large crater beside her that was easily about ten feet across horizontally. She followed the divide that was less than three feet away from her persons all the way back to Yoruichi who merely had one arm extended outward in her direction.

The woman couldn't help smirking at seeing the look of astonishment and awe on the woman's face, so she decided to mess with her just a little bit "Sorry, I can't control it very well." She said to her student, giving a half-lie since she could exert more control, but it would weaken the ability; since it wasn't that great yet, instead of letting it remain wild and untamed.

"A-amazing." The captain whispered in a tone full of respect and admiration, seeing the destructive force the attack had when utilized by someone with proper knowledge, and giving her a look of how far she still needed to go. She'd been using the technique on the ends of her limbs and only about two or three at max.

But _her_, she did the technique with half her body and was doing so without any serious fatigue or strain unlike the misinformed and self-proclaimed pioneer in the art of fusing hand to hand with Hoho skills.

Shaolin breathing became a little deeper, as she realized she couldn't really win now, not that it was her primary goal, since her trump card was already in her opponent's skilled hands. But, she couldn't just surrender, as that would go against her pride as a captain and as a person. She just couldn't let someone else win, be it a new recruit to her squad, her teacher and mother figure Yoruichi-sama, or even her boyfriend Ichigo. If they wanted to be able to declare an unquestionable win over her, they had to go the distance, and the student already had just the way to put this grudge to an end and assist Ichigo's cause.

The lighter hued woman back flipped into the air, but as she did she diverted her shunko to her legs to give her the speed necessary for distance involved in her plan. As she landed upon the branches she then created ten or so clones of herself, each an exact replica from the damage she had sustained to the strands of her hair.

"Oh? So you know how to do that too?" Yoruichi mused while the clones rushed forward to deal with the enemy, while the real one ran off.

The goddess of flash, not being able to tell which was the real one, since she knew it was possible to hide oneself amongst their clones, went along with it. As the nearest Soifon reached the woman, Yoruichi utilized her enhanced limbs and kicked the Soifon in the head knocking the woman flat on her back before she disappeared.

'_Fake.'_ She acknowledged as she turned to the next one who was approaching from the side with her identical sister poised to strike with Suzumebachi.

(Soifon)

Running as fast as her limbs could take her; she screeched to a halt and jumped upon the tallest branch that was available. She stretched her arms out catching the branch and used her momentum to flip herself unto the thick branch. Once she was up there she took her sash and threw it around the tree, the yellow clothing anchoring itself to the huge foliage, to somewhat lessen the recoil, but it was definitely no stripe of inverted silver. She then held Suzumebachi in front of her "Never thought I'd show her my Bankai this way." She mused to herself "BANKAI!" she yelled as her weapon started to transform into it's final state "Jakuho Raikoben."

(Yoruichi)

As the last clone disappeared beside her fallen sisters, Yoruichi felt a huge spike in spiritual pressure back the way she had come. With her keen eye sight she spotted Soifon, with some gigantic golden thing, even bigger than the woman herself, propagating from her arm. The Goddess of flash then quickly figured out what was going on between the big distance and the sudden surge in power output.

"Oh crap." She uttered as she saw the woman mouth the words 'Fifty-two year of frustration right here!'

Not wasting a second the goddess of flash ran as fast as she could while the missile flared to life and shot towards the spot the ex-Taicho had been.

The stinger missile continued on it's course for the impact sight screaming at break neck speed, with a desperate Yoruichi trying to clear the area. When the stinger missile collided into the barren earth, a massive explosion rocked the nearby area. From where Soifon was the incoming shockwave was so immense that it destroyed her sash launching her high up into the air, while the dust cloud rampaged forth knocking down everything in it's path.

The flying woman soared in the air as her weapon cracked down into Shikai state, after her vertical acceleration was abruptly ended it was then that she was brought back down by gravity. Straining her eyes against the cutting wind, she turned her body and did her utmost to brace herself as she sped up to the sea of green. A myriad of pain soaked all over her body as she slammed into several tree limbs before finally crashing into a large tree and completely uprooting it as she fell along with it on her streak towards the forest floor.

The Chinese captain strained to keep her eyes open after the rough ride. She felt every nerve in her body screaming out in pain, alerting her exhausted mind to astronomical amount of internal damage she was suffering. Curling a finger, she bit back a shiver and relaxed willing to let herself spend a second to breath before making any more serious moves.

Her damage assessment was thankfully interrupted when she heard a noise. After a blinking of her eyes, and not seeing anything, she tilted her head to look a little more to the right half of the sky when she saw a black dot. A dot, that seemed to be getting closer and closer while the noise kept getting louder and louder.

Straining her eyes upon the moving spot she couldn't help but smile at seeing Yoruichi falling to the ground now.

Alive.

"UUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKK!"

WHAM! The nearby logs blew apart from breaking the fall of the apparently nine lived individual

"(groan)"

Soifon looked forward as she laid spread eagle on the ground, she glanced at the twitching form of the goddess of flash who was clenching her fist to both gather her strength and fight off the pain. "Wel…come…b...ack." The tired student greeted her teacher who tried to push herself off the ground, and managed to successfully get on her knees, but didn't dare try to push anything further than that.

Yoruichi looked at her student incredulously, remembering the last few seconds in which when she had jumped she got caught up in the blast's upwind giving new meaning to uplift "I hate you." The goddess of flash said in a serious manner befitting her exhaustion, though Soifon knew it was just an act.

"And I (huff) forgive you." The captain then moved her arms despite their protest and pushed herself to lean more comfortably against the tree's remains "We really did a number on the forest." She said quietly deciding to have a small conversation after fifty-two years of contempt laid to rest

"We?" Yoruichi quoted with no small measure of disbelief

Feeling her energy begin to restore itself thanks impart to the vast amount of Reiatsu in soul societies' atmosphere, the captain managed to find the energy to pout to her sensei "W-well…Yoruichi-sama's Bankai and profound Shunko skill…would have done much more damage than me."

"ehehehe. I guess you're right." The goddess laughed merrily, as she crawled over to her student and leaned back against the tree putting her arm around her shoulder "So I guess you're going to want some answers, yeah?" the girl merely put her eyes upon the woman silently saying yeah "Well what do you want to know?"

"I want to know why you really did leave," she then looked down at her dirt and sweat covered hands "and why…why Yoruichi-sama did you not take me with you?"

The purple haired woman sighed and launched into her explanation "The reason I left Soul Society is because Kisuke, Tessai and myself were wrongly accused of a crime we didn't commit. Do you remember the incident in which many Taicho and Fuku-taicho like Hirako Shinji suddenly disappeared?" A nod was given "That was it. We were charged with performing dark experiments on them, which is where the rule Shinigami aren't allowed to have hollow powers come from."

"So then you left? But why? How come you couldn't show that you were innocent?"

"Because we were framed by Sosuke Aizen, and were caught by Sou-taicho Yamamoto."

"Aizen-Taicho isn't that kind of person." Soifon pointed out not maliciously, but in a misunderstanding way since it went against his mannerism and profile. Her first suspect and one she would have believed, after switching sides, had been Gin Ichimaru. Sosuke Aizen didn't even make the list for Traitors.

Yoruichi only shook her sadly "It's all a lie Bee. He's been after the Hogyoku, a device that Kisuke made that lets Shinigami and Hollows cross the barrier of power, and right now Rukia Kuchiki has it. That's why he's gone through all this trouble to get it. I know it sounds sketchy, especially coming from me, but it's the honest to goodness truth. He's been using everyone. Me, Kisuke, You, Ichigo, the Sou-taicho, everyone is fair game to him. Most of us are here to stop him, only about two or three are here to save Rukia as well."

"I understand." Shaolin nodded understanding things a bit more "Now I want you to tell me, why it is that you didn't take me with you, when you left. Was it because you thought I was too weak or that I'd get in your way?"

"That thankfully is a really easy question to answer." The woman then pushed herself up to her feet, and offered a hand to the woman who accepted it, but upon standing fell forward and clutched her mentor's shoulder for support. Yoruichi slung the woman's arm around her neck and proceeded to walk towards the next battlefield. "The main reason I didn't take you, was because I wanted you to grow up."

"You wanted me to grow up?" Shaolin said sounding more than a little hurt, since while she did know that _maybe_ she went just a _little_ overboard in her devotion to Yoruichi, she didn't think it came off as childish or immature. It was the way she was raised; to be utterly devoted to even her final breath to the protecting of her goddess's life. It was serious.

"Don't take it the wrong way." Yoruichi answered quickly, cutting off that particular train of thought "It's not that I thought you were childish or annoyance, on contrary I found your constant doting to be a source of endless amusement and thought it was really cute."

"I-it wasn't cute." Soifon said defensively "I meant every word of wanting to protect you. I cared about you significantly."

"You also felt something that I didn't return though." Yoruichi said in a serious tone, letting her golden eyes absorb the tired girl. "All those times you spent blushing, stuttering, and practically kissing the ground I walked on, it's kinda hard to miss someone with a bad case of the love bug."

"W-what? Did I really?" she asked confusedly, she certainly looked up to the goddess, and in a way equated her to something akin to a mother, but she didn't know that from her goddesses' perception it came out as someone in love with her. The smaller woman cheeks heated up a bit "M-maybe I did have an unknowing crush of some kind." She then spoke a little solemner "I guess I never realized it because I just couldn't picture us being anything more than what we were."

Yoruichi winked mischievously and pulled her closer to her as they continued trekking "Well, that, and you can be really thick-headed and stubborn, once you're set on something." She joked, while the other girl deadpanned "But getting back on track, I could see the potential within you. You have the capability to be a smart, strong, courageous woman; and for the most part, you made yourself exactly like I had hoped you would. Well maybe you could do with a bit of fine tuning with your slight hot-cold attitude." The woman grew serious again "But the thing was that you didn't want it for yourself. You wanted it for me. You wanted to use it to serve me for probably the end of eternity or until one of our next reincarnations, whichever came first." She then placed a hand over her heart "I didn't want that for you. Why do you think I told you all those times to just call me 'Yoruichi' not 'Your Excellency lady commander Shihoin', not 'Shihoin-Taicho', not 'Supreme commander Shihoin-dono', still working on 'Yoruichi-sama', just undecorated and informal 'Yoruichi'?"

"I guess maybe because you umm wanted me to loosen up?" Soifon guessed in uncertainty, going with what she had been constantly told by the woman in her younger years.

"Well that too, but mostly because I wanted us to be equals. I didn't want you to stand in front of me, like a human shield ready to take a mortal blow and wind up in an empty unmarked grave, and I didn't want you to stand behind me to give me a weapon as I asked of you, never being allowed to grow strong yourself. I wanted you to stand beside me as an equal, and assist me when I needed it. That's what I ultimately wanted when I took you under my wing back when you were still a little girl. I didn't want you to linger in my shadow, I wanted you to start with someone to look up to for guidance, and use as an example. Then finally follow your own path that you desire to walk." The ebony woman then looked at Soifon and moved a little bit of her hair out of her face, brushing her cheek with her hand "Now do you see my little bee? I didn't mean to 'abandon' you, I was doing what I thought was best. I hope you can understand that."

The gentle gesture took Shaolin by surprise, her mouth hung open as she was unable to form a word. She just continued to stare into her mentor's face, "(sniff) yeah…" she whispered as she felt something cool and wet travel down from her eye to her cheek, she closed her eyes and smiled despite the pretense "I understand completely Yoruichi-sama." She said feeling not at all sad but rather contented "Thank-you for telling me the truth."

"There, there. Come on, stop crying you're a big girl now." The cat woman said amicably as her thumb helped clean the tears from one of her best friend's face "You've really grown up into a splendid Taicho."

"That means a lot coming from you." The girl said as she looked at her mentor, and started to fidget slightly "Umm, Y-Yoruichi-sama."

"Yeees?"

"I want to know if you'll teach me again. I would appreciate it if you guided me like you did so long ago. Would you help me become not only a better warrior, but a better person? At least until I'm sure I can do it on my own?" she requested as she pulled herself off her mentor, now having the energy to walk unassisted again

"Heh. Of course I would, but what I really want to know is what prompted such a change? You certainly seem a bit nicer around others than I last recalled." Yoruichi asked with catty curiosity, which was met with a glance away and an ill concealed blush

"N-not much." She lied

"Oooh?" Yoruichi chirped in a way that made the other girl extremely wary "So you don't feel like talking. Well that's ok. Flash Master Yoruichi Shihoin has ways of making you talk."

In a panic the girl blurted out "D-do you promise not to tell anyone, Yoruichi-sama!"

"That depends is it a deeply guarded secret or hot juicy gossip?" She rang and letting out a laugh as her protégé crossed her arms with a frumpy face "Ok. I'll stop. I won't say a word, so what made such a big change in my little bee's heart."

"A…boy."

When the words left her mouth she watched her immaculate goddess, her mentor in all things, fall to the ground tripping dumbly over her own two feet with the news. Soifon looked on in horror, while her goddess corrected herself from the fall "Really…? Really? Really! Well look at you. Ah! I feel so old in seeing my little bee having her very first boy crush." She then wiped an imaginary tear from her eye. She then pounded her fist into her open palm "Oh that's right! I completely forgot that Ichigo mentioned that you two were an item." She then leaned over and lightly nudged Soifon in the side with her elbow "Sooooo how many bases have you managed to get to?"

"Bases? What do strategic tactical points have to do with us?" Shaolin said confusedly not understanding the metaphor, which was made painfully evident by the Nekomata's deadpan. "Err…squad 2?" she guessed with a cringe

Yoruichi exhaled and shook her head trying to remember who she was dealing with "I mean, what have you two done as a couple? Hold hands, hugged, maybe give a kiss or two, anything?" she asked with good natured curiosity, when she saw Soifon's face go from blank to flush, she knew she hit gold "Ok, spill."

"T-that's private!" Soifon shouted as she marched onward, not wanting to discuss what happened in another section of the woods 72 hours ago.

"Sounds scandalous if you ask me!" she proclaimed as she wrapped her own arms around her body and started rocking back and forth with a sway in her hips "Did he hooold you? Did he huuug you? Did he kiiiiss you?" she said in a sing song voice, watching the woman burn with embarrassment "Or did he do something extra _'special'_?"

"…" Shaolin then stopped walking and looked back with a smug smile and dreamy eyed expression "Yeeaaah…it was definitely special." She then looked up at her mentor, who was now sporting a huge grin, and promptly freaked out "I ahh mean, we need to go stop Aizen! Hahaha…l-let's go Y-Y-Yoruichi-sama!" she yelled disappearing in a flash step, while the goddess of flash followed laughing whole heartedly now.

(Same time as Soifon encounter: Kisuke)

"Cry out Benihime!" as the usual eccentric scientist launched a crimson wave of energy that greatly disturbed the ranks of the court guard Shinigami.

"The enemy's here!" one of the more panicked voice cried out, making everyone scramble while Senna and Shinjiro snuck in through the sides, while Kisuke charged up another energy beam.

As another beam of crimson energy shot out of the forest, Senna seized the moment "Take them to the twilight Mirokumaru!" she declared as she spun the Shakujo over head creating a large vacuum sucking up a good portion of the Shinigami around her, while in the eye of her storm she jumped as high as she could and mimicked the falling of the other Shinigami beside her to help throw the enemy off.

From in another part of the crowd the voice of Shinjiro yelled out "Attack!"

Soon the crowd under its own panic dissolved into a full on civil war, as Shinigami started to turn blade on each other not knowing who to trust, all looking out for their own skin.

(Senna)

As she came back down to the earth, the woman immediately flipped back unto her feet and landed gracefully with her Shakujo at the ready. With a firm thrust forward her weapon banged into the unprotected stomach of the Shinigami in front of her, she then leaped on the man's back and jumped high in the air spinning her Shakujo which created a tight vortex sucking up some more unwary enemies, who were busy clashing amongst themselves.

As the female Kurosaki touched back down amid the raining of bodies, she pulled her gale saber out, while putting her rod into her sash, as another challenger appeared and crashed his sword into hers. She was momentarily pushed back by the strong individual, who yelled of defeating her in the name of captain Tosen. Not ready to give an inch she side stepped making the man who was dead locking her stumble forward. She was going to strike when a man and a woman got in between them as they wrestled on the ground trying to over the power the other.

'_This is suffocating!'_ she thought to herself as her enemy got lost in the crowd. The woman backpedaled until she backed into someone, quickly wheeling around and came blade-to-blade with the slightly winded Shinjiro.

"Ooh, it's you." He said with a slight relaxation, as he pulled his weapon back "Sorry about that."

"Not a problem." Senna replied just as amicably, glad to see a friendly face amongst the fighting mob

The two would have exchanged pleasantries more, but were stopped when they both felt a huge spike in Ichigo's spiritual pressure. They both looked up as a huge sonic boom and large pillar of light began to fade out. The two looked back at each other, and shared a moment despite the ringing of swords, kido spell and cries of pain.

"We gotta fight harder Shinjiro-san! Ichigo-kun is counting on us!" she declared as she clenched her fist with a new found determination.

Shinjiro nodded solemnly "He certainly is counting on all of us. Stay safe." He exclaimed as he started to disappear off in another direction, only to then need to block an attack from someone else in this uproar.

(Kisuke)

The forest was full of the laughter of Kisuke Urahara as he continued to take scours of enemies from his perch in the forest. While keeping a good eye on Ichigo up above. He started to charge up energy when he heard the sound of something close to scratching against a surface. Not wanting to find out the ex-Taicho jumped from his perch as the area he'd been standing on got sliced apart, while grayish dust floated on by.

Landing on a new branch he turned around to see a tall busty woman with long orange hair, walking towards him with some kind of ash coming from her blade hilt. "And may I have your name my fair lady?" Kisuke asked with a gentlemanly bow, though the woman could see from his shifting of his eyes upward it was to peek at her chest.

Rangiku Matsumoto while normally one to flirt didn't have the time for casual dialogue "Tenth division Fuku-taicho, Rangiku Matsumoto. And you must be the naughty little boy whose been attacking from the trees."

"Guilty as charged." He then straightened his back out and was about to say something further when, the Fuku-taicho sensed something behind her and was forced to move.

As she landed on another branch she found herself surrounded on all sides by members in black garb reminiscent to ninja from the feudal era. Looking back around she saw a smaller pale woman with dark violet hair turning back around with a confused expression "Matsumoto?" the voice of Subaru asked "Shouldn't you be assisting Ichigo?" her eyes then narrowed slightly "Or do you want to face us?"

The orange haired bombshell looked at the woman then back to the blond man who had his energy charged up and ready to rip. "Pfff hahaha!" she busted out laughing, catching them all off guard "This is too rich! The whole stealth and punishment force, the ones who handle those who break the law, is assisting the traitors, hahahaha! Oh man, I never thought I'd live to see the day when something like this happens!"

"So…you are against us?" Subaru said as she held her hand up to give a command to subdue her.

"Huh? Me, no way! It's just Toshiro-chan mentioned Soifon-taicho acting weird, now I see why." She then turned back to the blonde of the group, waved off with the back of her hand "Yeah, sure, go on ahead, I ain't gonna stop you."

"Wonderful." Urahara chirped as he looked back to the battlefield to continue his assault

With her ally and their escape route secured, Subaru turned to command her troops "We're entering the combat zone. Squad two spread out and subdue!" she then leaped through the trees towards the open fray with the Onimitsukido following closely behind fanning out with each step.

(Shinjiro)

Forcing his opponent back, after nearly cutting Senna with Muramasa, he quickly chopped into the leg of his opponent and scathing just enough of the grey mark to light it up "Steel flash!" he yelled the trigger phrase aloud

All around the battlefield cries of similar pain and agony echoed over the battlefield. The samurai only winced knowing that this was all his doing. _'No, gotta stay focused.'_ He chided himself, to block out everything else and focus solely on the task ahead of him. The thought was quickly pushed out of his mind when he felt a hand touch loosely upon his shoulder, half turning around, he thrusted his elbow backwards to stagger the assailant before sweeping with his sword when he saw his wife who back flipped a safe distance away from her husband, going by her instincts to nimbly avoid the man's attack.

"When did you get here?" Shinjiro asked, as he quickly closed the gap to Subaru, and positioned himself in front of her to ward off any attackers, that would dare get the notion to attack his wife in his presence.

"Just now." She informed as she gave an uneasy look around her with all the brawling individuals "I really don't belong here." She said as her hands trembled anxiously "I'm not one for this kind of fighting."

The samurai looked over his shoulder, putting on a brave face to ease her fear "Don't worry Su-chan, I'm here with you."

"…" the woman blinked in surprise, not expecting the words at that moment in time "I really like it when you call me that Shin-kun." The woman said appreciatively smiling faintly for a split second before refocusing on the task at hand "Come on, we need to move!" When her husband asked 'what's the hurry?' as he still felt Ichigo fighting, the woman pointed skyward where a white haired boy with a captain's Haori was descending upon them with a ice dragon wrapped around his blade.

"You've got to be kidding!" Shinjiro yelled as he and his wife vacated the immediate fifty-yards via flash step, in no mood to get permanent frost bite

(Toshiro)

Breaking his fall using his Ice Zanpaktou, the tenth division captain got up from his ice crater. The already ludicrous fighting going on was complicated further by the Onimitsukido joining the fray and attacking just about everyone in sight. Which didn't even account for Unohana's forces being attacked by Kenpachi Zaraki's group of berserkers, fortunately the woman seemed to be handling them well.

The man looked around and was taking these very precious moments to analyze the situation. Not even his –a Taicho- presence was stopping the huge fight going on around him. He had already sensed Ichigo fighting up to the Sokyoku hill and was debating on whether going up there to confront Ichigo. But decided against it, he would fight him only if he needed to, his duty was still to Soul Society and right now he needed to restore order by putting down whatever insurgents caused this uproar.

The man's main objective was put on postponement when he felt a very hard gale blowing at him from the side, stepping to the side he saw a small, but still bigger than him, twister approaching knocking people out of the way or carrying them into the air.

As the strong windstorm blew closer, Toshiro jumped out of the way and spotted his target who was dangling several dozen feet in the air now, he jumped upward to go deal with her, when a gigantic, loud and fiery explosion occurred from the depths of the forest to the west of the Sokyoku grounds. Turning his head in the direction he saw the fading blast that looked closely to a nuclear bomb. _'That Reiatsu…was that Soifon-taicho?'_ he asked himself incredulously, wondering what was over there that warranted Bankai. Though considering the fact his Bankai was out here, he wouldn't doubt another riot.

He was quickly broken from his thoughts as a large gust of wind sucked him up and then threw him back down against the ground roughly. The boyish captain pushed himself back to his feet ignoring the stinging sensation of his body, and turned to see another tower of wind fast approaching "No more games!" he yelled as he jumped up and using his incredible spiritual power swung his ice dragon at the base of the twister allowing to ride the storm upward, it's cold might freezing the biting winds with each passing second.

When the dragon finished it's ascent a large frozen pillar stood between the captain and his aerial opponent. The looming tower started to crack up and then busted into hundreds of pieces, the large fragments raining all over the battlefield. With nothing no longer obscuring his vision he looked around the bright sky and found no trace of his enemy "Damn, most have gotten away." He cursed. Sensing danger he quickly brought his sword around behind him intercepting an attack from another soul reaper "But you won't." He said dangerously, as ice started to encase the reaper's blade

(Senna)

Having been knocked out of the air courtesy of a huge ice block, she clutched onto it for dear life as she sped closer and closer to the ground. Calculating the distance in her head, she waited a few more seconds before jumping off the cube as it crashed against the ground, and rolled forward to help minimize the damage to her body. With a quick padding down, she smiled knowing she was still ok. The woman was about to get to her feet when she looked ahead and saw more people coming. "I better get out of here."

(Gin)

The silver-haired traitor looked on from his place at the edge of the woods on the east side of the Sokyoku hill "My, my…" he said allowing himself to revel in the destruction, panic, and over all desperate struggles amongst the Shinigami. The man looked back at his entire division "We certainly can't let them have all the fun." He pulled out his sword and pointed at the infighting mass of people "Attack. Put down any and all resistors."

With his words the men and women behind let out a resounding war cry as they charged forward, running with reckless abandon, while their Taicho remained stock still, with the exception of his ever increasing grin, his blade still pointed forward, and his crimson eyes revealed to the path before him.

It was times like this that he truly felt alive; yes, to him the day was truly one for celebration.

(Shinjiro and Subaru)

The pair looked on as the forces Gin Ichimaru came pouring from his hiding grounds to attack the Shinigami, creating even more pandemonium on the already widespread and bewilder mass of warriors. Feeling a slight tugging of his arm, Shinjiro turned and looked into the solemn worry-filled face of Subaru, who pulled something out of her pocket before looking back up to the Sokyoku where the battle was coming to an end.

Time was of the essence.

(Same time as Soifon encounter: Ichigo)

"I just don't understand you. How can you stand by and allow your sister to die?" The strawberry soul reaper asked to this loyal but homicidal Taicho, completely unable to figure out the guy and how he thought.

Byakuya scoffed as he sent a glare that was neither filled with disgust nor hate, it was merely passive like he was trying to communicate something on a level Ichigo couldn't see "Hmph. You have no right to judge me, boy."

"I have all the right to judge you!" he yelled back angrily "Only recently did I find my sister, and I know that if anyone so much as looked at her funny, I'd make them regret it." he then pointed at the Taicho with his finger, which would have singled him out had there been a crowd around "You should be helping me rescue Rukia not, trying to kill her!"

"Truly?" the regal man said with mock captivation, he then closed his eyes and shook his head disappointedly "If that's your prerogative then I can easily see why you have attacked soul society." He lifted his head back up and gripped his sword hard ready to put an end to words "You are not doing this to save Rukia; rather it is your own barbaric need to destroy civil order that has set you on this course. It seems you will need to be taught the difference between a savage and his civilized better. I will make you kneel cur."

Ichigo resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn't listen "Even now you don't see what going on! You fool." He then charged his reiatsu as it enveloped his body "I'm going to enjoy breaking your sword and your soul!

Byakuya suddenly disappear from in front of him, and reappeared with his sword raised to pierce his soul core from behind "Talk is cheap, boy." He said coolly as he thrusted forward.

Ichigo quickly ducked down and used his feet to sweep behind him, forcing the swordsman to back step, as the kung-fu specialist rotated around he sprung forward, his massive sword striking against the captain's sword. His spiritual power trying to overcome the man.

The captain glared as he pushed the man back, flash stepping a small ways back "Hmm, I stand corrected. You're not as pathetic as I remember." He then raised his sword vertically before him "Still you are no match for me. Scatter." The blade turned a vibrant pink and started to separate around him, riding the winds and blending in awaiting the command to strike Byakuya's opponent down "Senbonzakura."

The fourth seat took a moment to glance to his left and right seeing the many petals dancing around forming a wall between him and the captain. "That's a pretty dangerous Shikai captain." He commented turning his sharp eyes back to the man who was intrigued that the fourth seat could actually see them. Ichigo took half a step back, so he leaned to one side and raised Zangetsu to where it was parallel to his shoulder, pouring his reiatsu into it "But I!" he then stepped forward swinging his sword, which in turn launched another crescent wave of energy that engulfed all of the flower petals in front of him and kept charging forward to their stunned master

Ichigo then lifted his sword back up sending an impassive gaze before him, the clouds of dust that he had kicked up covering his view, not that he needed it since he could tell that the captain wasn't down. "Can destroy whatever you got. I told you, I'm going to break your sword, it doesn't matter how many you have." He then pointed his weapon directly in front him, the smoke clearing showing Byakuya Kuchiki looking moderately alright, but his left hand was bloody, and the dust around his feet signaled that he moved at the last possible second "Get serious either use your Bankai." He declared while his reiatsu started to press against the man "or get out of my way."

The Kuchiki allowed himself to flex his arm to see how damaged it was, and found it to still be serviceable. "You managed to knock down all of Senbonzakura with one move. I don't think even Yoruichi could claim to have done such a thing at least not so quickly." He then looked back at the man while his sword started to reform back into his katana state "Never-the-less, before I do I have just one question for you."

"And that is?"

Byakuya allowed himself a small smile as he gazed to the man's face wanting to see his reaction "Did you by chance know the two cockroaches that invaded the penance tower?"

"Yeah, I did. And they had a name too." Ichigo yelled as he gripped his sword tightly, swinging it back to his side "Their names were Hanataro Yamada and Ganju Shiba!"

"Really?" he replied as he brought his sword in front of him and dropped it "to me I called them what I am about to call you." he looked square into Ichigo's face "Dust in the wind. Bankai."

When the words were uttered Ichigo saw the sword melt into the ground and the scene around Byakuya changed into a view of nothingness. Suddenly pillars of swords began to rise out of the ground as the original blade disappeared more from view. Each stack of blade rose on both sides of them and continued past. Then Byakuya raised his hand slightly and faintly directed it in Ichigo's direction "Senbonzakura Kageyoshi." He muttered as the gateway of blades all turned a vibrant pink and broke apart into thousands if not millions of cherry blossoms.

Reacting purely on instinct, the Onimitsukido member flash stepped from his spot, and not a second sooner as the place he had been standing on turned into a small crater with petals leaking out from the area. He kept moving as fast as he could his eyes, whether to his benefit or horror, saw every charging petal heading towards his direction from every and all angles.

Ichigo swung Zangetsu, to knock back a large wave of petal so he could escape, and it met with air when the petal blossoms opened up and went around the blade, similar to people in a street going around a scene. Hearing a sound to his right, he instantly flash stepped from his spot, as another tendril of sakura petals crashed into where he had been.

The moment he materialized in the next spot he was once again forced to flash away, to the next spot _'Damn it. I can't get a moment of breathing room.'_ He cursed as he avoid another crushing pillar of the Bankai, turning his eyes he saw Byakuya Kuchiki looking on like a statue not making a move to attack _'Maybe he can't fight up close when he has Bankai out, he did let the petal do all the work in Shikai so maybe...'_ Ichigo theorized as he flash stepped closer, giving him a straight shot at the man.

As he kept running forward he swerved to the right avoid one crashing pillar as he kept running, and then jumped to the side as another one tried to crush him. He kept running forward his blade being raised by the second, and jumped over a low sweeping stream of petal and flash stepped forward when two pillars collided from the sides at the spot he had been in mid-jump.

He then materialized right in front of Byakuya, a smug smirk on his face "You're open!" he yelled as he brought Zangetsu down to cut him down. "Game over!"

His hypothesis however was proven undeniably false when, from out of nowhere, petals materialized in front of him blocking the strike and upon taking the shape of his sword pushed the soul reaper skyward with incredible force, forcing him to hold tight and keep his sword in place or be consumed by the pink horde.

"You're wrong." Byakuya said in a final tone, as he extended his hand to Ichigo "I have already won, you merely didn't realize it." When he finished saying this all of the sakura petal that weren't pushing Ichigo up gathered behind him and charged forward to sandwich him. Ichigo looked back in time just to see what was coming towards him.

The cloud of blades swallowed him up and slammed their captive target into the hard rocky ground with devastating force. Byakuya tsked as he turned around from the huge crater to leave and pursue Rukia, his petals filtering out of the crater and going behind their master. The cool nobleman took but a step when he heard a violent coughing. The Taicho looked back and quickly flash stepped to the rim of the impact site, his eyes widened at seeing the carrot top bloodied and severely cut up but very much alive. "You are surprisingly persistent." He muttered

Ichigo huffed a second longer to intake much needed oxygen, and then looked at the man with a dangerous and wild expression "Heh, you just do things half ass. In the stealth force we make sure our target is dead, before moving on. We like to do the back stabbing." He then turned and spat some blood out of his mouth "Not be backstabbed."

"I will be sure to tell Soifon-taicho your final words, traitor." Byakuya said coldly which was met with a harsh laugh from Ichigo

"Final words! Hahaha! Man, your jokes are just as funny as Zangetsu's!" he then moved his arm and wiped away some sweat and blood from his forehead "I guess I gave you the wrong impression though. After all a Taicho with Bankai shouldn't have any problem fighting against another seated officer with Shikai out."

The regal man frowned darkly at what this battered and bloodied fool was proclaiming, it was utterly blasphemous "Be careful what you imply boy." He warned since even having a parent a Taicho didn't guarantee that one could attain Bankai themselves, even accounting the fact that he was an official soul reaper, he would have needed to have started training for it at the age of 6 or 7.

"Who's implying?" Ichigo said offhandedly, his spiritual pressure than flared up "I'M TELLING YOU BYAKUYA KUCHIKI!"

'_I wonder. I wonder if he could save Rukia.'_ Byakuya pondered "Then show me." He said challengingly wonder if this boy could save his sister like he so 'implied' "Show me this Bankai of yours, so that I may dismember it, piece by piece."

"Fine. Just remember…" Ichigo warned as he brought Zangetsu around to his side and swept it in a half arc to where it was pointing at Byakuya like a missile. The cloth tail that covered Zangetsu when not in use wrapped around his arm all the way to the shoulder covering each wound before the tail dangled behind him, riding the winds created by it's owner intense and rapidly rising spiritual pressure "be careful what you wish for." He yelled as his spiritual pressure blew outward covering his entire body in a bright white light "Bankai!"

A huge swell of energy instantaneously sucked into Zangetsu and shot out directly where Byakuya Kuchiki had been standing forcing the man to flash step away from the immediate spot. The energy cannon blowing outward into the sky being seen by a good portion of the Shinigami down below.

"Grr…" Byakuya groaned as he allowed himself to take a much needed intake of air especially after that sneak attack. He turned to look behind him and saw a large but narrow trench backwards stopping about half way through the execution ground. The man then mentally brought his cherry blossoms up around him and approached the edge again the dust cloud kicked up making it impossible to see.

A moment or two passed, but once the Kuchiki saw a small hint of black from the clearing dust, he thrusted his palm forward calling all his power to destroy the man in the crater, knowing to the best of his knowledge that all Bankai were huge and staggering, and that it would be impossible to avoid at such close range. The onslaught of cherry blossom rushed forward and slammed into the ground, the man not seeing the mirage of black that rushed by him.

With a wave of his hand the cherry blossoms moved out of the way. Byakuya narrowed his eyes, when he didn't see a corpse, and he immediately called Senbonzakura Kageyoshi to his side.

"Where are you looking?" a cocky male voice called from behind the Taicho. Not wasting a second he wiped his arms around in the general direction of the voice, the wave of petals went forward consuming a good portion of the surrounding area, but again as it parted there was no trace of life or remains of death _'How is he doing this? Does he possess invisibility?'_

"Tell me Taicho how does it feel?" the voice of Ichigo rang again, this time from behind the captain a second time. Byakuya looked backward only to see nothing but a shadow on the ground. The regal man turned his gaze upward and standing upon the scaffold was his opponent with a sharp change in attire. The standard Hakama was a flowing night black Gi with red coloring on the inside, it ran down his sides with jagged edges. The obi around the man's waist became a pure white, while holding up sleeker looking pants. Dancing in the man's hand was a onyx colored katana, that seemed to absorb all the light around it, running on the along the hilt were four small arcs making a swastika, with red diamonds on the handle and a small broken chain on the end. The now revealed man smirked subtly and pointed his sword directly at Byakuya "to be looked down upon by your betters?"

"What did you say?" The Kuchiki head replied with furious indignation at the man's words

"Clean out your ears. I said how does it feel to be looked down upon by your betters?" Ichigo reiterate, his eyes dropping about half-way down, showing his distaste for the man "Why are you so mad? I'm just giving you a small taste of your attitude backatcha."

"You…" Byakuya muttered before shaking his head to return to his cool disposition. He knew he shouldn't be getting riled up over that pathetic excuse for a Bankai. "Hmph. You expect to beat me with that tooth pick? When you said Bankai, I expected something a little more extravagant or efficient than just 'that'. Sad really, watching you think you have victory; with such an insignificant toy. And you wish to save Rukia? Don't make me laugh. Your audacity is astounding."

Ichigo closed his eyes and shook his head now disappointed "If that's what you think, then we'll see. But I bet you that when this fights over…" he then glared at him with his sword at the ready "you're going to want to retire permanently!"

"Foolish!" the sixth division captain muttered as he thrusted his hands in the direction of the scaffold. Ichigo merely smirked at the oncoming wave and charged up a Getsuga Tensho, he then flung it forward, the dark reiatsu cutting through the sea of blossoms easily, forcing the captain to jump backwards to dodge it.

As the blast hit the ground, Byakuya had to bite back his surprise when he felt a firm hand on the back of his shoulder. He immediately flashed stepped back to the crater, already hearing the sound of Ichigo's sword cutting through air to reach him.

With a firm desire to get this over with he directed both his hands in quick motion while one half of his Bankai raised itself like a shield in front of him while the other half quickly rushed forth hugging the ground lowly. The 'insignificant' Bankai user tilted his head slight when he saw the giant shield then spread out to try and get him in a pincer formation.

'_That won't work.'_ He thought to himself as he jumped into the air dodging the proverbial pool of blades, which then rushed skyward after him. The man then casually looked back seeing another swarm of cherry blossom flanking him.

"There is no escape." Byakuya said quietly as he closed his eyes, his hands gestured gently but imposingly to his high flying target "Gokei Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

On the command the petals started to swirl around Ichigo and then they all rushed forth to consume the man from all sides. Ichigo whoever closed his eyes as the blades came to him, "Tenburenjin (Heavenly dance with god) [2]!" he yelled as he quickly moved his arm at an incredibly fast and growing faster pace. His sword creating a small personal dome around him which not a single petal could get through, with one last horizontal slash, the attacking mob was deflected backwards harmlessly falling downward. "I told you it I'd break all of your swords…" he replied from his spot only to disappear from view "Next…" Byakuya heard from behind him, seeing the man with his sword coming down against him "is your haughty pride!"

As the black blade came down, Byakuya had to channel everything into his willpower to not cry from the tearing of flesh from tissue. Not letting up Ichigo took a step forward bring the weapon back around and cutting across the chest of the man, then turning just enough where he managed to kick the man square in his bi-cut chest. Sending him sprawling across the ground several feet away.

The wounded nobleman breathed harshly his hand clutching his wound, as he got up to one knee. His eyes conveying both a clear disdain for the man and commendation for his ability that stemmed solely for his reason for fighting. _'Rukia it seems you give people strength.'_ The man blinked as he got back to his feet _'Strength enough to challenge a death god.'_

"If that's all you've got Taicho, I suggest you quit while you're ahead. I'm not trying to deprive Rukia of a sibling, even if he doesn't care about her."

"Haha…your sense of self-righteousness is certainly refreshing." The captain chuckled, seeing just a bit more of himself in his opponent "You force my hand. So I will promise you this…" he then thrust his hand to his side, the million of blades then encircled both combatants before floating upward to the sky blackening it out, leaving them encased in some kind of dome structure "If you can beat me here. Rukia is yours, I will not pursue you a step further, but…" when he whispered this, Ichigo went wide eyed when he saw pink swords begin to form and encircle the both of them "fail and I will deliver upon you a miserable end to your sorry excuse of a life."

"Fuck…more swords?" Ichigo huffed to himself in frustration

"hmmhmm, be thankful. You will be the second person to witness this state, but also…" he then thrusted his right hand outward and a sword shot into it "it's first victim!" he yelled as he charged forward.

The two swordsman blades both clashed against each other, both men trying to push through to gain favor in this grueling fight. Using his strength Ichigo pushed Byakuya backwards and was moving to cut him in half, when the nobleman glanced to his side, and a sword sprang to life and then shot forward in between the pair stopping the stroke cold.

"Shit." Ichigo cursed as he saw the man lunged forward with his sword and, only thanks to his special forces training, managed to move just enough to get only a large gash from the weapon in his side. Not willing to surrender, Ichigo pulled his sword up breaking apart the sakura sword and slice the cheek of his opponent who whirled the blade around his enemies arm to lob off his head.

Jerking his body, Ichigo cart wheeled over to the side, delivering a firm kick to Byakuya's face as he maneuvered out of the way, and then forced to hand spring away when the captain extended his free hand and formed a unchanted Shakkaho fire spell that exploded where Ichigo had been.

Byakuya Kuchiki then beckoned forth another sword to come to his free hand as he flash stepped forward bringing his sword against the black Zangetsu. The two men stared hatefully into each other's eyes as the blades pressed against the other. The Kuchiki then thrusted the sword forward to stab through the man's heart.

Seeing the blade coming, the male Kurosaki poured a bunch of reiatsu into his blade "Getsuga Tensho!" he yelled firing off a point blank energy burst that broke both swords and consumed the man. "(hah) (huff)…" the man wiped some sweat off his forehead as he gripped his sword with both hands, expectant as the energy wave started to dissipate. When he saw the wounded form of Byakuya he moved to put an end to it.

When his eyes widened and he felt some blood in his mouth, he kneeled down and saw the dirty trick the captain had done. Impaled all along his shoulder and legs were several swords trapping him in his spot. He tried to slowly move, but let out a pained whimper as the flesh rendering blades dug in deeper. The sky behind him suddenly lighting up a fiery red, and muffling out all noise, before it returned back to the domes' dark atmosphere leaving him to silence.

That's when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, looking up he saw a heavily wounded and breathing incredibly hard sixth division captain walking towards him favoring one leg and arm. "I apologize Ichigo Kurosaki." The man said using Ichigo's name for the time ever "Using Senkei, I promise myself to finish my enemy on my own accord. I had to break this vow with you." He said calmly as a sword started to form in his hand "This the end for you, but know as you pass into oblivion, you were my greatest challenge ever." He raised his sword above Ichigo's ahead "Farewell, Ichigo." And brought the sword down while Ichigo lowered his head and closed his eyes tightly

'_Not yet! Hichigo you're on!'_ Ichigo yelled mentally as he relinquished control over to his inner hollow

'_**Heh! You got it, partner!'**_ the monster smirked as it cracked it's finger's in his mind

Within a instant Ichigo's arm shot out and grabbed the sword with his free hand, an act that the captain couldn't even believe feasible as each blade was composed of no less than a hundred petals, it was designed to cut. "Impossible…" he muttered as he used more of his force to bring the weapon back down but little avail "Even the son of a Taicho can't possess such power after all that I've done to you! Who are you exactly!"

A dark chuckle escaped the lips of the now possessed man **"Are you a fucking moron? You should already know my name you primed up bitch."** The man lifted his head up a half mask formed upon his face. A mask of a hollow **"I'm fucking Ichigo Kurosaki! You're killer!"**

The Shinigami-hollow hybrid seized the moment and brought his Tensa Zangetsu around slashing deeply into the man. He then grabbed the man by his shirt and utilizing his bankai's ability zoomed to the top of the dome and threw him as hard as he could down to the ground, and threw in a full powered Getsuga Tensho for good measure.

Staring down from his place in the sky, the hollow possessed man scowled at seeing his worthy opponent still breathing and capable of moving '_Thanks for that, I got it from here. He's on his last legs.'_ Ichigo commented alongside Hichigo, as the man calmly reached for his mask and began to peel it off his face

'_**Don't get it wrong partner. I helped you for myself. I want to fight you, and I'll be damned before I let someone else beat you again, especially HIM! Remember that and remember your killer instincts!'**_

The mask then shattered from his face as the hollow faded into the back of his mind. Ichigo then quickly moved back to where Byakuya Kuchiki was supposed to be lying in a broken heap. Speaking of the man, he was staring at his nemesis's face that no longer had the evil mask _'That mask was a hollows, and it said it was him even though it didn't sound like him. What is going on?'_ the man then narrowed his eyes _'Questions for another time, first I must deal with him, but I don't have much left.'_

"You ready to give up yet?"

Byakuya couldn't help but smirk from the sheer persistence this man had "Almost. I don't have much left, so let us decide this with one last strike on both of our parts."

The battered and bloodied Ichigo looked into the tired eyes of his opponent, and allowed himself to think for a moment and then spoke "Fine. One final blow from the both of us." He then started to flood all his remaining power into his sword.

The sixth captain then held brought his hands together in front of him and called all the swords into that one point "Shukei:Hakuteiken (End scape: White emperor sword)"

As he gave most of his focus into putting power behind his last possible strike, Ichigo couldn't help but marvel at the power the Kuchiki still had. The attack he was creating made a pure white blade that flowed towards his hands and extended behind him. A white halo forming above Byakuya's regal crown and two wings made of pure energy beated lightly, giving him an intimidating appearance that befitted his noble origins.

"Are you ready?" Byakuya asked as he turned his body to accent his swing

"To win? Of course!" Ichigo said with a certain flair in his voice

The two combatants then charged forwards, one covered in pitch black energy while the other was covered in a celestial white. Byakuya seizing the opportunity swung his blade first at his opponent who merely glared at him in return. The huge attack behind him surged forward in an unending onslaught easily destroying a great portion of everyone and everything that could be placed in front of him.

The loud sonic boom that accompanied attack began to subside and as the man got up from his kneeling position looked forward to see a chunk of the execution ground missing "I almost wished to believe…" he lamented, as he had destroyed his opponent so completely his reishi body couldn't even be sustained. The man shook his head and sighed to himself and was going to turn away when he heard it.

The sound of a footstep.

He wheeled around to see the Bankai clad Ichigo Kurosaki coming at him from behind with his attack still reared _'Now I get it. His Bankai is small to allow for incredible speed.'_ Then it hit him the reason why he didn't attack was because he moved out of the way to get a clear shot

"You lose Byakuya!" he yelled as the man closed his eyes, accepting death with dignity.

The loud roar of the black onslaught shot out over the forest in a wave, alerting everyone around the conclusion to the battle on Sokyoku hill.

"Repent your crimes." The voice in front of Byakuya said, as he opened his eyes to see Ichigo Kurosaki standing in front of him his sword beside the noble's neck, while a single black lightning strand coursed around the tip to the hilt.

'_I still live?'_ he questioned to himself, while he wouldn't deny at being relieved at the fact he was still alive, he was fully prepared to die for his actions and felt because of how Ichigo won, his honor has been tarnished. "At the last moment you moved out of the way didn't you." He said not in a question format but more of saying a fact.

"So?"

Byakuya narrowed his eyes, though he felt a slight tugging of his lips "You cheated."

Ichigo merely rolled his eyes, since he never figured he'd need to spell out his occupation to an enemy "I'm an assassin of the second squad's special forces unit. I don't fight fair!" he then pulled his sword back and placed it lazily against his shoulder and looked away with a 'whatever' expression "Beside I'm not fighting for my honor, unlike you. I have more important things to think about then something so petty. I can live with Rukia being alive, and myself being labeled a coward, then the alternative." He then turned a fierce gaze back at his opponent who seemed to be taking this into consideration "Rukia seems like a nice person, so I'm sure she cares about you, so I'm not gonna deprive her of her family member. Even if he is a selfish asshole."

Byakuya moved to say something to contrary but sighed and gave a look of resignation "I suppose your reasoning is sound, unlike your state of mind earlier." He jabbed, wanting to get the last word in "I concede my defeat. The win is yours."

'_Wow, Just-wow. I beat him and he still acts like he had a say in the matter…what a piece of work.'_ Ichigo thought to himself, taking a moment in the lull of action to cultivate an opinion of the man, as he awaited Aizen "Just don't think we're suddenly friends. I absolutely hate your guts for what you did to Hanataro and Ganju."

The banter between the two was cut short as they heard the approaching footsteps of someone. Ichigo instinctively reached for his weapon expecting Aizen, while Byakuya grabbed his asauchi to protect himself for whatever new assailant came.

Both of them immediately blinked in surprise when they saw Renji Abarai come up from the final steps still carrying Rukia Kuchiki.

"Renji?" Ichigo called out, as the man suddenly snapped and looked at his surroundings in confusion

"What? Huh? How the hell did I get here?" he asked a loud, and was then promptly hit by the woman in his hands

"You idiot! How did you manage to take us back here! We should be somewhere else!" Rukia yelled as she looked incredulously at the fool in front of her.

"Well excuuuuse me, I was doing fine in our escape attempt that you weren't really helping with!"

"That! You! Uggghh!"

From his left Ichigo heard a sigh from the spent captain "Never a dull moment with them around." Ichigo allowed himself to smile somewhat and was going to step forward to get Rukia out of here when everyone in the area felt a huge spiritual power fall over them.

"Thank-you for the gift," a smooth familiar voice said above them all, the gathered people looked back to see the fifth division captain Sosuke Aizen with a white bundle in his hand "Renji Abarai." He said calmly while the white bundle moved the extended part beyond his arm, showing the face of Rukia Kuchiki.

'_What!'_ all three of them thought to themselves as they looked back at Renji who was holding nothing, but air in a cradling posture.

"If you'll excuse me." Aizen said casually as he lifted Rukia up by her neck and broke a small tablet "I need to claim my prize."

The man's arm turned a plant-like green. Then without a seconds thought, thrusted it into the body of Rukia Kuchiki who had a look of absolute horror on her face, not expecting Sosuke Aizen of all people to try and kill her. As the hand approached a hole opened in Rukia's chest cavity, while her eyes glazed over, her body completely limp from paralysis. The circle centered around her heart revealed a small crystal that gently moved itself into Aizen's outstretched hand, while the hole closed up in a matter of seconds.

'_To think all that I've desired, the key to my wildest imagination, rests within the palm of my hand.'_ The maniac mused triumphantly at the radiant, but unawakened gem _'With those three, I could have you up and running within a month or so. All is going according to plan.'_ Then the bespectacled man took his eyes off his new found toy, and looked at the struggling Rukia, who was trying to free herself, with a casual smile "I have no need of you." He then casually without regard to her life, tossed her over the edge of the scaffold and pointed a finger at her _'Raikoho.'_ He mentally commanded as yellow reishi formed a moderate sized ball an inch away from his finger

The burst of energy shot out and smashed into the woman's side as she fell down to the earth.

"Rukia!" Byakuya yelled as he moved as fast as he could and caught her, spending just a moment to gaze over her wounds. He then cast a furious gaze at the serene Aizen "Annihilate him." He commanded Senbonzakura pointing his arm directly at him, to destroy with every fiber of his being.

The man looked calmly before blurring out of existence. He then reappeared beside Byakuya and stabbed him in the shoulder "You put such an emphasis on your clan's pride and honor. You were so easy to manipulate, it was almost painful." He then leaned over to whisper into the man's ears "Why do you think back in the meeting, I let everything hinge upon you? You could have saved her. But. You. Didn't." He then pulled out his sword from the man shoulder, causing him to lean forward and press one arm against the ground to support himself.

Ichigo and Renji were about to move when they suddenly froze, seeing Aizen casually snap his fingers. The sky began to crack, and then suddenly the thin crack pulled apart wide enough to reveal a bunch of menos grande. The giant dull faced hollows eagerly stepped out to walk amongst this new found territory, while Aizen and his associates ride showed up from behind the portal "Oh yes, I didn't forget about you two." Aizen said smugly still not bothering to look their way, as he already had that planned out and ready to be executed right about…

Now.

The two Shinigami then suddenly felt a bunch of sword stabs at the same time. Renji looked down to see a lengthy sword extending through his stomach, and another long blade through his shoulder. The two blades then retracted from his body, and revealed two individuals walk by him only to strike him from the front.

The first was a messy silver haired man with pale skin, red eyes and an amused smirk plastered across his face, on his shoulders was a captain's Haori, with the number three. The red eyed man was Gin Ichimaru.

The other assailant was a dark-skinned person of African descent. He had an orange scarf around his neck with a pair of impenetrable silver glasses over his face, the man's hair was dreaded and he too wore a Taicho's Haori. This person was Kaname Tosen.

Ichigo felt two strikes as well, one close to his spinal cord and the other in the soft spot between his neck and shoulder. He also vaguely heard the word 'live'. The two attacking individuals then walked forward and the one on the right re-stabbed his sword into Ichigo's chest, while the other moved faster than he could keep up but swung around his neck.

The strawberry soul reaper felt some blood come out of his mouth and felt some cold liquidy substance across his throat as he fell backwards. The two figures having a look of remorse and regret on their face. The two figures of…

Third seats: Shinjiro Taiga and Subaru Kujo.

Ichigo's eyes closed as he fell backwards and ended up crumpled on his right side against the ground, with Renji Abarai following immediately afterward. From his spot Ichimaru smirked as he looked at the anguish ridden pair "Whadda ya know? I can't believe you cut him down in cold blood." He said with a hint of mirth, as he then looked at their 'friend' who had blood all over his body, multiple sword wounds, and now judging by the blood, a slashed throat. "That's just cruel."

Shinjiro pulled his sword out and turned away from the body, with a look of absolute devastation over what he did "Shut up. Let's just get out of here."

"What's the hurry?" Aizen asked inquisitively as he turned around slowly, while the menos grande started to walk around the spiritual enriched area

It was Subaru who spoke "All the Shinigami's spiritual energies have sensed not only you but the Menos Grande. They are about to converge on us any moment now. We…need to retreat." She said with reluctance in her voice

"Are you certain?" Aizen said detecting a lie inside the spies' words, and now wanted to hear the truth. Which everyone knew if he didn't get there would be dire consequences, as evident as his spiritual pressure pressed lightly against the younger pair, though it was ready to overpower them should they try anything.

The spy turned her gaze downward and closed her eyes feeling the tears come out more "I…I don't wish sister to see this…" she said in utter honesty, since that was one of her prominent reasons for getting out of here ASAP.

"You mean," he started as a golden light surrounded all five of them to transport them to Hueco Mundo "that sister right there?" he asked as he pointed his finger behind them.

The traitorous pair despite all their urges not too, turned just enough to where they could look over their shoulder, and sure enough beside Yoruichi Shihoin was her. Their friend, sister, and for one of them Taicho. With a look of utter disbelief, her eyes shifted between the downed possibly killed form of Ichigo and back to the two siblings.

"You?" she asked, her voice carrying all that she wanted to say to them in a single word

Unable to bear the guilt as she feared it might consume her. Subaru turned away feeling absolutely disgusted with herself. Shinjiro whoever kept a linger gaze for a second longer, then shifted it without moving his head to Ichigo, repeating the action twice, which Shaolin caught, and kept an impassive front for the moment.

"It seems you won this round Aizen." The voice of Kisuke Urahara said as multiple prominent Shinigami showed up on the execution ground "But I don't get it how were you able to pull this off?"

Aizen turned to his intellectual nemesis and smiled darkly, having a clear victory of the man, and he was going to relish it for all it was worth "You think I didn't plan for any changes or failings in my plan? You fool. I adapted to my circumstances and overcame, with no small help from my lovely Kyoka Suigetsu which complete controls my enemy's senses. View it once and you are already my puppet." He then gestured his hand to the dead body near the former and current second division captain "and now your only hope has been reduced to a corpse."

From his spot a winded Sou-taicho glared fiercely at Aizen "Are you saying this all your doing Aizen? All of it?"

"Yes." He said simply then gave an off-handed gesture "I had always planned to use the alternate method to get the Hogyoku, allowing the boy to destroy the Sokyoku, removing one very powerful tool from you clutches, and severely weaken you all. I would have been greatly pleased if you all ended up destroying yourselves, then I could have moped up the rest of you with little effort, unfortunately it didn't quite turn out in the most ideal of outcomes." He then turned around facing back as he and his cohorts continued to float away "Never the less this still benefits me in the end. I will await you all in the valley of screams and from their I shall ascend to the throne of heaven."

It instantly clicked to everyone aware of the governing order of things, exactly what Sosuke Aizen was insinuating. _'He's going to try to kill the spirit king!'_

"Are you mad Aizen?" Shunsui asked questioning the man's sanity since it seemed he jumped the slippery slope

"Mad?" Aizen quoted with a hint of mirth "All through history people of great promise and change have been called 'mad' by their ignorant peers at the time, only to be proven right in the end. Do you think I will be any different? You may decry me now, but soon…" he then removed his glasses and smirked at them all "You'll be calling me god."

The large canine captain turned to his friend Tosen, and asked the question which could only define, the just man's mind boggling actions "Kaname! Do you really agree with this madman! Have you lost your sense of justice?"

"No. Justice walks the path of least bloodshed. That is my path, and it and I are intertwined. Farewell…old friend. We will meet again one day." The man said with certain finality that made the dog-Taicho growl uneasily

"We certainly will."

Rangiku turned to her old friend and stared at him with a complex look unable to see why he would do this "Got anything to say Gin?"

The silver haired man chuckled lightly "Just that if you want to live, and see the new world, Rangiku-chan. You'll need to adapt, and evolve over the trials ahead, and only then will you have chance to see me again. Grow strong."

'_You never change…'_ she thought to herself with a frown, knowing that he was still messing with her even if his words did hold truth in them.

The bee looked at her fading siblings having already caught their clue, but acted the part, even though she still wished to know their thoughts "Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

Shinjiro looked sadly at his wife, who looked as if she was having a panic attack or reliving some kind of nightmare, which to the samurai was true, given the nature of the scenario they were in. The bobbed black haired man glanced back with a sad look "Don't die."

Then with a wisp of light they all disappeared going to what they could only assume would be their home base, in the valley of screams. Leaving the wounded assembly of Shinigami to deal with five lumbering Menos Grande. The Sou-taicho being the commander glanced over his assembled mass, and then barked out "Sajin, Shunsui, Jushiro, Hitsuguaya, and myself will deal with these abominations. Captain Unohana please tend to the wounded up here. Everyone else, please return down below and stop the fighting between your forces and our own."

The resounding cry of 'yes sir!' echoed over the hill, and each team moved to go perform their respective task. With the area mostly vacant with the exception of Retsu Unohana, Isane Kotetsu who the previously mentioned woman request she tend to Abarai and Rukia, while she went to deal with both Taicho level fighters, and Senna who was a little wary of leaving Ichigo with these strangers who might have tried to kill them earlier this week.

Unohana walked over and turned Ichigo to where he was on his back. As the body shifted she looked intently over him and saw he was an utter mess, with blood from various parts on his body and a large amount spread across his throat _'No, wait.'_ She pressed her hand against the throat and wiped to the side, the lukewarm blood clung to her hand an oddity to be certain, but saw that underneath the blood spattered wound, there was no cut mark. _'Then where did this come from?'_ she asked herself as she rubbed the blood between her fingers "If he's still alive I'd best hurry." She said as she stood up "Invigorate, Minazuki." The Taicho said as she pulled out her Zanpaktou, which then began to morph in shape to become a large single eyed green manta ray like creature.

"What may I ask are you doing?" Senna asked cautiously, as she saw the even bustier woman in the white Haori line up the body of Ichigo to the forefront of the one legged sea creature.

"I'm going to save this boy's life." Retsu replied calmly, as Minazuki opened his large gaping mouth allowing his slimy tongue to slither underneath and wrapped around the rough orange haired teenager, then pulled him into his mouth delicately.

Senna froze under the action, feeling skeptical of the notion that being eaten by the fantasy-esque creature would truly help him. She looked into the face of the woman who was now helping a handsome but bloodied man to hobble over to the creature. "Taicho-san." Senna called out as Unohana looked her way, while Minazuki opened it's mouth for the other Taicho to collapse into, "I'm going with you." She said with a heated look

"Can you heal?" Unohana asked curiously, now eyeing the girl and coming to the conclusion that she based on her looks and choice weapon was the woman that was detailed to have been with Ichigo back at Jidanbo's gate.

"No. I can't heal. But I don't trust you with him either." She replied while narrowing her eyes, trying and failing to intimidate the unfettered woman.

"I see. That's fair enough." The woman said simply, understanding the woman's skepticism since they were technically enemies only moments before. She then got up and walked around to the side of the large manta-ray, and called to her Fuku-taicho who was busy healing Rukia and Renji, both looked much better than before "I'm going on ahead to get these two immediate care, once they are out of danger, I'll try and return provided we don't have too much influx."

"Roger, Taicho." The silver haired woman yelled back understanding the order, while Senna shifted her head to the woman recognizing the name Unohana as the one Ichigo mentioned before.

The fourth division captain then walked up the wing like a ramp, then turned slightly extending her hand to the wind Miko "Shall we miss?"

* * *

Ichigo: You guys are evil!

Shinjiro: Ahahaha! You figured it out too late foolish fool! Bwaha! Bwahahaha!

Subaru: Shin, you need to work on your evil laugh. Seriously.

Soifon: Can you at least tell me why you joined Aizen's side?

Subaru:…(blush) w-well you see we were hungry. And they had these muffins (3).

Soifon (painfully): Muffins…

Subaru (embarrassed): Y-yeah…they were really good. (pepped up) A-and after become an official member you become eligible to get the recipe.

Soifon (face palm): All of Soul society thrown into Shambles…because of a breakfast product.

Subaru: In my defense, you probably would have liked them too.

Ichigo: I just can't wrap my head around this.

Shinjiro: Do you not see? I am your opposite. I am the Lelouche Vi Britania to your Renton Thurston. I am the Adachi Tohru to your Souji Seta. I am the Nero to your Guy Cecil. I am the voices around you, I am the voice inside of you! I AM JOHHNY YOUNG BASCH! (4)

Ichigo:…(face palm) Shinjiro sit down you've been standing in the sun for too long again….

* * *

1. That's actually not me giving him more jerk tendencies or stereotyping. It's an actual what's the word…belief? What I mean to say is that it was an ancient (people's) way of thinking. The more children a man and a woman had the more prosperous the family life would be. It's also one of the founding reasons why some guys are attracted to women because of their hips, reason being having curvy hips are a sign of being better suited to bearing children. The more you know, the better you are off after all.

2. Tenburenjin is that one move he does in the anime/manga where he swing his sword fast enough to knock down all the petals. The rough translation of the name is either 'Heavenly dance with god' or 'Gods parting of the heavens'. Ten=Heaven, Bu= Parting/Dance Ren=With Jin (Chinese)= God

3. It's a joke based on the fact several campaign ads for evil to get followers. One of them being 'Join evil/the dark side. We have muffins.'

4. All of this is actually true. JYB has played these roles.


	23. Chasing Secrets

Author's note: Wow…hard to believe it's been a whole year that this little story has been live. Now I won't say that it feels like only yesterday that I got the courage to just try, because that's not true, the metaphor might have been better if instead said, only a little while ago, but I digress.

Yeah I think it was around this time that I sent out chapter two. Looking back on it, I was so excited getting 500 total hits, I'm not sure how I would have reacted back then now that I'm at 92,530 total hits. Probably flat line haha. I remember receiving my first positive reinforment from Mako-hero to my first soul crushing but constructive criticizing from reviewer back in two. So I'd like to say not only happy birthday to this little idea, but also thank-you to everyone out there. Without you all this story is, is really little more than data floating in the sea called the internet. So here's hoping to another good year of story progression.

Oh, and do me a favor, if any of you out there practice any kind of religion. Can you like ask god, allah ect to like not end the world in 2012. That'd be really appreciated. You know…just asking, maybe some of you got connection. Anyway let's get this show on the road, in traditional yet…what's the word… 'unique' fashion?

* * *

To unknown reviewer known only as 'LG'

I'm glad you like it. For your question…it get's answered eventually.

To 007420 from 20

I'm glad you enjoyed it thus far.

To Jason

Originally speaking I was going to type out Manji, but I wasn't sure if that's what it was called or if it was simply the design. So I went with the only broken cross shaped thing, which happened to be (unfortunately) the Nazi Swastika. But yeah, I'll try to go back and change that later.

To Shilion

You knew it! And you didn't bother to tell me? (shakes head in mock disappointment) For shame, that's not very nice. Anyway all playing aside, (and I really could make a few cracks about evil and not evil simultaneously) you will have to make your answers of it for now. Well…at least until I reveal where they really stand in relation to things.

To Sya

Ahhh…geez. I can't really help the update thing too much. It'll happen when it happens. But reassured I don't stop not thinking about how to advance it, but it's not exactly easy either.

* * *

Blackout2010: Oooh Ichigo…(stares perversely at him) your so rugged lately…

Ichigo: What the…?

Shinjiro: Hey! (grabs Ichigo by waist) I saw him first damn it! He's mine get your own!

Hichigo: I call bullshit on the both of you. I've been with him forever we're practically life partners.

(else where)

Mirokumaru: …

Senna: What's wrong?

Mirokumaru: I feel like I'm missing something amazing…

(back)

Ichigo (struggling): Get the fuck off me all of you!

Kenpachi: Ichigo…

Ichigo: (fuck me…) What?

Kenpachi (starts disrobing): Let's have a battle of dominance…

(elsewhere)

Mayuri: Nemu what happened to 'nam evol rebmun enin' (1)! I need it at once!

Nemu: my apologies but I thought you asked me to administer it to target, Ichigo Kurosaki.

Ichigo (distance): AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Mayuri:…(sweat drop) carry on.

* * *

Chasing secrets

Gliding through the air on route to squad four, Senna meticulously kept moving her eyes from the back of the giant sting ray Zanpaktou's driver to the ever stretching white labyrinth below them, trying to memorize the route they came should things turn sour. The breezy winds of the ride did little to calm her apprehension, which stemmed from the undeniable facts that one: Ichigo who had fought so incredibly hard to save Rukia was in critical condition, possibly dying this very moment, and she couldn't help. Two: Sosuke Aizen, the man who not only seriously wounded Ichigo, had just escaped with the one thing that would doom them all. And third: The woman she was riding with, was possibly the same woman who possessed the details of who she might be and her origins. So it was all a bit much to take in for the young Kurosaki.

From her seat in the front, the old but youthful looking Taicho sensed the unrest in the woman behind her. Knowing that they weren't going to be getting back to the base any sooner than they were, she turned her head to look over her shoulder and spoke in a calming tone "So might I inquire as to what brings you here Ryoka-san?"

Senna's amber eyes whirled from the city back to the older woman in front of her, as she spoke loosely "Oh, well I'm here to-" she then cut off abruptly with a scrutinizing look at nearly forget who she was talking too, "…why do you want to know that?" she asked cautiously to the still pending enemy Shinigami

"I'm just engaging in some small talk. We won't be arriving for a while now and you seemed to be bored. If I am disturbing you, however, I'll leave you alone until we arrive." She said passively which forced the other girl to re-evaluate her words, since she felt that maybe she'd been a bit rude, even if she did want Ichigo to be ok.

"Sorry…I just had a long day." She apologized as she twiddled her thumbs "I, well, my name is Senna." She introduced first and foremost, which the Taicho replied it was a lovely name "and the reason I'm here?" She paused to word her statement to where it gave a vague understanding "Is to learn about some stuff."

Unohana arched an eye brow "So you are a scholar?" she asked since the girl seemed to be a bit young looking, not that it really meant much since, people's bodies aged rather slowly.

"No." she answered only to think over the question a little more critically "Well, yeah, kinda hmmmm…" she paused since she knew she obviously wasn't making much sense "umm I'm a high school student so I do learn things, but I'm definitely not a text book definition of a scholar." She amended "As for what I mean by learning stuff, it's kinda complicated. I guess the best way to say is that's more like…finding my place in the world rather than figuring how things work." She cringed slightly at her crappy articulation "Do you get what I mean Shinigami-san?"

"Ahh… I understand what you wish to convey." The single banded woman nodded to herself "Well, we all at some point, need to find that place in life we belong; and come to understand what is it we are here to do. To find our 'purpose', so to speak. The fact that you realize that you lack it is testament to taking of the first step toward maturity." She said sagely

Senna found herself oddly enchanted by the way of thinking, and decided to be more amicable to the stranger "So what about you? What's your name?" she asked trying to get into the good graces of the woman

"Oh, forgive my rudeness Senna-san." She apologized with a friendly smile, she then turned around fully and in the seiza position bowed her head "I am Captain of squad four Retsu Unohana." She introduced amicably

'_She's definitely the one!'_ she inwardly shouted now having undeniable proof this was the Retsu Unohana Ichigo had mentioned.

'_**Hell yeah, she's the one!'**_ Mirokumaru snarked sarcastically; taking her owner's comment and running with it._** 'She can be my personal night nurse; any day of the week. I wouldn't mind getting some 'intimate healing' with her or that other one from earlier. What was her name again? Oh right Isane-chan! Eh, A little on the willowy side, but she's still easy on the eyes! Oh and her rack too, yeah…definitely easy…haaah…'**_

'_I gotta control myself.'_ She mentally promised herself then returned back to the older woman "It's a pleasure to meet you." She said bowing forward respectfully, "May I ask you something then Unohana-san?"

"But of course, ask away." She said as she turned back around to direct Minazuki to bank to the right

"Tell me do you know a lot about my friend, Ichigo Kurosaki?"

The corners of the captain's lips tugged upward "Yes, I do. I've known about him since the day of his birth." She said with a small sense of pride in seeing the boy having proven his and her Sensei's innocence, which eased her heart.

"And could you tell me about his family? Like who his relatives are or where they live?" Senna inquired pulling all the stops to uncover everything.

Her over-eagerness proved to be a blunder.

"That is a private matter which, without my patient's express admittance, I am not allowed to disclose. Doctor-Patient confidentiality, Senna-san." She shot down quietly but firmly, which the Miko could tell was going to be unmoving unless she could really give the woman a reason to share

The ribbon wearing girl inhaled for a moment "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes." Unohana said after pausing, having to wonder the sudden change in mood in the girl

Senna shifted a bit and placed a hand over her heart and spoke softly "My name is Senna Kurosaki," she said fully revealing herself to the doctor who she hoped would know her now "and I think I have a right to know about Ichigo."

"Sen…na?" the braided woman pronounciated confusedly, the words rolling off her tongue in a broken manner. Turning around fully she eyed the woman curiously, _'it can't be…'_ she thought to herself as she continued to look at the woman whose name was now picking up another person, while at the same time seeing traces of her Sensei's outline and features "You…" she shook her head in disbelief, a little troubled by the claim "You would…that's impossible. The only Senna Kurosaki that I know of would be my Sensei's daughter, and she died years ago. Even if you were to be her reincarnation, you should have no memory, of being Senna and should be someone else!"

"That's why I want to know, Unohana-san. My 'dad'" she air quoted with her fingers "in the human world told me that I'm not from earth. He said that I was given to him by an unknown entity, but I have reason to believe it might be Ichigo's-our father, when he came to the human world."

Retsu Unohana pondered the thought, and tried to time frame it in her mind. She recalled that her Sensei had retired close to a century earlier, for reason unknown at the time. She gave some consideration of whether or not the reason was because she wanted to stop living the life of a Taicho, and settle down. It could be in that time frame that she met her husband and Senna and Ichigo's father. She then sized up Senna, the fire happened about fifteen years ago, and the children were about two, so mathematically she'd look about the age the girl in front of her appeared as, going under the assumption that her 'wanting to find where she belonged' was a sign of stepping into maturity.

'_Hmm…now that I think about it, I sense Ichigo's spiritual pressure directly in front of me, yet this girl is there, and Minazuki prevents people from being sensed in her stomach.'_ She threw in to the stew of information, letting it simmer within her mind until a good question could be formed. She wouldn't need to wait long "Assuming your words to be true, I would like to ask you your age."

"17, I'll be 18 come this July."

"July?"

"Fifteenth."

'_That's the same day as Ichigo, and Ichigo will be eighteen as well.'_ Unohana reported "One final question." She then looked deeply into Senna's expression to gauge this next answer "Do you by chance hear any voices in your head? Or have you seen someone who looks just like you in your soul scape? I ask because my Sensei made a mention of that in regards to certain individuals." She said referring to Ichigo specifically, as he had told his mother of meeting such an individual in his early youth, and it had frightened him greatly.

'_She must mean my othe-…me.'_ Senna nodded her head "I do. Ichigo kind of made a mentioning of it too." she said skirting the truth a bit

The captain either didn't catch her lie or simply chose not to voice, and instead cast a thoughtful look "Then I will have to say, you do seem to be in fact, Senna Kurosaki, the daughter of my Sensei. At least until I can perform a more modern medical examination."

'!' Senna quickly leaned forward, her hand reaching out to grab Retsu's arm "Wait! P-Please don't tell Ichigo!"

"Don't tell?" she asked her expression changing to misunderstanding, as she felt that if they were reunited he'd want to know "Why not?"

The stare she received made the girl swallow the lump in her throat as she prepared to answer "I…don't want to overwhelm him." She half-lied trying to build up a more plausible reason "He's been through a lot, and I'd like to give him the opportunity to recover first. And I…" she looked away with an unnoticeable blush "don't want to change things too quickly."

'_**You just be sure not to rape him in his sleep, Sen-chan.'**_ Mirokumaru said in brutal honesty, already knowing of her intentions in getting closer to Ichigo

"Yes, well. He's going to be bedridden for at least a week."

"A week?" Senna replied weakly, now hearing the true extent of the damage _'That's a long time.'_ A thought then occurred to her on how to pass said time _'Dad, I should go visit him! He'll be relieved to hear I'm ok.'_

"Excuse me, Unohana-san, could you tell me where the exit is? I want to go visit my dad back in Rukongai, after Ichigo is safe of course." She requested, which was met with a disappointed look

"I'm sorry, but right now we're in total lockdown, until we figure things out and recover. It could take a few days. I'm afraid you're stuck in here, until we can reorganize our ranks." She then turned around as she saw the fourth division in sight and mentally commanded Minazuki to bring them down "I will request someone to pick you up, and give you temporary residence."

"(Sigh)" '_Sorry dad.'_ "Ok, but promise me you won't tell anyone that Ichigo's my brother. I want to keep it as low a profile as possible, Unohana-sama."

The doctor smiled as she landed her Zanpaktou outside the base "Doctor-Patient Confidentiality. My lips are sealed."

Within a matter of seconds the two women, were swarmed by other healers who laid the two heavily injured men on stretchers before taking them to intensive care. Senna could only stand back and let the men and women do their job, since she didn't have the capability to heal them herself. As Unohana directed more Shinigami to action she turned to her Sensei's daughter and beckoned her to stick close.

Upon entering the medical division, Senna was now able to fully see the extent of the damage caused. Medical doctors and personnel were rushing people down hallways, directing traffic and giving orders, and others were heading out of the door they came in to go get supplies from the storage houses.

Sticking close behind the ever calm leader so as not to get lost, she was led to a room with a bunch of chairs lining the wall. "Wait here Senna-chan." Retsu politely gestured to the waiting room

"What? No! I can help you; just tell me what to do!" Senna decried not wanting to be put on the sideline

"The offer is appreciated, but there is little you can do." Retsu said in the most sincere tone possible

"Well, I can give the doctors what they need!" she pointed out

"Do you even know what it is that they need if they asked you to bring it, or the proper ways of handling said medicine, since some are time or temperature sensitive?" Retsu replied in her unchanging peace-filled voice

Senna sloshed her lips from side to side, having been shot down and needing to come up with a better answer "W-well, I can help transport people back here!"

"Could you do it safely for both you and your charge? And without getting lost in the process?" The captain asked another stone walling question

"Maybe…maybe, umm," she stuttered desperately fishing for an answer now "Oh! I could check on the injured, yo know make sure they're ok!"

"True," The woman conceded allowing Senna to smile under the impression she'd finally won out. "But are you sure you could read our charts, which details what ails our patients, and their specific needs?" she asked deflating her Sensei's daughter fully

"Ahh…umm…I-I, err, I could-"

Unohana smiled and put a hand on her shoulder "There isn't anything you can do, I'm afraid. You are an attacker, a fighter, so your place is more on the battlefield. However the fighting is over, and specialized individuals have already taken most of the wounded back here. All that is left is for us, the healers, to heal our friends and allies." Senna opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again, knowing that there really wasn't anything she could do, which the captain saw and made telling her so, that much harder since it was obvious she wished she could. "I will return for you shortly. For now, I have to go contact someone to provide you temporary asylum."

The doctor then turned and left. The door creaked to a close, leaving the worried and useless feeling woman to wait in silence. With nothing to do, she took a quick survey of the room, lining all around the medium sized room were hard wooden chairs that looked like they could use a good dusting, in the corner was a wall hanging push water fountain. Taking a weary seat into one of the chairs, she found herself staring across the two bathroom doors with a clock in the small crease between the doors that incorrectly read time as 8:31.

Senna let out a sigh as she dropped her head back against the wall, a small thump echoed throughout the room. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes while her feet were tapping up and down in a heated pace, a mixture of her feelings anxiousness and impatience. _'Damn it.'_ she cursed with a frown

A loud buzzing sound rang through the room grabbing Senna immediate attention. Instantly she shot up from the chair and turned towards the door expecting to see Retsu Unohana or some other doctor having returned for her instead she was met with nothing. The pumped feeling she had earlier, once again died out as the sound rang again this time from her left. Raising her sight upward in the direction, she saw the clock now read 8:32 "Damn thing." She said spitefully as she plopped back into the chair loudly, the wood clattering against the tile floor from the sudden increase in weight and directional speed

The woman knew it would be a long wait to say the least.

(Kisuke)

With the Sokyoku grounds finally cleared up of the injured and the Menos Grande taken care of, the sandy blond shop keeper allowed himself to breathe a well earned sigh of relief. His rest was short lived as he felt a battle ready spiritual force behind him.

Turning around the proprietor of the U-shoten was face to face with the old scarred but very well built Sou-taicho, Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, whose upper body was exposed no doubt from having to take the cloths off to allow his body to receive air lest he cook himself along his enemies. "I'm afraid I haven't established a branch shop in soul society yet, so I got nothing to sell, but is there something I can I help you with sir? he asked humorously tipping his hat to one side

"I would ask that you explain yourself, but now is not the time. As lives are at stake." Yamamoto grumbled to the considerably younger genius

The shifting in persona of Kisuke was instantly noticeable "I promise I won't leave any detail out. But for now, your right, we need to tend to our wounds." He then turned around "I've got things to think over and plans to make." And then flash stepped off

The ancient Shinigami paused to think about where he would go during the lockdown, but decide it could wait. He needed answers but the soldiers came first, and promptly vanished to go check in on Byakuya Kuchiki.

(Several hours later)

Returning back into the sterile and nearly empty waiting room, the Taicho found the impulsive genki girl, laying stretched out across a few chair, totally clocked out with a bit of drool coming from her mouth, as she gripped her golden staff in her arms. The woman would have thought it cute on first sight, but saw that the teenager's arm was shivering not from the temperature of the room but of some other stimuli, her eye lids pressed tighter for a second before relaxing, her hand gripping and releasing the weapon with each contraction of the eyes _'Poor thing, most be suffering from a nightmare induced by depression, sleep deprivation, anxiety and slight to mild battle trauma.'_ The doctor analyzed coming to the obvious conclusion

Walking over to the woman, Retsu shook the woman's shoulder for a few seconds, continuing the action until a response was given. The purple haired adolescent opened up her eyes, in surprise as if not expecting to find herself back in the room. Her amber eyes flickering between gold and their normal tone, until it settled on the unusual color. With both her eyes opened she let them glide over to the Taicho in a cold predatorily manner, the rather hostile action deeply perplexing Unohana who was unused to seeing such a look from anyone even Zaraki. 'What's going on? That looks…its almost feral like she sees me as prey. No child should have such a look…'

Doing her best to ignore the odd look and her own uneasiness, but promising herself to look into it later, she addressed the girl as to why she woke her from her disturbed slumber "You can come visit Ichigo-kun now. He's out of any immediate danger, but he's still unconscious. I'll let you look over him while I go talk to your temporary guardian."

After she informed Senna of that, she had to fight hard to keep her face as calm as it was, when she saw the flicker golden hued eyes revert to amber, a scientific or biological mutation she never heard of before, along with the demeanor and aura of the girl shift. "Really? Please let's go!" she exclaimed as she moved to get up, only to slip off and crash to the ground, her Shakujo following after it's master over the edge "Oww!" she winced to herself as she pushed her face off the cold floor

"…" the captain relieved to have this Senna back, couldn't stop herself from making a joke "Please don't increase our workload anymore Senna-chan."

"Y-yes ma'am." She eeped out

After gathering her things, Senna followed the woman to the room that apparently Ichigo was resting in. After being told to wait in here, until she could speak with her guardian on the arrangement, the Taicho once again departed leaving Senna outside the room.

Taking in a deep breath to calm herself, she gripped the handle of the door and pushed the door open revealing a dark unlit room, which the only light came from hallway she'd been in. She stood by the doorway to let her eyes adjust to the dark before walking in, and close the door behind her. There were no windows in the room explaining the lack visibility, and the bed around the center of the room had the curtain drawn, with a small chair and desk beside the bed itself.

Walking as quietly as she could, she moved next to the bed, stopping just to turn the dial of the light switch on the bedside lamp. The woman winced from the sudden intenseness of the light stream. Then adjusted the lamp's shade to where she figured it probably wouldn't disturb Ichigo and his rest, but still allow her to see him unhinged. Lightly grabbing the curtain surrounding the bed, Senna walked beside the track to open the space between them about half-way.

Looking at Ichigo, she let out a pleasant exhalation in seeing that he was breathing, and still alive. "Thank goodness." She said to herself, as she gently took the seat beside him. She silently watched as the rough orange-haired boy beside her breathed in and out steadily, completely free of pain from what her eyes could tell. Without her noticing she had begun to lean over the bed to see if there were any wounds which she was surprised by the power of Shinigami healing when she saw not a single scar on his flesh. Moving her hand upward she moved some of his hair out of his face to look at his forehead and saw not a scratch their either. The smile on Senna's face grew a fragment more. 'Well…I don't think he'd mind, and it's not too unnatural.' She thought to herself, as she gradually moved her face closer to his, the lid of her eyes falling about half-way down, her heart pounding a little more with each second. She drew closer to his lips and continued to lean forward, her eyes closing fully, and then stopped. She opened her eyes barely an inch away from him and sighed defeatedly, her breath ruffling his hair "This isn't right." She whispered to herself, now backing off in her actions

'_**And why is that! We both know you want to!'**_ the hollow yelled out against the minor stumbling block that could still be recovered from, if the woman acted quickly.

'_Yeah, I…want to, I really do. But, I want him to want it too. Doing it while he's asleep doesn't feel right for me and, even if I wasn't being morally self-conscious, it wouldn't change anything between us. He won't magically wake up and remember it, so my feelings will still go unreturned.'_ She returned solemnly as she gripped the side bar hard, knowing it would be so much easier to do it this way, but she just couldn't bring herself to love him like that. It would make her little different than Mirokumaru's constant lecherous attempts on her. She didn't want him to accept her as the slutty one night stand Mirokumaru, but as friendly and loving Senna. _'Don't worry, Miroku. One day, I'll capture his lips for myself. Just not today.'_ She then sent a heated glare at her _'And I'll do it without your interference.'_

The specter returned the glare, with one of her own _**'Don't act all high and mighty with me. While we are one and the same, I'm much more powerful than you. I could force you to do any number of things against your weak will.'**_ She said threateningly _**'Just. Like. This.'**_

Senna's hand then started to move from the railing and despite her bodies command, reached into her Hakama and slid down past her breast an touched her stomach and flicked it off handedly, and kept going lower and lower. Despite her best efforts she couldn't stop it. The hand though started to return upward still having not touched anything delicate. Senna's hitching of breath was the only indication in the whole room that something had happened. The possessed limb, then pulled away from the shirt and in it's hand was a red bra, which the horrified girl realized was hers.

'_**See? You can't stop me, little bitch.'**_ The demon said haughtily, as she made Senna bend back over the bed _**'I can make you do this!'**_ Senna's hand then started to go to his chest, and then went up and cupped his face, caressing him softly.

The act was short lived as a dark aura surrounded the limb, and the hand pulled back against the inner hollow's wanting. _'This is my body and you have no say!'_ Senna yelled fiercely as her spiritual pressure began to pour out of her body, counter acting the possessing power of the Zanpaktou spirit _'Listen, and listen well, Mirokumaru. You will never EVER touch Ichigo again. And if you try that again, I'll rip my own arm off to stop you.'_ She threatened

'_**Damn, she can get pretty, fierce given the right trigger.'**_ The hollow observed, not expecting to be overpowered like she had. Her opinion changing just a bit. _**'Alright you win.'**_ The spirit gave in, as she started to back off _**'I'll trust your judgment on getting this done. Your brief showing of power, has made me reconsider. But remember, I'm still here, and you will need more than a flashy show to beat me. Keep it in mind.'**_ The creature warned as she faded back to the recesses of her mistress's mind, leaving the bra less girl still leaning over the bed.

The woman paused for a few moments to monitor her mental condition; while the dark creature went far and away from the surface of her soul. She then glanced down at the feminine item, and looked at Ichigo's face for a moment. Her face heating up from embarrassment, she waved her hand in front of his face, and then snapped her fingers twice to make sure he was totally out like a light, and then looked behind her to make sure no one was there. And pulled open her clothing exposing her upper half, and put the garment back on clipping the front part together. She then put one arm back through her sleeve and leaned forward as she put her other arm through the hole.

"What's going on and what are you doing?" a cold voice rang through the room, frightening the girl as she jumped up and let out a yelp. Calming her heart down from the sudden surprise, the female Kurosaki looked back and saw standing in the doorway with a hard glare was a woman, with rough dark blue hair and tan skin. The woman was garbed in a black martial arts Gi of some kind that had a ripped yellow sash with a white jacket over it similar to Retsu Unohana, with the difference being the sleeves weren't quite as long, and was obviously designed for the smaller woman's body. The woman crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently awaiting an answer, as two strange bands fluttering to the twist and turning of the woman's head "Well?" she asked impatiently

"How…did you know I was in here?" she asked wondering if this was the person she'd be staying with for the next week

"Unohana informed me that there was someone I should meet in this room, and be providing lodging too. Initially, I thought it was the man beside you, but I'm quickly deducing that she was speaking about you." She then closed her eyes and spoke in a more matter of factly tone "Also I felt your reiatsu increase significantly and I had thought something was wrong. So I rushed here to see you leaning over him." Her hard gaze then reset back on the younger girl, who was inwardly sweating bullets "Which you have failed to give an answer to."

"I was just adjusting my Hakama, when I looked down, and was relieved to see he was still breathing." She said truthfully, just not in the correct order of events.

Which judging by the look on the woman's face she wasn't buying "Whatever." She said letting the lie drop, since the heart rate monitors should have told her he was still among them, and she didn't seem to be malicious in intent "So it seems we meet again." She struck up a conversation with a cocky grin

"Again?" Senna asked confusedly, the female Taicho's face drawing an immediate blank "I don't remember meeting you."

"You wouldn't; but rest assured, I've seen you before. From what Unohana tells me is that your name is Senna."

"That's my name." she said with a nice swing in her voice and a dash of pride, as she stuck her hand out to extend an olive branch "And you must be Soifon, right?"

The captain raised an eye brow and was going to ask how she knew her name, but the answer was obvious, since Ichigo more than likely mentioned who his Taicho was, and there was only two female Taicho's currently in office. "Yes, I am." She then turned around ignoring the outstretched hand "Gather your things and follow me." She then turned to the door and looked over her shoulders and spoke in a flat tone that didn't hold any menace, at least by her standards "By the way, it's Soifon-san or Soifon-taicho. Don't disrespect me like that again." And then walked out

"…" Senna blinked doing a double take, while her hand feebly dropped back down to her side "What a bitch…" She muttered to herself critical of the girl, as she gathered her things.

With all her things, which only really amounted to Mirokumaru and herself, she exited the room to find the Taicho looking not a decibel mellower. The pair walked in silence as they headed for the second division. The one in lead thinking about the actions of her siblings and her missed opportunity to visit Ichigo even if he was unconscious. The other wondering if this arrangement was really going to work out until the week was up, and what Ichigo saw in her since she just seemed to have gotten shafted after being friendly, though she did attribute that maybe lying and doing what she did earlier didn't help her conscious.

The silence was ended when the duo found themselves at the squad two barracks, and were moving through and coming to a shoji door that read 'Taicho'. Now for the first time since they departed the shorter woman looked at her taller traveling companion "Come in we have much to discuss." She said quietly, since she wanted to get a feel for this Senna who had still given no sir name.

Following the Taicho in, the newbie Shinigami looked around and it seemed rather empty. The room for the most part was full of space to move around in. In the center of the room was the desk, which Senna guessed was where the bluenette did her 'Captain work', with a small book case behind the desk. On the left hand side of the wall across the door there was another door which lead somewhere else, with a door on the wall adjacent to that which she guessed might be a storage room or maybe where she lived since this was a barracks. On the right hand wall, all that was adorned on the egg-shell painted wall was a single old fashioned kitty clock, whose eyes and tail moved back and forth with every second while it smiled a cat like grin as it kept the time.

"Please have a seat." The captain gestured boredly to the desk, not trying to make a show of her now visible fatigue

"Are you ok?" Senna asked as she took the seat, only really asking since while she thought the girl was kind of rude, she shouldn't sink to her level.

"I'll be fine." She said quickly "It's just been a long day for me, and firing my Bankai, coupled with the running around I did, left me a little exhausted." She then sat up in her chair correcting her posture "But, I can live with those small gripes, what's really important is that I feel something is obviously wrong here. I run a secret police force that conducts operations filled with treachery and deceit, not a five star resort, so I don't see how or why you should be staying here." She said calmly not trying to come off as rude but more stating a fact "Do you have any idea why?"

"I guess maybe because I know your secret." Senna replied throwing in what she thought might be the connecting thing between both ladies.

Ichigo.

"Know my secret?" she replied sourly, not liking the way it was worded "What do you mean by that?"

"Didn't you date Ichigo-kun?"

The Taicho's eyes opened a little further as she started to shake off the fatigue and surprise "I take it that means you were close to Ichigo then." She said as Unohana wouldn't breathe a word of this, It was kind of shaky if Hitsuguaya knew, and the last two were…unavailable.

"We have a unique relationship, but I don't think I'm close like you." Senna worded carefully, as she wanted to avoid any unnecessary uneasiness.

"I have a feeling there's more to it than what you lead on," Shaolin alluded, making Senna uneasy with how quickly she was cutting through her run around. "but," she continued "I won't push it if you're not going to tell me right now."

Thanking the fatigue or whatever was ailing the captain from pursuing the matter, Senna attempted to change the subject "Ahh, sooo, How long have you been a captain?"

"Nearly fifty-two years." Shaolin replied in a dull robotic manner, only to then let out a yawn "Why do you ask?"

'_hmm, she might be strong.'_ Senna thought to herself "Are you strong then? I mean, well, you must be if you made Captain rank and have been able to hold it for that long."

Shaolin closed and rubbed her eyes with her hand and let out another small yawn, "I must be more tired than I thought. So I'll cut things short as we can discuss this later." She then got up from her seat and motioned for Senna to follow her. The Taicho led Senna down two doors and with a face full of reluctance opened the door using a spare key "You can stay here until further notice."

The taller girl peered into the room and noticed it seemed to belong to someone "But what about the person who lives here?"

"She won't be back." The bluenette stated softly, and then spoke a harsher "at least not till I bring her back."

_'She? Girl? Second division…Subaru-chan?'_ "Do you mean Subaru-chan?" she asked since she had witnessed the departure of the melancholy spy and samurai

"Yes." Shaolin answered as a depressive mood came upon her persons, which Senna couldn't help but notice.

Putting a hand on the Taicho's shoulder, she gave a friendly smile "If you ever want to talk about it. I-I'm pretty good at listening."

The captain merely 'hmmed' as she looked with a fair amount of skepticism, which deflated the girl since she wanted to help since Subaru was her friend too…well acquaintance. "Whatever." She said tersely, though willing to at least give some thought, since bottling things up never seemed to work for her. Silently, she turned around to leave the girl to the room, but stopped when she was shoulder to shoulder with her charge "Rest for now." She instructed coolly "I will come by tomorrow, and we can talk some more." And then resumed walking.

Senna turned around and watched as the form of Soifon walked down two more doors the way they came and enter in. The loud thump of the lock letting it be known she wasn't too be disturbed. _'Well I guess that could have gone worse…'_ Senna thought to herself as she walked into her new home. Her thoughts filled with worry over the future of her family and friends.

(Hueco Mundo)

As the five golden beam of energy faded letting it's transportees safely land upon the soft sands of Hueco Mundo, the man spear heading the operation, marveled at the gem in his hand. He then looked over his shoulder at his entourage "We will be arriving in Las Noches soon. From there we will begin the process of awakening the Hogyoku, and if possible." His smile grew even wider "Amplify it's power to create stronger soldiers, and then possibly replicate." _'which i'll then implant in myself...over and over...'_

"And how do you plan on doing that, Aizen-sama?" Tosen asked for the sake of formality

The devilish grin on the sleek villain's face grew more "Why my loyal pet is the final piece of the puzzle. Once that hollow has becoming arrancarfied, such tasks will become child's play." He then turned around and walked forward towards Las Noches and his destiny "I'm sure you'll recognize the hollow in her new form, especially you two. Shinjiro Taiga and Subaru Kujo." He said while the mentioned individuals looked at the other in worry and confusion, not knowing just what he had planned now.

* * *

Senna: Greetings to everyone out there. My name is Senna and I play the role of Senna Kurosaki in this fic. Now some of you, mostly the men, might be wondering what was up with that beginning and no doubt did the following.

Figure a.

It's gone Yaoi! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ (flipping the table)  
Why? щ(ﾟДﾟщ) (屮ﾟДﾟ)屮 why god why! (wigging out)  
Nooooooo![fax machine noise][flat line]（ ﾟДﾟ）(Blue screen of death)

Senna: Please calm down. Clean up whatever table was thrown around.

┬──┬ ノ( ゜-゜ノ) figure b.

Senna: and if necessary grab a friend to use as a clutch to reality.

I was so frightened… ( ´Д｀)ﾉ(´･ω･`) calm down son

Figure c (above).

Senna: The opening was designed to cater towards the females. See as has probably said before he likes to be fair. So since most of the guys have been entertained by the constant lose of female clothing, molestation attempts by you-know-who, it's only right that the women get some level of reprieve. (bubbly) Unfortunately Mr. writer has no idea how to do that because he can't wrap his mind around the superior female brain, so he makes cheap attempts to try and appease the masses. So rest assured he does try to cater. So long and next chapter we're pretty sure we'll return to our regularly scheduled program. Cheers!

* * *

Guide posts of info.

1. Read backwords but kept the words in the same order you get 'man love number nine'.

* * *

Author end note: Now as of right now we are entering into the slight breather arc in the story. Some of you might be wondering 'well if it's a breather arc, can we skip it and continue along with the rest of the story?' The answer is yes and no.

Yes. You theoretically could thought some things might be a little 'ok, how'd we get here.' And No because it resolves some of the romantic plot points that we're left in the air back in the first Arc: the getting aquainted arc. This resolves a few final problems since this will more than likely be the last chance to relax before we go on to full on war mode.

Anyway hope it helps. Good luck to anyone out there, and do enjoy yourselves.


	24. No you, no me, but still her

Blackout2010: All right class what is it that we've learned up to this point in the Fanfic?

Mako-Hero: Aizen is apparently a god in his own mind.

Aizen: WTF! Blasphemy!

Blackout2010 (ignoring): Correct. What else?

Grinja: A person will always have enough power to have sex with their significant other despite being on death's door.

Blackout2010 (awkward):…ummm…

Ichigo: Firstly I was only stabbed…a lot. Besides I've shrugged off a lot of things.

Shaolin: No comment.

Mirokumaru: WHOOO! TAKE IT ALL OFF!

Senna: (head-desk)

Artsianrose: I learned that people can die in this fic.

Ganju: No kidding. (looks over at Byakuya) Asshole.

Byakuya: Is that anyway to address the head of a noble family?

Ganju: Well I-

Byakuya (throws hand out dramatically): Kneel before your noble betters!

Rukia: (nii-sama's so authoritative today….I should try and follow his example.)

Blackout2010: This is getting us nowhere. Tell you what, how if you want the next chapter just say 'go' and fist pump the air. On three. 1. 2. 3.

Everyone: Go!

* * *

Chapter 24: Without you there's no me, but there's still her…

In the misty early morning hours of the day following the betrayal of Sosuke Aizen and his cohorts, a female figure stood silently in a dim hospital ward. Her hands lightly gripping the cold cylinder bar on the bed out of deep-seated concern as she kept her sentinel like gaze fixed upon the unconscious carrot orange haired hero of Seireitei. The woman had a solemn frown on her face, as the man beside her had still not woken from his forced slumber yet.

Closing her eyes, she tried to keep up her stereotypical impassive front people assumed of her as often as humanly possible after leaving Ichigo's side at Sokyoku hill to locate and coordinate safe transportation of survivors. At this point it was the only real sliver of self restraint left that prevented others from seeing all the panic, all the fear, all the uncertainty that hid just beneath the surface of her skin.

She knew well enough that he was alive, even if Shinjiro had made no silent mentioning of it, even if Unohana herself had said she was unsure of his survival, her gut told her he would make it and she believed.

but…

Standing here…beside him, looking down at his defenseless and wounded body, forced her to recall-to relive the moment of when she first heard the news of his collapsing. She remembered the edginess swirling inside her as she ran across the roofs as fast as she could only to arrive at the fourth division to see him being wheeled inside on a stretcher, headed straight toward the emergency room; suffering from such an extreme case of spiritual emission exhaustion, that it was uncertain if he'd fully recover…and all from having realized that his mother, who had raised him by herself for sixteen years was truly no longer with them.

Right now, he looked exactly like he had back then. Back when she visited him every single day during the hellish three weeks he was hospitalized.

And it ate her soul.

It ate at her fear of knowing that within the blink of an eye, the boy beside her who would shrugs off the hardest of training regiments, who could fight harder than any soldier she'd ever witnessed, one of her most treasured friends, could become just another number in the vast bloody history of Shinigami who died in service.

She looked at the clock on the far end of the room, noting she'd been here for at least a good hour before visiting hours were even allowed by doctors. The woman faced away from the clock, and looked softly at Ichigo. She then shook her head softly to rid herself of the lingering doubts, assuring herself that her fears while valid weren't real.

That, yes, he was seriously injured from multiple lacerations and yes he had a great deficiency in his reiatsu supplies, but that was an easily curable condition with the medical teams working round the clock. The crisis was averted and this situation was most favorable, instead of him being in the morgue, he was in a comfy bed still very much alive.

With a calming sigh she collected herself, knowing she'd need to go soon, and take care of official business, and get things in order, before worrying about Ichigo too much that she'd refuse to leave his side, thus causing more problems for everyone.

Bending forward and leaning over the guard rail Shaolin kissed Ichigo on his lips rewardingly if fleetingly, as it lasted for only a few seconds "I promise that I'll take care of my job as a warrior first before my job as a woman." She promised to the man, though doubting he was able to hear her. "But, I will be back, Ichigo." Her grip on the cold metal increased significantly. "I swear it."

"You're here much earlier than I anticipated. Though, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised considering your persistence in wanting to see him. I should have foreseen your bending of a few rules to meet that end." The calm voice of Retsu Unohana said in a non-threatening manner, as she closed the door behind her as quietly as she had opened it.

While Soifon did raise her mental defenses; because, she didn't want to talk to Unohana about her own personal fears if she happened to overhear her, Shaolin turned fully towards her fellow Taicho and bowed forward out of genuine respect instead of habitual formality. "If you knew I would be here outside of regulation, and yet you still you allowed me to stay, then I must offer you my heartfelt thanks for granting such a privilege, Unohana-taicho." She replied since if Unohana knew she was going to be here, she could have asked her to leave at any time and Soifon would be forced to comply, personal preferences aside.

"As long as you don't overdo it, or end up neglecting your own health, like the last time Ichigo-kun was hospitalized. I am ok with you being here, and visiting." Retsu admonished thoughtfully, as Shaolin righted herself and gave her word she would "If I might be so bold as to ask, what might you have in mind for the Ryoka-Shinigami, Senna-san?"

Soifon leaned to one side as she thought it over about what she should do with her. "Well, there's something I've wanted to try, and I think she'd be a good test subject for it." she closed her eyes remembering a certain little detail that made her feel a bit wary around her "She also seems to know about my relationship with Ichigo, so I'm going to get answers for that, one way or another."

"As long as you don't send her to the hospital; we do still have our hands full." Unohana replied with a smile, though it wasn't the typical joking kind, but had a certain seriousness to it.

"Don't worry; I wouldn't intentionally hurt her to such a point. I'm going to try and be as hospitable as my station and personal feelings allow. Anyway, there too much unknown information and too many secrets about her for my liking, and I doubt beating her into the ground will get me any close to the truth. More than likely it will just mean me or you being forced to heal her wounds later on."

"You've certainly changed your tactics, Soifon-taicho." The perceptive doctor saw, since the standard way would have been surround her, capture her, disarm her, then proceed to the torture and interrogation, until the poor girl cracked.

The captain nodded as her smirk returned to her face "I loathe admitting it, but changing to fit the circumstance leads to less unnecessary headache. Just look at Ichigo, we butted heads for a while, and then we started to go with the flow. Turns out that seems to work with the more mellow individuals like this Senna girl, which speaking off…" the woman's eyelids slide about half way as she continued to look at the doctor scrutinizingly "Is there something you're not telling me about her?"

The doctor giggled, amused at seeing the younger girl's pressing for information though she was centuries too young to make a good effort against her "Why, yes, there is." She admitted right out the gate, which Soifon frowned as she could practically feel the 'but' coming along "Unfortunately," there it was as she closed her eyes, while Unohana chuckled more on the inside "Senna-chan has asked me not to disclose it to anyone. So you'll need to wait until she decides to tell you herself."

The woman let out a frustrated sigh at having easily obtained information, denied and being forced to go the roundabout way "Then I've no choice; but to see this through to the end." She then looked at the clock again, and knew it was about time to start what she had planned today "If you'll excuse me, I need to go see my division and make an announcement."

"Please be sure to visit soon. Ichigo would appreciate it." The fourth captain replied merrily as the second captain made her way out the door "Oh, and tell Senna whenever she has the time to come visit me. For…certain medical procedures. You know blood test and stuff…"

A strange questioning plastered itself across Soifon's face though she didn't think anything of it "Yeah, sure, I will." She answered as she stepped around her, before disappearing in a flash step.

(Senna)

The light of a new day filter through the room of ex-third seat Subaru Kujo, the temporary guest stirring within from the window across from the bed. Senna opened her eyes sleepily, as she didn't want to get up, the fatigue from all the fighting and running around having finally caught up with her, not to mention she finally found a warm bed and it was the middle of summer, left her reluctant to get up and more motivated to drop her head back down against the pillow and stay asleep.

'_Noooo~, I gotta get up.'_ She thought bitterly, trying to think of this as a test of willpower, one she couldn't allow herself to lose at. After much infighting the woman was able to successfully get out of the bed. Stretching her arms, legs and back, she then walked out of the room, her hair a disheveled mess, since she wasn't all that comfortable with wandering around the room especially since it belonged to someone she knew.

Walking two doors down, she knocked on the door and called out to the woman inside. When no response was given she reached down and turned the knob to enter the office of the second division commander. "I'm coming in." she announced as she slipped through and was about to close the door but remained in the doorway when she saw nothing. "It's…empty." She observed, seeing no one in the room. _'She doesn't seem like the kind of person to leave a door unlocked when she's not around.'_ Her eyes then wandered over to the doors along the walls, as she contemplated maybe the woman was inside and still asleep. _'Perhaps I shouldn't bother her.'_

"You're up early for a kid." The familiar voice of Soifon said from behind Senna, sending a jolt of surprise through her causing the teen to involuntarily jump in surprise.

Closing her eyes as her sandals touched back down the woman steadied her nerves before speaking "Do all members of this squad sneak up on unsuspecting people? Or is it just you?" Senna asked with trace amounts of sarcasm, as she wheeled around to face the impassive Taicho _'Is her face stuck in frown mode all the time? Definitely needs to lighten up.'_

The captain mostly ignored the question "I wouldn't know, but that's besides the purpose of why I came for you." She then backed up to leave gesturing with two of her fingers to come with over her shoulder "Walk this way, Senna-san."

"Wait! Where are we going?" Senna called out, while the captain only replied with a dull scolding of 'Just. Follow. Me'.

So with nothing else to do and not having sufficient knowledge of Seireitei, Senna reluctantly followed behind the forceful Taicho. They walked through the dark and unnervingly ominous corridors in silence, until they came to a large metal door, in which the captain stopped and looked back at her follower "Senna-san, before we proceed through these doors, I would ask that you do as I say. Firstly, you are to follow me unto the platform and then back up roughly five spaces. Next, you are not to speak, or otherwise broadcast your presence. You are to stand still until I am finished with my address. Do you understand? Or must I repeat these instructions to you?"" she finished requesting, though it still sounded like an order

Senna looked up in thought "Let's see: follow you, step back, standstill, and then be quiet. That's it right?" she recited making sure she got everything perfect.

"Correct." Soifon grunted as she turned back to the door and pushed it open. "Let's go."

The pair went through the large doors, and were met by a sea of black clad ninja's standing at attention in the morning light. The barely visible slits of their face's showing their eyes following the movement of the captain and the unidentified Shinigami beside her. They hadn't so much as moved a muscle as the commander had yet to give them a command, as the two ladies walked up to the platform overseeing the training area.

Shaolin turned to face her soldiers, and gave a small glance to Senna who also turned to face their direction and proceeded to back up a couple of feet. _'Good to see she can follow orders. That should make things easier.'_ The bluenette learned quickly.

'_Geez look at all those ninja. 20…30…40. Wow, there's so many, and Ichigo was really a part of them?'_ Senna wondered in amazement as she took a side glance at the Taicho who had opened her mouth to speak _'And that girl, that captain, trained all of them to be deadly assassins?'_

"Shinigami of the second squad and Special Forces unit: Onimitsukido. Today, marks the day that we will be devoting our entire focus on the destruction of one man. Never before has Soul Society been forced to devote it's entire focus, it's entire force, on the eradication of a single individual." The woman said above the silent crowd of assassins "I am of course speaking of Sosuke Aizen, the ex-Taicho of the fifth division. His crimes all of which he has been guilty of include: obstructing justice, plotting rebellion against the spirit king, the framing of several individuals ranging from commoner to the former heads of the great noble four, and treason of the highest order by turning his back upon us. That is why we must redouble our efforts. Why we reorganize our ranks. And, that is also why…" she took a deep breath and gave an even look at all of them "I am ordering you all to take the day off." She finished as she looked over the crowd gauging their response.

All of the Shinigami present couldn't help, but look at the black clad neighbor next to them, with an easily seen look of puzzlement, and low clamor of words of discussion. Even Senna who had only met her yesterday couldn't stop herself from looking at the woman, since she figured she'd be way stricter at least according to what Ichigo had told her about her methodical nature.

"You all seem confused. I can't say I'm surprised." She replied a bit more casually, though she retained her poker face "The reason I am giving you all this day off, is to mourn your losses, be it family or friends. This past week has been a horrendous loss of our own forces, ranging from large amounts of property and equipment damage to life. I understand the concept and importance of reconstructing our defenses," her eyes softened slightly "But…I believe until we can pick ourselves back up, until we can stand again on our feet and have successfully steadied ourselves; and are prepared to move forward as one. Any and all defenses that we construct will be rent asunder again by our weak hearts. That is why I am giving you this day off, to lick and close the wounds that have been inflicted upon our allies, families, friends, and in some cases…spouses. We will focus and harden our hearts so that tomorrow when the reconstructive effort truly begins we will remain unwavering in our efforts." She ordered which was followed by a deafening silence that swept through the ranks.

With her announcement finished, she began to turn around to leave when something she hadn't expected occurred. One of the black clad figures straightened their back and raised their right forearm to the corner of their face "Yes, Ma'am! Thank-you ma'am!" The man yelled to his commander.

Soon the action was mimicked by other nearby Shinigami, each one straightening themselves up and repeating the action and words. Each one causing the cold captain to look back a little more and further adding to her silent astonishment at the response given in kind, as the normally cold, collected, captain continued to watch she could feel a calming sense of anticipation radiating off them.

A sense of trust…

A sense of gratitude…

Shaolin nodded her head in affirmation "You are all dismissed!" She said throwing her hand around issuing her last order for the day. All that was heard before the crowd of Shinigami vanished was a resounding 'Hai, Taicho!'

With the large crowd gone the woman let her hand drop back down and took a moment to observe the now empty training ground _'Hmm…I suppooose kindness has its place, sometimes.'_ She thought to herself having seen the result, which she was honestly taken off guard with how well they responded, even after that moment she expected dissention for seemingly counterproductive orders.

With more positive reinforcement the captain wheeled back around to her charge, intending to 'get to know her' to see further into if changing one's attitude and perspective would help her. To at least try and reach that goal. "I appreciate your obedience, Senna-san." She said in a mild tone trying to extinguish the rather foreign feeling of passion, and return to her normal stoic self.

"Thanks." She replied "You know, you're not as bad as you seem."

The woman scoffed bemusedly "Ha! You barely know me, and yet you presume such a notion? Your way of thinking is rather…interesting."

Senna missing the humorous intention frowned at the sarcasm "Is that like a defensive mechanism of yours? Or are you really just bad at communicating?" she shot back, no longer playing little Goody-two shoes-san after being treated so roughly so quickly.

Shaolin was taken aback a bit, and after a steady pause managed to pinpoint where she was coming from. _'Hmm, she seems to be made of sterner stuff. Anyone else would have attacked from such a perceived slight and been promptly put down at this point. She tries to keep a cool head. I wonder how far I can push her.'_ The captain looked at the girl appraisingly, as she formulated her own opinions "You've got a lot of guts talking to me that way, do you have a death wish?" she mocked with an arrogant smirk

Senna's eyes widened a bit from the insult then returned with a fierce glare "I don't plan on dying. But I have no problem turning your smile sideways little miss Loli."

A devilish smile revealed itself on the captain as she turned away "Wonderful, I had wanted to fight you. This will be a good test to see what you are like."

"Oh, I'll give you a test you won't forget!" Senna yelled as she brushed past the Taicho and jumped off the platform and turned around with her sword drawn, staring back into the face of a puzzled short woman.

"Why are you so angry?" Shaolin asked in interest, as she saw the angry girl now sending her an incredulous look "Do you not know when someone is pretending? Hmm, you seem to take mere words on a personal level…"

"What?" she said visible asking for a repeat of her statement "Are you telling me that you were just, just, screwing with me!"

The Taicho calmly walked forward and jumped off the platform, landing on her feet a few feet away "No, I'm perfectly serious about fighting you. I was just trying to decipher if you were a hot head like my fuku-taicho or a thinker like Ichigo or Yoruichi-sama. You are clearly the latter." At this point Senna stared at her for a second, and then closed her eyes painfully trying to register what it is the woman did "That is one thing I have come to learn about you." She further added

"Why…didn't you just ask me?" the teenager gritted out, not seeing the logic behind her backwards ways "Wouldn't that have been so much easier?"

"Sorry, this is the way I'm most familiar with getting information out of a possibly hostile target. Interrogation and torture, but since I won't torture you; I'm probing your mind to try and get a feel for you."

"Why am I a 'hostile target'!" Senna shouted angrily "We're supposed to be allies!"

"The reason is, as far as I know, you are someone who has broken into Soul Society, caused massive amount of panic and damage to both personnel and facilities, and was at one point a high profile target set for either capture or assassination." She then crossed her arms and looked away "The fact I am usually wary of strangers, who know too much about me for my own liking, and my possessing of a _slight_ but still regrettable social ineptitude, does not help your case."

"Well…ahh…" Senna's argument died in her throat since most of it was her doing, and she couldn't blame it on Aizen because he was in no way running interference with the things they had done to stop Aizen. It also didn't help since the captain admitted her own faults, leaving little to pin blame on "Alright." She huffed lightly to cool her jets "Let's try this again."

Senna quickly respired and walked over to Shaolin with a neutral look on her face. She then bent her right hand upward and extended it gently "Hi, my name is Senna. And you are?" she tried to re-engage

Shaolin looked at the hand with a bored look "You're joking right?" when an awkward couple of seconds passed in silence, "You're not joking…" the woman sighed to herself seeing that Senna was perfectly serious "Fine…I am Soifon-Taicho." She said grabbing the hand for less than a second, before letting it drop again.

"We don't need honorifics Soifon. We're friends now." Senna insisted trying to build a level of trust between them.

Shaolin however disagreed with her ideology "You are incorrect. This _gesture_" she referred to the handshake "doesn't automatically make us _friends_ or even really allies. If this is your definition of friendship, then I must say," she then scowled fiercely with disapproval "you are a naïve, stupid and shallow child."

The woman's word weren't met without consequence "Well at least I'm not cold, cynical, anti-social bitch." Senna returned just as hot, which made the captain's twitch again, from the unexpected insult.

"I'm sorry. I must be hard of hearing in my age. Ehehe." She commented in a joking manner that belied the dangerous undertone which she was using "But I'm pretty sure you said something that might result in the breaking of a few bones." Her eyes then turned chillingly cold "Then again, a wimp like you would never have had the balls to say that to my face, so I must've been mistaken, right?"

"Clear out your ears then, granny! Because I said 'you're a cold, cynical, anti-social BITCH'!"

"Really?" Soifon muttered darkly glaring daggers at her

"Yeah, really!" Senna responded quickly with a death glare of her own

Shaolin then pulled her hand back and brought it to her Zanpaktou's hilt "Then how about we settle this!"

"I was already rarin' to go!"

The two ladies glared hatefully at each other, neither one taking their eyes off the other even as they released their Zanpaktou into Shikai state. Shaolin took a side step backwards and raised both her arms up ready to fight as Senna broke her weapon into its sword and bludgeon state, holding the pipe out in front of her while the sword was raised horizontally on her right hand side.

Soifon took a small step forward to test the water, before dashing forward at her opponent. Senna immediately flipped her sword around and turned as she swung the sword to cut the woman in half. The blade went through the girl in her entirety, before her body started to haze out like a mirage in a desert.

"Too slow." The female voice of the captain said behind the unbalanced girl, who could only look back to see the woman slam her elbow into the back of Senna. As Senna's body lurched forward, the Onimitsukido master slipped underneath the woman's arm, and wrapped her own arms around the woman's neck and threw her over her shoulders.

As the weapon bearer hit the ground painfully, the captain backed up to give her some space to get up if she wished, but to also fight off the slight numbing sensation in her arm "Are you done already?" she asked in a patronizing manner, as she flicked her wrist back and forth _'Is she wearing armor underneath her clothing? She certainly didn't feel heavy. An innate toughness perhaps?'_

"No, I'm not!" Senna grunted as she got back up to her feet as she resheathed her weapon into Shakujo state. Turning around she squared off with the captain, widening her stance and gripping the staff firmly between her hands, while the captain returned to her initial stance _'Ok, so she hits a lot harder than Nanao, but that little claw on her arm doesn't have a lot of reach, so let's try something else.'_

Senna tightened her grip on her weapon, as the captain made a small step forward once again. Senna leapt backwards into the familiar air and after condensing her power, swept her staff around, calling forth a gust of air and sending it rushing to the patient assassin. The woman flash stepped from her spot as Senna created a short burst of wind to leap higher into the air. Soifon appeared a couple of meters to the right of where Senna would have been had she still been grounded, analyzing for a good way to combat her aside from kido and Shunko.

Back flipping once more into the air, Senna started to twirl her body in a circle, transforming the air around her in a swirling vortex that created an intense upward suction. Shaolin buried her stinger into the concrete to keep herself grounded and not be sucked up by the attack, unsure if the fierce winds were similar to Senbonzakura in cutting power once caught up in it.

In the eye of the storm Senna dropped down to the floor safe behind her protect wall. She pulled her blade out and let it scrape harshly against the edges of the raging winds, giving her full control in the direction and advancement of the cyclone. _'I got you now!'_ she then stepped forward and swung her sword around launching the twister at the grounded hornet intent on blowing her away.

"hmph. That alone won't get me." She tsked in annoyance as she brought her free hand in front of her, and let her own energy spiral around the out stretched arm "Shunko." She whispered dangerously, as the energy shot out from her arm and pierced both the tornado and hitting the woman beyond it. As Senna was sent skidding across the ground, Shaolin looked at her hand "It seems merely mimicking the actions of Yoruichi-sama wouldn't produce the same results, though I am surprised that it did launch it like her. I'll need to discuss this with her later." She reported her finding, to herself, eager to keep it in mind

The captain then looked back to see her opponent struggling to get back to her feet, her arm clutching the general area of her stomach, which was the more than likely the impact spot. _'Damn, that really hurt! Uggh, I can still feel it throbbing in my stomach. I better watch out for that.'_ Moving her arm away to no longer support the tender spot she raised her weapon, trying to run through her options.

Unfortunately, she didn't get very long to consider as the captain disappeared in another flash step and remained out of sight for but a second; only to reappear with her shoe coming down to smack Senna across the face. Senna leaned backwards narrowly dodging the strike, but quickly learned it was merely a feint as the assassin buried her stinger into the woman's tender belly, knocking the Homonka marked woman up in the air before being knocked down by a reverse kick by the Taicho.

"How on earth did you survive?" asked the cold captain as she placed her foot on the woman's chest, putting small amounts of pressure to keep her pinned, while the woman closed her eyes from the sharp pain and small but sudden loss of air

Senna reopened her eyes and snarled out "Get off me bitch!"

"Silence you stupid child!" Soifon shouted back coldly "This is a battlefield, not a playground! Here the winner makes the rules. I have beaten you, so now I decide your fate. You have absolutely no say in what I desire to happen to you. You can hurl insults all you want, but look where it's gotten you! Heeled underneath my foot; looking like a pathetic dog ready to be put down." She then leaned forward and spoke in a much more dangerous tone "So call me a bitch all you want, but know I'm still standing above gutter trash like you."

Senna's eyes widened in disbelief for but a second and then looked down now putting more effort to get her off "You're going to get off me…" she said as her eyes changed from amber to a fierce gold, while her strength started to multiply quickly and begin to force the surprised Taicho off of her "RIGHT NOW!"

Senna then threw the woman off with such force that, the captain had to flip her body around to land on her feet while Senna pushed herself quickly off the ground, and ran forward weaponless, knowing that maybe her hands would be much more effective.

Shaolin brought her gauntlet around to defend herself from the incoming fist. The bracing Taicho felt the strike hit her gauntlet, kicking her back about an inch, while the tile behind her cracked under the pressure from the blow. Senna's dark glare hardened as she brought her other arm around to strike.

Shaolin brought her free hand around her body, and pushed the other arm to the side, safely away from her. With the immediate threat dealt with the grappling woman twisted her arm around, and grabbed the forearm of Senna, and leaned forward and kneed the woman in the stomach.

The blow collided into the girl, but the captain could only blink in surprise when the girl didn't wince in the slightest. _'What the hell?'_ she could only ask herself, having a hard time believing that the woman she'd been pummeling, now didn't even seem to register being hurt by her.

"I got you now!" the purple haired girl declared as she wrapped her arms around the woman's waist. After interlocking her arms, she threw her bundle upwards into the sky, as Soifon started to correct herself in mid-air, Senna cracked her fist ready to deliver a straight hook.

The captain saw what was going on and leaned over to her side, as she fell. When the other woman stepped forward to blow away the smaller girl, Soifon brought her arm from underneath the woman's arm and pushed herself further down to dodge the attack.

Senna's eyes widened as she saw the other girl smirk with the advantage. She was then tossed over the woman, as the Taicho placed her free hand on the ground using it as the support to flip the woman over. The teenager crashed to the ground, while the other woman rolled over and then struck the Homonka mark a second time and looked into the face of the wincing woman "It's over for you." Shaolin said as the Homonka turned red, awaiting a single command

"What do you mean!" the golden eyed girl asked, as she stopped struggling and felt her strength begin to fade from her quickly.

"You see that glowing mark on your body?" she asked pointing out the mark "That's part of my Zanpaktou's special ability, if I strike my opponent twice in the same spot, I will kill them regardless of their strength."

'_No…'_ Senna's eyes widened as her body started to quiver in fear, her lip trembled as she looked at the limb that struck her. _'No, that can't be true!'_ She frowned at thoughts of what if started to play in her mind, while her strength began to fade from her arms _'Ichigo…I…I'_ and then closed her eyes, accepting her death knowing the woman wouldn't make a claim if it wasn't true. _'I love you.'_

"What are you doing!" The voice of Shaolin said as her free hand gripped the collar of the girl's Hakama forcing the younger woman's eyes to open again as she looked into the steely grey stare of the infuriated captain "Don't just submit to death! If you're going to die, then take your opponent with you. Look," she gestured with her eyes towards her arm "I'm still within grabbing distance, you could strangle me to death, if you have the strength you could pierce my heart and kill me, thus sparing yourself. Do something! Anything! BUT NEVER! EVER! JUST SURRENDER! THAT IS THE COWARD'S WAY OUT!" she then pulled out her stinger from the girl's body "Release!" she yelled making the Homonka disappear from the woman's body, and reared an even look at the stunned woman "Show me your warrior's resolve Senna-bozu!"

Senna blinked not expecting an encouraging, though deeply buried in a layer of harshness, statement from her opponent. Allowing herself to catch her breath she felt her spiritual energy begin to restore itself to a safer working level _'She's right. I shouldn't have given up and surrendered. Rukia didn't give up hope when she was caught, Ichigo didn't give up after being beaten, so I can't be afraid to fight just because things get bad.'_ The golden eyed girl nodded fiercely "Then I will!" she yelled just as fiercely, as the spy smirked and jumped away from the woman's body allowing her to get back up on her feet.

Bringing her fists back up to protect herself, she kept her mind focused on the task of at least hitting the other woman and knocking her down. She was well aware that she was outclassed but this was her test. And she wasn't going to fail it again.

"Ready to die?" the woman asked haughtily, which was met with a cruel smirk from Senna

"Not unless you die too!" she tightened up her guard to stand her ground.

Soifon disappeared in another flash step, moving far too fast for the Miko to keep up. Feeling a sudden pulse, Senna moved her arm to her side, blocking the kick from the Taicho in mid-air, the latter tsking from missing her head. Still with her leg there, Soifon twisted to the side and wrapped her other leg around the arm and flipped the girl clear over.

What surprised Shaolin was that instead of the girl landing face first into the floor, she moved both her arms, and hand sprung backwards, in a way remarkably similar to Yoruichi, leaving her open. As Senna's sandals hit the ground, she snaked her arm to grab the woman's leg and then hurled her over at the wall.

"Uggghhh!" Shaolin grunted as her body slammed against the wall with incredible force sending large spider web cracks around the impact site.

Senna let the woman's leg go, letting her fall back down, as the Taicho fell to her shaky knees. The purple haired teenager, punched the stomach of the woman with her left then her right, and was going to upper cut her into the jaw, but was stopped when the woman sent a right hook into her side.

Now back in control from her female opposite's staggering, she kicked the side of Senna's leg making her hop over half a step, then chopped her in the back of her neck with enough force to send her to her knees. Putting both hands on the woman's Hakama, Shaolin pulled her close and then kneed her in the stomach, then pulled her leg back and kneed her chin.

Senna staggered backwards as blood came from her mouth from the increase in damage. In her stumble she put both her hands on her knees as exhaustion and pain throbbed all over her body. As she tried to push herself up to continue the fight, she was hit full force right in the sternum by an open palm strike. Knocking her clean off her feet and backwards into the air, until gravity took over and she hit the tile ground breaking it underneath her weight.

As Senna out a low groan no doubt from pain, Shaolin calmly pulled her hand back from the strike, as she returned to a standing position _'I'm definitely going to ask how she retains such toughness and mobility later on.'_ She then folded her arms behind her back and walked towards the downed woman with a small smirk from having vanquished yet another foe.

The teenage girl continued to breathe in and out rapidly as she heard the approaching footsteps of her opponent. When the irritating but respect earned woman came into sight, the female Kurosaki, closed her eyes in a way to show respect. "You're really strong." Senna said respectfully as she lay on her back.

Soifon's side smile grew just a hint further "And you're not as weak as I initially thought either." She said not in a condescending tone, but in a way to state a change in her opinion of Senna, which she judged from the brief moment of awe was well received

Sliding one of her arms back, Senna pushed herself up to not seem quite as pathetic for when she would ask something of the captain. "Can I ask you something?" she asked believing maybe this woman could help.

"And that is?" Soifon responded with a raised eye brow

"Can you help me be as strong as you?"

The noblewoman's eyes rose extensively from the request, since she had never been asked to be the personal teacher of anyone before. She mulled the thought over before saying "I don't take students."

"Please? Would you please reconsider?" Senna begged, as she whipped her body around and bowed her head submissively to the Taicho in front of her "I don't want to be a burden on anyone ever again. During the invasion, I managed to beat a couple of people, and then I lost my first big fight. I got to do a little more training, but I just don't feel like I'm making any progress." She then raised her head to stare back into the cold captain's face "I don't want to be useless anymore! It's because I was useless that Ichigo ended up in the hospital. I'm not saying I could have stopped Aizen, but at least…" she humbly dropped her head back down "Ichigo would still be up and about."

Shaolin brought her hand to cover her mouth and let out an audible hum. As she continued to look, she couldn't help, but feel like she was staring at herself "You seem to have a great deal of adoration for him." She replied, mentally drawing the parallels between Ichigo and Senna to Yoruichi-hime and herself.

The teenager got up from her position to stand "More than you can know." She said sadly, with a frown. She then closed her eyes "But, that alone won't help him."

"Suppose that I considered it, what exactly do you know about fighting already?"

Senna raised her head, while she lit up on the inside "I-I've only learned the basics of fighting with a katana, my staff I learn from the source itself. My Teacher was Yoruichi-san though only for a week."

"I see." She said aloud, now taking more of an interest since if Yoruichi saw potential in her and trained her a bit, it would explain how she survived and her power during the small scuffle. The bluenette's steel gray eyes gave the girl an invisible once over and deemed her ok. After spending a moment trying to think of a reason not to, she shrugged because she couldn't. _'Well if I'm stuck with her, this will make things easier I guess. At least I'll see what it's like to be a genuine instructor for another.'_ She reassured her conviction

"Very well. I'll teach you." She then gave a harsh glare and held her hand up "But, before you get all excited, I'm telling you up front that it will not be easy. It will take many hours of your day. We will fight and train hard, because we're preparing for an actual war. You will be by my side constantly possibly dirty, tired, sweaty, bloody, bruised, beaten and broken from training, and still being expected to do more work. This is what you have asked upon yourself."

A small breath escaped Senna's lip as she got her chance. "I swear I promise I won't fail you, Soifon-san." She said with a three-fourths bow forward.

A loud smack rang through the air of the training ground, as the back of Shaolin's hand met the right cheek of Senna, who winced and nursed the spot with her free hand

"From this moment onward!" The Taicho barked fiercely as she pointed her finger imposingly at the girl "you are to refer to me as Soifon-sensei or Soifon-dono. Am I understood Gakusei (student)?"

"Ahh…ye-yeah!" she replied only to be smacked again as the hand turned back in the opposite direction and hit her other cheek

"Say it with confidence! As if your life depended on it!" the captain snapped

"Yes Ma'am! I understand Soifon-sensei!"

"Good." She then softened her gaze and gently placed her hand against the woman's sore cheek "and in return for my services, I would like you to assist me, in dealing with others. I feel I could learn something from you but," she pulled her hand back "don't let it go to your head." She informed coolly. She was about to turn around and order Senna to follow, when a thought occurred to her and she couldn't help but bring her hand to her head in exasperation "Wonderful." She quietly snarked to herself

"What's that?"

"You seem to have the same infuriating effect on me as Ichigo. I had given my word not to beat you up and to be civil, but merely being around you reminds me of him and his ability to make me lose sight of certain things…particularly what I'm not and supposed to do."

"Ooooh, sorry about that Sensei…I guess." Senna said sheepishly, not sure what to make of that

"(sigh) It's not your fault. Or at least I don't think it is. Regardless, let us be off. By the way, I plan to go see Yoruichi-sama for my own training starting tomorrow, and I'm sure you could use it as well, so you'll be coming with me."

"Of course." Senna replied "Oh, and Sensei?"

"Yes, Gakusei?"

"Umm, about earlier," she fiddled with her hands "Maybe your right that just a hand shake and quick forget was a bit shallow. But I do want to be your friend, so could we try it again?"

Shaolin looked at her, then turned around "How about this, when I'm not beating you into the ground with training, I will see if you are worthy of my trust. But don't push it Gakusei." And started to walk off, but she couldn't help but chuckle when she heard the girl's proud response

"I won't fail you."

(Sou-taicho's office)

"I'm glad to see that you could make it," the aged captain General of first division said to his sandy blond guest in front of his desk "Kisuke Urahara."

"Yeah, well I couldn't put this off any further than I could." The shop keeper said nonchalantly as he sat, gripping the top of his green and white cap

Yamamoto let out a small hum "I'm an old man, so allow me to cut to the chase. Tell me is it possible that Aizen can use your device and what is it, it does exactly?"

"The Hogyoku is a device that allows Shinigami or Hollow to cross the barrier between them and gain the power of the other, like an upgrade," he then shot the man a dirty look "or like the captain's and lieutenants you not so subtly fired and labeled as fugitives."

Shigekuni returned the look with one just as unforgiving "It's your own fault for creating such a device in the first place. Never mind the fact that I had no clue I was being fooled at the time, so keep your looks to yourself boy."

"Fine, fine, whatever." The blond man leaned back in his chair "All I can say is he's gonna be a serious titan to contend with. As for being able to use it. I'm sure Aizen has already thought that through, and has the means to reawaken it from its sealed state." The man then brought a hand to his chin "Still it's gonna take a lot of Reiatsu and time to awaken it, but I think it would be best that I know the people who went with him and the extent of their powers. It's the only way to see the bigger picture."

"It will be done. I will give you unrestricted access to any file you even think would be useful to you. Now I want to ask, how exactly are we to deal with Aizen? From what I understand, no one has escaped his Kyoka Suigetsu's ability."

Kisuke grinned confidently as he looked back at the worried Taicho's face "That thankfully isn't too bad. This is just me throwing this out there, but if you need to see the Zanpaktou to be hypnotized that means, my nephew Uryu, Senna-san, and possibly Ichigo given Aizen's persistence in killing him, aren't hypnotized which means they can see him and kill him. And considering Ichigo and Senna, and from a few of my observations, they can be strong enough individually to defeat Aizen, if they have some advantages that I can think of."

"I see. Are there any foreseeable problem in them gaining this power?"

"Perhaps, but I'll need to see what I can work out. Regardless it's gonna take time." Kisuke said as he got up to leave the room "Later old man." He waved off as the door closed behind him

The old man let out a sigh and looked out the window "Is time on our side though?"

(Time skip two days later)

"Are you ready for another _fun_ filled day Senna-_chan_?" Soifon said with a dark grin, as she saw the cut and bruised girl, dressed in a typical though no face concealing Onimitsukido uniform, wearily nod her head. The Taicho's eyes then narrowed and her voice dropped considerably "Good. Now remember that one thing I told you to remind yourself."

"Yes, Soifon-sensei." Senna droned, and was then left to play catch up with the woman's intense speed. After coming to a large building, she looked up to find Soifon standing at the top of it looking down on her with an eagle's eye.

"Alright, get to work." She commanded, while Senna felt a depressing wave wash over her body in her assigned task, of running up the side of the building non-stop, with no assistance or hands.

Drawing in a quick breath, Senna looked at the wall, and after pumping reiatsu into her legs ran as hard as she could, her legs allowing her to run vertically up the wall. Everything was going fine and well until about half-way there when her legs final gave out and she started to fall backwards to the ground.

From her perch Soifon leaned over the edge and asked her the same question she had been forced to ask her time and time again. The sole drive that helped her endure the need to cry out in frustration or give up "DO YOU WANT TO LIVE! (1)" she yelled to the falling girl

"I WANNA LIVE!" Senna yelled as she fell all the way back to the ground, and finally hitting with no small amount of speed "ooouuughhh…"

[Exercise two: Reaction time]

Jumping backwards, Senna narrowly dodged the small Anken in her Sensei's hand. As the purple haired girl slid backwards against a wall, Soifon wiped her leg around launching some Anken that were holstered on her leg to the wall Senna was at, then followed it up by spinning around and tossing more Anken hidden within her side.

Senna moved her head to the side quickly as the throwing knife imbedded itself in the wall, then lifted her arm up [thwack], moved her hip slightly to the side [thwack], moved her right leg a little further out [thwack], then raised it up [thwack], pulled her left arm back across her body [thwack, thwack, thwack], then brought her knees inward so they touched narrowly dodging the rest of the knives.

Senna shakily stayed at her spot while, water came streaming out of her eyes from sheer terror, while Soifon let out another depressive sigh, as she twirled the throwing knife around her fingers. She gave her an even look, but still spoke fiercely "YOU HAVE PINED YOURSELF! YOU MUST NEVER EVER ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE CORNERED! DO YOU WANT TO LIVE!"

"YES! I WANNA LIVE!" she yelled back in her Egyptian-esque pose _'And maybe get a change of clothing while I'm at it!'_ she mentally added since she didn't want to run the risk of her bladder not being able to hold up with her nerve.

[Exercise fifteen: Toughness training]

In the middle of the squad two training ground, Shaolin stood with her palm held back ready to strike the girl in the chest "Remember, focus your Reiatsu and you will feel no pain."

Senna nodded her head and felt her energy begin to swirl around her.

It was short lived as Shaolin, immediately struck and knocked her clean off her feet and against one of the far side walls, which left Shaolin with a broken wall and woman laying atop the rubble

"I-I wasn't ready yet!" Senna cried out, as she started to twitch upon the ground

"Ahh…" Shaolin began, feeling bad since she jumped the gun, but since she couldn't let her know that it was her mistake, she went with the status quo "STOP COMPLAINING! YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE THAT KIND OF TIME ON THE BATTLEFIELD! DO YOU WANNA LIVE OR NOT!"

"I WANNA LIVE!" Senna replied back knowing that the mistake most definitely had to be on her, if her Sensei yelled out such a thing

[Exercise thirty-eight: Paperwork]

"THIS WILL TEACH YOU DILIGENCE WITHOUT PEER! AFTER ALL YOU DO YOU WANNA LIVE RIGHT SENNA!" Shaolin yelled out as she dumped another large load of paper work on Senna's, well her, work desk.

"YES! I WANNA LIVE!" she cried out as she scribbled furiously to get the ever mounting workload down faster, as the Taicho twirled around to go fetch some more 'Through preferably in a world not trapped behind a desk…'

[Exercise sixty-seven: Swordplay]

"LESS RUNNING MORE FIGHTING! DO YOU WANNA LIVE!" Shaolin yelled out from the top of her barracks roof top, as she watched Senna with a bokkuko running as fast as she could while being chased by every active member of the Onimitsukido…with real swords.

"I WANNA LIVE!" Senna yelled back as she continued to pour on the steam to avoid being skewered, despite the fact that she was supposed to defeat all of them by herself.

(hours later)

"If you don't need me I'm gonna die now." Senna said as she laid unashamed face first against the white tile in front of Soifon, who looked on impassive on the outside, though inwardly smiling. She had never known that teaching could be so much fun or a great way to blow off steam.

"I guess that's enough for today." Soifon said as she kneeled down beside the girl and began to once again, for seemingly the umpteenth time today, heal her of her wounds and fatigue, knowing that it was building muscle and increasing her endurance levels.

Once the girl was fully healed and able to push her sorry carcass of the ground, Soifon turned away and began to walk off "Where are you going?" the revived girl asked

The Taicho looked back around with a quiet stare "I'm going to go visit Ichigo, perhaps he has awakened." She said knowing that it'd mean missing out on training with Yoruichi today, but there was always tomorrow.

"Wait!" Senna said reaching out with her hand "Can I come with you?"

The Chinese woman turned around fully with a raised eye brow "Are you sure? I don't want you to overdo it."

Senna flexed her right arm and grabbed her developing bicep "Don't worry Soifon-sensei, I still have enough energy to go visit him while he's down and out." She said despite her obvious fatigue, which the captain could see.

'_He must have been quite the inspiration on her, if she still has the energy to push herself for his sake.'_ Soifon noted her observation "Very well. You can come with me." She then turned around, but before flash stepping off she looked over her shoulder and right in Senna's eye. "By the way from now on, whenever we are not training, you will refer to me as Shaolin."

"I can?" Senna asked with a mix of awe, since Ichigo had mentioned that was her name and she didn't readily give it out, plus with the fact of respect from before, this had to mean something.

The captain nodded her head "Yes, I have decided that since we are coming to learn about each other more and more, it would be a good starting point to show my trust and dare I say respect in you." She then fully turned away from her "Do not abuse it." then flash stepped off to the fourth division to visit Ichigo.

* * *

Senna looked on for a moment, and then smiled as she tilted her head upwards to the clear sky above them "I won't. That's a promise."

Senna: And so we go another chapter with Ichigo hospitalized…

Shaolin: True…I wonder how he can stay asleep for so long.

Blackout2010:…(looks away) well…

(flashback)

Blackout2010: Here you go Kenpachi, this is Ichigo's room assignment. (hands piece of paper over) he says the best time to attack him is when he's unarmed.

Kenpachi: Really? Haha, certainly gotten more daring with age. I'll go get the boys.

Yachiru: Yay! Fighting makes everyone friends!

Kenpachi: Sure does. (evil smile) suure does.

(flashback end)

Blackout2010:…I don't have a clue…

Nemu: This chapter will now self-destruct in five…four…

Kisuke: That's…not really…nevermind.

* * *

Guidepost of knowledge:

1. The line 'Do you wanna live' is from the very good and one of my favorite harem mangas 'Rappai Rangai/Ninja Girls'. In volume 2 or 3, Raizo (protagonist) gets training to be a better warrior from the battle hardened princess Izuna. Raizo, being a pacifist, absolutely suck, so Izuna keeps asking him every time he fails 'Do you wanna live' to which he responds with a resound 'yes, I wanna live'.


	25. SIS Ai Yori Aoshi

Author's note:

Hey everyone, it's me, Blackout2010. Some of you out there might be thinking 'who the fuck is this guy' and that's ok, since it's been a while since the last transmission. So I'll bring you all up to speed here on why things took so long. First this chapter was extremely long and I needed to tread both a fine line on the story as well as make this chapter as good as the others. Secondly after that…my computer got trashed…and I lost eight months worth of data to which I still haven't full recovered yet. And it hasn't been till about a month ago that my computer has been online once again, only for me to start up school which is time consuming to say the least. So I greatly apologize for that, but alas life is a cruel mistress, and I was born under an unlucky star. Anyway that's pretty much it. So I'll answer to the Unknown reviews and we can get this show on the road. PS: God only knows when the next chapter will be out. Also because temperatures are getting cold there's hot vanilla to warm you up. (1)

To unknown reviewer 'jonnnpark'

Thank-you for that message. I know the next wait will be a while, and I hope I haven't gotten too rusty.

To unknown reviewer 'a simple fool'

That was partially of the fine line. In short, I just intend to leave it to speculation that's all I ever really wanted of that.

To unknown reviewer '23'

I pray to all the gods that is not some kind of cryptic sign of the devil. But I thank-you for the suggestion even though I haven't gotten expunged…yet. The possibility IS still on the table and a matter of IF the admins see it…and they feel like doing something about it.

To unknown reviewer 'jd'

Well this 'filler' so to speak is only really like 4 chapters long, and we're now ¾ of the way through it with this chapter. Yeah, sorry about the transition still working out the kinks on that one. I'll get better with time…probably. Yes, the Soi-Sen is kinda rushed from a perspective. Soifon is actually just going out of her way to be friends with Senna (or at least get along), since the two are kind of stuck near one another, and Senna is (for the most part) a blank slate in terms of changing how she is perceived. I'm working on limited data on how Soifon reacts to other women in general here. All I got is Kiyone who got stepped on in canon and Yoruichi so…yeah. For Senna recognizing Ichigo and Soifon's relationship that gets addressed so no worries.

To unknown reviewer 'Anonymous'

Firstly I am assuming that both reviews were done by you. Now unto Senna was brought in because I needed Rukia to be put into the Gigai containing the Hogyoku problem was, how the hell was I supposed to do that? If she was only injured, Ichigo –who possess healing kido- could just cure her and avoiding bringing Urahara into the picture which means when Ichigo was going to be screwed when Byakuya and Renji showed up, as they'd show no mercy unlike canon. I needed to avoid that dead end, hence I had Rukia go on ahead and transfer power after being injured just like canon. Anyway this story literally evolves as Ideas come to me, so the little kid wearing the ribbon went from an after though to a surprising big role in the grand scheme of things. Funny how things work out. For Isshin…all I can say is maybe read things over. Believe if this story was in anime, manga or even just a comic book format instead of a read medium, there are some questions you wouldn't have and/or already be answer. But alas, all you can do is re-look over things just a bit harder, maybe I mentioned things maybe I haven't.

* * *

S.I.S: Ai Yori Aoshi (2)

A week had passed, and the reconstructive effort to rebuild the war torn state of Soul Society was in full swing. Men and Women were working to rebuild the broken sectors of the Seireitei, and secure the immediate perimeter in case of another attack. Squad twelve was using its entire technological prowess to try and locate Aizen's base of operations, it wasn't until about six after the incident that a hell butterfly arrived from Kisuke detailing it would be better to search Hueco Mundo, since it was obvious, at least to him; that Aizen lied about being in the valley of screams, and instead sought an area with a much bigger surface area to avoid detection. So with a new destination set, and some bitter words from Mayuri, the squad started to scan the vast desert of Hueco Mundo, though it was a very slow effort, since Hueco Mundo was roughly five to six times the size of the earth with many spiritual signatures from the local inhabitants.

Uryu Ishida during this time had been released from captivity of the fourth division and went to the second division's underground information storage facility to help his grand Uncle search for information regarding the special abilities of the five Shinigami who had vacated, and also to help construct any plans that would be necessary in counter acting and eventually bringing Aizen down for good.

Meanwhile the two females that revolved around Ichigo, Senna and Shaolin, had started to a strict early morning training regiment, which included any training the squad partook in before sending them out on patrol to protect the borders. When the squad was gone Senna and the training guru went to see Yoruichi for more training. It was there that Senna made a few casual but enticing comments about combining the Shunko Technique with Bankai, which earned a few perked looks of interest at the lateral thinking.

It was roughly after the third day that Ichigo had finally managed to get discharged from the hospital, and was able to officially return to duty. From what Senna had been able to notice was despite barely being able to spend more than a few minutes together in their constant coming and going, due to the increased workload, Soifon and Ichigo seemed to both be in cheerier moods. While she was happy to see them smiling more, she always noticed that her hand seemed to clench over her heart and forced herself to turn away before she say something that might draw their inquiry.

At the moment Ichigo was off on a variety of tasks both inside and outside of Seireitei, however before he headed out he promised the hard working Senna that while he was out in Rukongai that he'd check in on her father Ein, to ensure that he was still ok and let him know that Senna was stuck inside until things settled down on their end.

"Alright, that's enough for today." Shaolin commanded with a confident smirk, allowing her pupil to desist her effort for the day. The dirt-covered Taicho looked at her equally grimy student, and decided now would be a good time to relax. "I believe we've earned ourselves a reprieve until tomorrow."

Senna frowned a bit, not in disagreement since she'd never say no to any chance at rest with Soifon overseeing her, but rather for the practicality of the matter given the current state.

"Are you sure?" she questioned worriedly "I mean your Fuku-taicho Omega-or-something hasn't been around for a while, and your third seat…um Su-ooooo…um Subaru is…unavailable." She added quietly, having slightly forgotten about the rift there, though the volume change did little to stop the captain from wincing, and she knew the reason why. "And Ichigo's doing something else. If you're gone from the squad; will everything be ok?"

The captain took a sharp inhalation of air to calm herself "Yes. The Onimitsukido are already out delivering messages and patrolling the borders, while Squad two, itself, is helping with the reconstruction. I have done everything I physically can at this point, so until I receive some new orders I can afford to slip away for the time being," she crossed her arms and sent an amused look at the girl "Unlike some of the other captains who I won't name, I actually am used to compressing thirty to forty hours of work within a twenty-four hours schedule. I've had to do it before and I can very easily do it again."

"Please don't make joke like that you slave-driver." Senna pouted depressively since she was a proverbial 'cog in the machine' here while the captain let out a soft chuckle for her guilt in Senna's involvement with the work-shift.

"I find it to be most humorous and you DID ask for me to train you."

"You found it funny because you're a cold, cynical, anti-social bitch. So that means you're the best around!" Senna said with a smile, using the words she called her nine days ago in a much friendlier tune

The other woman reciprocated the feelings with a warm laugh "Come on then you shallow, empty, naïve little girl." She beckoned as they flash stepped off.

(Mid-day: Yamamoto's office)

Inside the head captain's office, General Yamamoto was sitting in his chair deep in thought over what the exiled Shinigami Kisuke Urahara had said and what he had proposed to deal with Aizen.

His pride aside the idea sounded very far-fetched, dangerous, and humiliating to have Shinigami turn to the very powers that separated them from the enemy. The warped power of hollows could drive anyone subjected to it to sheer insanity; it was and always has been a force to be reckoned with. The battle hardened man shuddered at the thought of what if any of the captain's gained such a power and succumbed to it, even he seriously doubted if he could stand toe-to-toe with such a foe, even at full strength.

The tactician in him did consider that perhaps it would be easier to destroy those who crossed the line. Though to do such a thing would require near perfect timing, the only clean window would be after Aizen was confirmed KIA yet before the exiles recovered and became a threat again, though such a call would hinge upon whether or not his forces had the strength to continue another battle. The old man rubbed his eyes tiredly as he banished thoughts on his so called 'final option', while he detested having to resort to such tactics he wouldn't risk the safety of the afterlife, the Shinigami or the humans to be left in the hands of those who could potentially snap and destroy humanity unopposed.

The man's eyes fell to the plaque on his desk "Give your heart and soul to your duty that way you may fulfill it and should you die you will be remembered for it. Humanity rests upon your shoulders. That is what it means to be a Taicho. Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryusai." He recited the quote he had told himself every day since he had become leader of all the court guard squads. His mind drifting back to a much simpler time before this Aizen scandal happened.

The man's thoughts were broken when a loud knock was heard at the door. Straightening himself up, and adjusting his garments to ensure he was presentable, Yamamoto loudly announced for his guest to enter.

The wooden door opened up revealing a man with bright orange hair and brown eyes enter. The man was wearing his Onimitsukido outfit that was usually reserved for formal occasions. He took a step forward his sandals brushing against the rug on the floor. He then bowed his head forward a bit so as not to seem rude to his superior.

"Yes, Sou-taicho. You wanted to see me?" Ichigo asked as he raised his gaze to look at the man.

"Indeed. Please take a seat." Shigekuni gestured for the chair before him, which the man quietly took within a few seconds. The aged Shinigami looked at the man silently measuring his spiritual strength and hardened demeanor, which he noted the man didn't seem to lack of "It's nice to finally meet you in person. I have heard quite a bit of the rumors about you Kurosaki-san, along with the waves you seem to make. Born of one of the greatest Taicho to have ever lived, was the one person to be desired by the most amount of Shinigami captains after being drawn from the pool straight out of the academy and upon being transferred to a new squad, attained a seat-officers position on your own merits, possess the ability to utilize Bankai at such a young age, and still have even more untapped potential to reach towards. That's quite a list of accomplishment for one as young as you."

"I thank-you for your kind words, sir." Ichigo said calmly, bowing forward to continue this civil affair "but, you might need to forgive my impertinence when I say I don't think you came here to simply praise me for that."

"Quite astute, and for that I will let your youthful eagerness slide. I will be frank when I tell this to you now: I honestly do not know what it is I should do with you." The old man said as he adjusted himself in his chair, and flipped both his hands so that his palms were facing upwards "On the one hand Kurosaki-san; I should order every available member of Seireitei to hunt you down for all of the crimes which you have committed which entails: Breaking and entering the Soul Society, Crossing spiritual planes illegally by force of arms, attacking a Taicho and several high ranking seated officers, conspiring with a known fugitive of Soul Society with malicious intentions, destroying the Sokyoku, leading a rebellion of possibly an entire squad of Soul reapers, significant amounts of property damage, interrupting a sacred ceremony, and lastly helping to facilitate a non-authorized individual in learning the skills of a soul reaper. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Ichigo merely raised an eyebrow "That you forgot to mention the amount of jay walking I do, and the amount of unpaid ink and paper costs from the printers and fax machines I use at the office, sir." He pointed out with a brash smirk.

The Sou-taicho continued less than amused by the joke "As you should know for a good majority of those crimes, it punishable by death or at the very least probation in the maggot's nest before being released under house arrest for three years time."

Ichigo's eyes hardened somewhat under the statement "Very well then. I'll tell you some facts. One, I don't make threats. Two, I firmly believe in the oath I took as a Shinigami, that no matter where people are in the world, from the nearest street corner to the darkest jungle, I will find them and save their souls. I don't need to be a part of Soul Society to fulfill that oath. Lastly, you are without a doubt strong, Taicho. Maybe, so strong I could never hope to catch up to you within this millennia; however, as much as I don't like senseless fighting I will never back down from anyone who means harm to me or my friends. So reassured that any victory you might have over me will cost you dearly…sir."

The old man nodded his head while the corner of his lip turned upward, his brazen nature reminding him of himself when he was young and reckless. When he had that fire-that same drive to use the power he'd got for the goal in protecting humanity from all threats. Here he was looking at this in this man, he blatantly stated that if it came to blows so be it, he'd stay true to himself, a dangerous yet honorable individual. "True. It might very well be something I can't afford which brings me to my other hand. You have committed many grave crimes, yet because of your actions and the actions of your fellow 'traitors' Soul Society still stands today. Perhaps in ruin, but she is slowly rebuilding. With your valorous deed, unending efforts, and your impressive display of power and capability to perform and wield Bankai, I dare say I should be on my hands and knee this very moment begging you to allow me to give me the privilege in appoint you a Taicho position."

Ichigo eyes widened a bit at being offered the position, as a sense of pride started to fill him. He opened his mouth to speak, when a thought came to him. He examined the thought and let out a tired sigh and spoke "While I do thank-you for the recommendation, I must ask is now really the time for such things?"

Now Yamamoto was interested which his curiosity reflected in his eyes and voice "Would you care to explain why you think that?"

Ichigo walked around the desk and went to the window and looked out at the white city under repairs "What I'm saying is 'Is now the time for ceremonies and such'? Soul Society has been utterly decimated, we're on the prelude to all-out war, this can't possibly be the right time to have a big party, and welcome new leaders." Ichigo then looked back at the man "Hell, I wasn't even in charge of half the invasion process. That was Kisuke who did a majority of the planning, as far as I know I've never been in charge of more than four, five maybe six people tops. That's a big difference between thirty or forty thousand Shinigami. Besides the only divisions I have even a feel for would be the tenth and the second, both of which already have captains to run them. For me to suddenly taking one of them out of their job is inexcusable, but at the same time I can't fill another position without disastrous consequence."

The old man puffed his lips out and let a small hum "You are quite right." He said seeing the man's logic "yet at the same time this proves that you have the thought process necessary of a Taicho."

Now Ichigo was the one with a curious expression "What do you mean? I just told you why this would be a bad idea now."

"That's exactly it young reaper. You are looking at it in both the near and far sighted goals. You correctly identified your own weakness in being put in charge as well as time to adjust. You then recognized not only your contribution to a group but also the other members in that group. I had deliberately singled you out when I said 'You and your fellow traitors'. I wanted to see how you reacted, if you were egotistical you would have blown up your own ego, an act we can't have within a perspective Taicho. On a further note, you display necessary selflessness in reflecting of how your action and inexperience would play out, a necessary component of any incumbent Taicho." The oldest Shinigami alive surmised as he nodded to himself.

"Yes, you have the thought process most required to be a captain for one of the three opening positions. But to answer your question about ceremonies and the like, I would say now is a rather precarious moment in time." The Sou-taicho then pushed himself from his chair and stood completely straight "In a pragmatic sense such an act would be considered foolhardy, as it leaves us open to any possible attack from Sosuke Aizen and his forces," the old man then walked over to the same window Ichigo looked out from, as he now looked over the decimated world "yet at the same time. Soul Society desperately needs something to cling to, to help it get past this grim chapter in her history. Many brave men and women fought and died in protecting not only this plane, but all the planes of life." the old man looked over his shoulder back at the somber strawberry that was deep in his own memories of events past.

"Yeah, people like Hanataro and Ganju." Ichigo said softly and respectfully as he closed his eyes tightly, fighting off the wave of guilt in not only leading them to their death but also failing to protect them. Which the Taicho could see was haunting him "I need to actually go visit one of their families to give them the news of their loss. I don't know how things will be though so I should probably get going if there's nothing else to say sir."

"Very well." Yamamoto said respectfully, allowing the man to excuse himself from the meeting earlier than he'd like "Before you go, I am going to inform you on two things. Firstly, I am going to make sure someone is with you at all times to keep an eye on you, if Aizen is targeting you, it would be in our best interest in making sure you are well guarded."

Ichigo sense their might have been some kind of ulterior motive and while he didn't voice it he sought to alter it more favorably. "I understand. Then may I request who it is will be with me?"

"Yes, you can do so at a later date. The second thing is I will recommend you to be the incumbent for squad three, should we all manage to survive the upcoming war. But for now, I will allow Kira Izuru to run things as he is quite knowledgeable and should be able to handle the situation."

Ichigo nodded his head and turned to the door, the moment he placed his hand on the door, the voice of the Sou-taicho rang out calling his name. Ichigo looked back to see the man saluting him respectfully "Thank-you for your dedicated service, Fourth seat of squad two, Ichigo Kurosaki."

The strawberry felt his lip tug upward a hair as he looked back at the captain and saluted back "It's gonna be Fuku-taicho Kurosaki soon sir, if I might have your blessing to bend a few rules."

"Bending rules, you say?"

"Yes, the sub-clause of dedicated effort or a trip to the human world to apply for the position."

The man hummed to himself in thought before smiled back "I am normally not one to deviate from the rules, but I suppose making an exception now and again, isn't too much to ask for. You are dismissed."

(Shaolin and Senna)

"Why?" the female captain of squad two muttered to herself just loud enough where only Senna could hear, "Why did I think bring her here would be a good idea?" she uttered as her eye brows twitched in annoyance with the recently announced topic of discussion for the S.W.A.

"C-calm down, Sensei. I'm not exactly happy about it either." Senna said with a sweat drop as she recalled what had happened.

Shaolin had taken her from the squad grounds back to the barracks when they ran into a passing Unohana, who held up a piece of paper reading SWA out of -according to Soifon- "natural yet ill-placed curiosity" the purple haired adolescent expressed an interest in it, and after much reluctance on the cold captain's part was convinced it would be a good social experience for the girl and help the both of them take off the edge from things. So they went this time to the fourth division and ducked through some narrow hallways and found themselves in a secret meeting ground.

It was there that Senna met the familiar faces of Ise Nanao and Isane Kotetsu, whom she apologized to both for either attacking or lying to them about earlier. Isane simply smiled and said she'd forgive her only if she promised to never mention what she told her back in her ward, which was able to easily agree since she couldn't remember it. Nanao was a bit sterner but merely wished to convey that as long as she didn't cause a ruckus she could stay, and enjoy the activity, since she was a female Shinigami, thus she couldn't be denied entrance.

And things continued on great or as good as humanly possible for Senna, since Mirokumaru was causing a world destroying flood on the inside of her soul scape from the enormous amount of saliva and drool coming from her mouth at the sheer number of gorgeous, well-proportioned women currently within molesting space, with the exception of Rukia Kuchiki who was absent along with her brother. So Senna was exerting every ounce of control and restraint she had learned and innately had to keep the demon at bay from taking her over and ravish every single woman in the room. After having just got here she didn't need to be labeled as perverted would-be sex-addict, if she managed to live long enough, as her Sensei would no doubt stab her repeatedly with Suzumebachi.

Still all good things came to an end, which came in the busty and glamorous form of Rangiku Matsumoto opening up her mouth to bring up the newest topic "So ladies, now that we've discussed some of the more relevant news, there's just one last thing to discuss."

"Oh what's that?" Yachiru asked as she banged her blow up toy hammer repeatedly while it made a small wheezing noise "Is the candy gumball machine I requested going through now?"

The devilish grin on the woman's face, herald the beginning and the end of things "Nope. Sorry but it's nothing you'd be interested in Yachiru-chan." She then turned her gaze at the rest of the women; while Yachiru stuck her tongue and cried 'boo' "The last topic is Mr. Hero of Seireitei, Ichigo Kurosaki. So who wants to take the floor and open up the discussion?"

And it was because of this that Soifon brought three fingers to the point between her eye brows and top of her nose, her eyes closed painfully to fight off the urge, to kill and maim "Why? Why did I think bringing her here would be a good idea?"

"C-calm down Sensei. I'm not exactly happy about it either." Senna said patting her on the back, low enough where the table in front of her obscured the gesture and removed it from sight.

Surprisingly Yachiru was the first one to speak up "Oh, you mean Ichi-chan!? I played with him once! We did tag! It was super Awesome, he was like WHOOSH!" the girl beamed

Rangiku nodded her head "That's nice," then looked back at the women "You see Yachiru played with him and knows about him. What about the rest of you ladies, have you 'played' games with him, or do I need to start spilling things, from what he tells me?"

Now Soifon spoke up, calling her out on her obvious BS "Matsumoto-fuka-taicho, please. Everyone in this room, with the exception of Senna here, knows you're a rumor mill. How in the world can we trust you have secrets to spill? Besides the topic is pretty vague and pointless, who cares what we think about him? He's still him." She further added to get the topic dropped.

"Ahaha!" The bombshell laughed happily with one hand over her mouth while Soifon silently swore at her persistence. "Oh that's what you think Soifon-taicho. It's actually quite relevant to not only the women here but you too. He's not only Toshiro's boy, but he's also one of yours! Can't you show a little pride in his accomplishments on and off the battlefield? It's not every day that a guy saves Soul Society, achieves Bankai from what I heard, AND happens to be your co-worker."

"Perhaps," the bluenette yielded for now, seeing that she was talking about his records in battle and not something else. If that was all they were talking about she knew she could probably handle any blotted ego that might come up. "But next time around clarify. You wouldn't want to give the wrong idea."

"Huh? Wrong idea?" Rangiku blinked confusedly for a second "Oh! OH! No, No, No you totally hit the nail on the head; I completely meant it in that way too! I thought he was rather strapping in charging with such reckless abandon." She chirped

"What!?" Soifon yelled as she banged her hand against the desk as she stood up, believing herself an idiot for thinking Rangiku didn't mean that and was actually being serious for once.

Even Toshiro would have laughed at her for falling for that.

The strawberry blond girl nodded her head and continued with a friendly smile "Oh yeah, and Hinamori-chan, and Kiyone-chan also had a crush on him. So I think this is completely relevant." She said pointing at each woman with her finger, while said girl went red in the face from being put out there like that.

"Y-you're kidding!" she uttered with such dissatisfaction it came out as plea for denial. _'No…wait. I do believe Subaru once mentioned that several girls had wanted to be an item with him. Those must be them. Uggh…'_

"You don't seem very happy, Soifon-taicho, it's just gossip and our impressions about him nothing else." Isane spoke up, trying to ease the tension in the room from Soifon's strange succession of outburst, which was rather odd since the captain was normal soft spoken, and opted for silent answers in the form of her actions.

"Oh…" she spoke weakly as she slumped back down in her chair now that she was put on the spot from being called out on her outbursts. "Forgive me; I…am rather strict on rules of conduct between personnel, particularly the sub-section of intimacy between Shinigami of different ranking. For the sake of the discussion and group I'll hold my peace." She half-lied to avoid any more attention; while silently reminding herself that Ichigo wouldn't succumb to the other girls' wiles

"No worries." Rangiku said as she then diverted her attention back to the room, looking over to her first hot seat victim "Isane."

"Ooh? Y-yes?" the startled giantess stuttered not expecting to be picked

"Tell me what d you think of him. Hot or not, date or no date?"

Isane scratched her head uncertainly "Ummm…well…I don't really know him all that well. Hanataro-kun spoke highly of him saying he looks kinda scary but he's a nice guy and he did help save soul society; though I'd prefer to meet him in person and get to know him from there."

From across the room Isane's younger sister Kiyone hopped out of her chair and pointed an accusing finger at her older sister "What since when did you start holding such feelings Sis. Very well from today onward you are my rival in love!"

"Huh!?" the medic sputtered with a blush "I…I…No…B-but…"

"Mmm…but then again you are my sister." The younger Kotetsu thought it over then snapped her fingers. "We'll tag team him them. We'll share him fifty-fifty or sixty-forty since I thought of it. Yeah seventy-thirty is plenty fair."

"Wha? D-don't no! Stop with those ideas! Bad Kiyone!"

A couple of the girls laughed at the strange idea as Isane tried to shutdown what her sister was saying but seemed to be tongue-tied. While they continued back and forth, the fire starter turned her eyes back to the reluctant squad two captain, who was now feeling her devious gaze. "So Soifon-taicho what are your thoughts?"

"As I said I will not take part in any…disreputable behavior."

"Oh, pleeeease" the woman shooed "It's just an opinion you don't actually have to go out of your way and do what you say."

The cold captain stared blankly at Rangiku for a moment before letting out a defeated sigh "Fine. I think he's very hard working and does whatever job he's assigned to in a timely and orderly manner. Are you satisfied?"

"No." Matsumoto deadpanned not happy with getting a business report

"Fine. Ichigo is very well mannered and extremely caring individual. He's also reliable I would even go so far to say that he was almost like having a fuka-taicho around. He does seem to get involved into trouble though it's usually not of his own volition. As for 'hot or not' that's none of your business and for 'date or no date', while it matters very little to me at this point I'll humor you and just say I don't see a reason not to." She answered with finality unwilling to go any further than necessary.

Matsumoto was about to open her mouth again but was silenced by a glare from Soifon which clearly said to not push it any further so taking the hint the blond woman wheeled around to another "Ahh…Nemu-chan what about you?"

The android perked up at hearing her name, though it lasted only for a moment "I have no data on this 'Ichigo Kurosaki' so no opinion can be generated at this time. However data does exist on the man named 'Uryu Ishida'".

"Oh? Okay ahh sure then let's go with that."

"Understood. Uryu Ishida is a blue-haired Quincy that wears glasses. We encountered one another during the invasion where he defeated me in battle. I hope to run into him again…" The quiet girl's eyes darkened considerably "and this time I will make sure that he will not escape me. Ever."

An uneasy silence washed over the room at the seemingly murderous nature the twelfth fuka-taicho said her words. Backing away to salvage the situation Rangiku looked ahead for her latest questionee. "That's ahhh great. Yeah, really great." She said nervously as her eyes scanned the room.

And found her.

"So how about you Senna-chan?" she asked turning to the otherwise quiet guest member "What do you think of Ichigo? You've been with him most recently, given your actions during the invasion, what's your take on him?"

'_Craaap.'_ Senna diverted her gaze to the side, cursing her never failing bad luck "I plead the fifth."

"The fifth what now?" the bombshell asked aloud hoping someone might speak it's meaning.

"I believe she is referring to the Fifth Amendment Matsumoto-san." illuminated Unohana "It is the right to remain silent; specifically the right to prevent self-incrimination. It is a human world phrase that had started in the west, but has found influence within Japan during it's time it was occupied by American forces."

"Nooo, no, no, no, no, no, no! You gotta answer the question!" Rangiku refused to accept that answer, now knowing what it was "Come on, belch it out!"

"Yeah! (burp) belch it out!" Yachiru cheered from behind the woman

Senna looked at her Sensei who was mirroring her expression, after a moment she sighed in resignation "Fine." And then stood up from her chair, and started to feel uncomfortable with all the eyes on her "Well…umm let see…Ichigo is umm v-very important to me."

"Oooh!" A couple of ladies oohed, while Rangiku fired another question "And why is he so important to you?"

Senna blushed and started to sputter things out "H-he ahh…well s-saved my life. I mean not him personally, Rukia did, but he err…okay he saved my life in the human world!"

Once again another round of 'ooohs' escaped them "So he saved your life. That's definitely something he'd do. So tell me what do you think of him as guy? Was he quiet and shy around you or was he being assertive and strutting his stuff? Did he maybe put some moves on you or did you flirt with him?" Rangiku asked having a fair amount of fun with the interview thus far

"Y-you know what forget it! I'm out of here. I don't even know why I should answer you!" Senna yelled out in embarrassment as she turned and stormed off

"Wait, Senna." said Rangiku who was surprised by the sudden choice in departure, while Soifon got out of her chair and left the stunned silent room following after her. Rangiku recoiled slightly from feelings of guilt for maybe pushing things too strongly as the other girls chattered amongst themselves trying to avoid the elephant in the room.

Only Retsu Unohana knew the full scope of why Senna was tender to questions about her and Ichigo. From what Senna had told her after having a blood test done on her, both to ensure her health was ok and verify if she was related to Masaki and Ichigo, she came to the realization that the girl didn't want to cause waves that would undoubtedly come with announcing kinship to both of the Kurosaki's, as large burdens would be dropped on both of their shoulders. Senna with the expectation from Soul Society to operate and defend the entirety of the afterlife as efficiently as the other adult Shinigami, and Ichigo's compounding worry between her safety, Soifon's safety and the stress of war against Aizen. Though the healer did offer a word of encouragement about her thoughts, in the back of her mind she did feel like Senna wasn't saying something else but decided not to pursue it.

(Outside the room: Soifon)

Pushing out of the room the concerned Taicho whipped around wildly looking for any signs of Senna, and was disappointed to see she was gone. Letting out a frustrated huff, she closed her eyes and concentrated her senses until she picked up the girl's signature, which thankfully wasn't too far away.

So with a quick series of flash steps she zoomed down the narrow corridors; reappearing beside the sullen looking girl. "You're certainly fast when your distressed Senna." The captain announced to the girl who was sitting on bench. The teen didn't bother to meet her gaze. "What's the matter? What was all that about just now?"

Senna glanced back over to expectant captain and dully replied "Nothing…"

"Don't give me that. 'That' was not nothing." Came the rebuttal. Soifon kept her gaze on the girl who returned it briefly before shaking her head.

"If you really want to know…it was everything. The whole topic and stuff."

A perplexed look showed itself on her face "The one about Ichigo?"

A silent nod was given "The way the thing came out really. It just makes him sound likes he's ONLY worth talking about after saving soul society and everything. I really liked him just the way he was before the spotlight and hero recognition. I've always admired and cared about him; if I ever found myself in a bind maybe even say he'd have my back…but those other girls…" she trailed off

"hmhmh…hahaha…" The last thing Senna expected was for the woman beside her to start chuckling "Is that all that's wrong with you? Jeez talk about worrying a person." A reassuring smile creased Soifon's face "Senna listen carefully, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being annoyed at seeing people suddenly claim 'friends' with a famous person. It happens all the time we're only human."

"And you're…okay with it? You're not jealous or angry at all?"

"I can't say I wasn't. Don't you remember how I responded to some of them? Wasn't exactly cold captain material there. Anyway don't sweat it those meetings are just meant for fun and games, nothing serious every really comes from them." The woman glanced aside "Well except that one time with the bombarding of the S.M.A with fire crackers when they tried to install cameras in the female showers. Now they're almost out of a club, rotten bastards." She added which got a grateful chuckle from Senna who appreciated the effort.

Senna wiped the tear out of her eyes, and glanced serenely at the woman beside her, almost completely at ease by Shaolin's soothing words, "You really love him don't you?" She whispered tenderly.

Shaolin's cheeks turned slightly pink at the declaration. She then coughed to clear herself of it before silently nodding. Seeing the open and inviting atmosphere, Senna decided now might be her best chance to lay everything out.

"I'm envious of you and brother."

"Well Senna you've-…" Shaolin stopped mid-sentence analyzing what was just said "Wait, what do you mean brother?"

"I know you can keep a secret that's why I said 'brother' instead of 'Ichigo'." Senna explained. The girl patted the spot beside her with her hand signaling for the captain to take a seat and listen to her which she did "I don't know if you noticed but I've never told you my full name right?"

The Chinese woman brought a finger to her lips as she thought it over "I did think you were hiding something from me. But that wasn't quite what I had thought."

"Well, the reason I didn't tell you my last name was because I was afraid of a lot things that could happen. I really…really didn't want to get compared to Ichigo, especially by you."

"Be compared? By…me?" came the reply from the confused Taicho _'Why would she think that?'_

Senna nodded "Yeah. You know it just turns out Ichigo's this super soldier Shinigami and me well…not so much. When we first met you were really harsh, I thought you might just see me as female version of him and want the same results he gives."

"Senna…" _'I see.'_ the captain shook her head in disagreement "I'm nothing if not fair. I do realize that some people aren't cut out for warfare. Personally when I find someone who can't hack it either in my squad or Onimitsukido I either transfer them out to another squad or assign them to tasks their actually good at. Most captains take the same approach. Why do you think squad four is filled with the worst assortment of fighters? Because they are the best healers."

"Hmmm." Senna hummed quietly considering her words

"But you seem very confident and eager, so unless that's just a facade. I don't see why you'd withhold it."

"I did it mostly for Ichigo. With him being a Shinigami and having to help repair soul society, I really didn't want to pile on any more problems or attention for him. I just felt keeping my mouth shut would let him concentrate."

"Ahh, well there's nothing wrong with that." The woman replied with a kind smile "In fact I'm sure he'd probably appreciate the consideration." She placed her arms behind her head and leaned back "Well I guess that explains everything then. Why you admire him so and why you got so upset." She surmised

"Well…actually there's more to it. But," the teen looked at her older companion with a soft smile "Do you think we can go to a place a little more private to talk. Just the two of us?"

"Sure." Shaolin replied as she got off the bench; the perfect place came to mind "I've got a place in mind where not only we can speak freely, but also be allowed to relax unlike that stupid S.W.A. meeting."

A small chuckle escaped her compatriot, as both ladies got off the bench and began to head down the hallway out of the barracks.

(Ichigo)

Coming out of a flash step, the renowned fourth seat found himself standing in the tall fields of grass, about a hundred meters away from the home of the infamous fireworks master Kukaku Shiba. The man looked over at the building examining the two sturdy arms holding the banner up welcoming all who dared enter, less than two weeks ago he found himself here, setting forth with Ganju to save the afterlife.

…and now he returned defeated and alone.

Suppressing the guilt within his heart, he forced his body unto the path leading up to the building, each step depleting the amount of time he had left to think about how he was supposed to tell Kukaku and her reaction to the news. At this thought he stopped in his tracks, a burdened frown on his face; he allowed himself a glance back the way he came. Memories of when he learned that his mother was slain began to play itself quietly in his mind, each image served to harden his gaze until it was once again filled with conviction.

Turning back to the home he steeled his resolve. He knew what it felt like and he knew that such things were the consequences of life; he'd just have to accept how she reacted and respect her wishes before he offer her peace. He then resumed his stride.

As he came up the steps to the porch; the shoji door flipped open and two people standing side by side continued walking out, vacating the premises now that their business was concluded. The smaller of the two people was a woman with raven black hair with a rouge protrusion going over the bridge of her nose. Her violet colored eyes reflected surprise in seeing Ichigo of all people here, while her hand gripped the hilt of her Zanpaktou harder out of a sense of safety.

The larger companion was a man with long silky black hair, with three white ornaments in hair. Wrapped softly around the pale man's neck was a silver scarf. The man's grey eyes registered the man's presence though he made little outward expression. The man's Haori was blowing slightly over his matching uniform of his adoptive sister.

"Rukia." Ichigo said with a noticeable pleasantness, then turned his sight over to the sixth division captain, and spoke again though it sounded much less friendly "Kuchiki-Taicho."

Kuchiki-Taicho stared impassively and then nodded his head, no words needing to be exchanged between the two of them. The man then silently walked around him not bothering to look at the man anymore before flash stepping off.

"Ahh, Lord Brother!" Rukia gaped in disbelief as she watched her older brother rather rudely, and most certainly not like him, brush someone off in such a manner especially when being addressed.

"It's ok, Rukia." Ichigo said with a look of pity on his face, which served to keep the woman's attention on him. "It's just hard between us, is all." He explained "Time heals all wounds."

"I'm sorry, Ichigo. I'm sorry you lost your friend." Rukia apologized "I know it's not easy to watch their killer walk by you without being able to do something about it. But…please don't hate him. Please."

The woman was then surprised when Ichigo's hand landed upon her shoulders softly "I don't hate him. I certainly dislike him for what he did, but I understand why he did it. If I hate anyone, it's Aizen. It's because of him that I'm here to tell Kukaku that her brother died." The man's eyes softened "Though I guess that you already spoke to her about it."

The female Kuchiki nodded her head "Yeah, it took three days in total. She didn't even want to see our faces the first day, the second day she yelled at us and threatened to blow us up if we ever set foot on her doorstep again, but…today." The woman recalled the entire lengthy meeting "Today, she just stood on the porch as silent as the grave waiting for us, and then invited us in without a second thought. It was…surreal. She stayed almost emotionless the entire time, like she was dead. But it might have been because of the alcohol. I don't know though."

"Huh… (Sigh) Well let me go talk to her. You should hurry up. I can sense your brother waiting." He said feeling the man's spiritual pressure stop about a mile away from their current location, as Rukia took a step to move out, she was stopped as Ichigo's hand clasped hers. Turning around she looked into the demure face of Ichigo "It's good to have you back, Rukia."

Rukia returned the smile "It's good to be back, commander." She said calling him by his title which hadn't happened back in the human world, before she disappeared in a whirl of speed.

Alone again, Ichigo inhaled quickly to refocus on his purpose, and then walked through the door. Entering into the foyer he called out to Kukaku only to not hear a response. Knowing the woman would still have to be here, he ventured further into the house. After walking a bit down the hallway he saw her lounging disinterestedly in a large red cushion chair, taking a gulp of her medium sized bottle of sake.

"Well, well…" she said as she moved her bottle away from her face, her interest diverted to her guest "I heard you were in the hospital. But you seem fine to me." She then pointed her index finger across from her current spot to the couch "Care for a seat?" she then lifted her free arm "Maybe something to drink?"

"No, thanks." Ichigo declined as he sat down on the couch, his eyes drifting to the twenty or so empty bottles of Sake behind the woman's chair "I see you've been drinking a lot, but I think I know why."

"Heh. Yeah, I'm sure you do." She joked lightly, as she brought the drink back to her mouth to take a much needed swig, when she finished gulping down the last drops of it she looked back at her guest who had his head bowed solemnly

"I'm sorry about what happened to Ganju. I'm sorr-"

"Save it." the fireworks master grunted interrupting the man. When Ichigo looked back up she let out a small burp as she leaned to the side of her chair her long legs going over the arm rest "Don't look at me like that kiddo. If anyone is to blame it for it would be me. I'm the one who forced Ganju into it, because I thought he'd be strong enough to live, and smart enough to learn the difference in reapers. I guess he wasn't as tough as I thought so I'll never know now…I guess."

She let out a depressed sigh as she looked away from him and into the vacant hallway "Do you know the reason why I pushed Ganju around?" when her question was me with silence she continued "It wasn't only just to make him tougher but to make sure that he didn't turn out like me."

"Turn out like you?" Ichigo asked with visible confusion, since while he would admit the woman was dangerous and reckless, she wasn't a bad sort.

Seeing the look on his face, she allowed a soft smirk to reveal itself "I really like you kiddo, so I'll tell you a personal little story about me. Long time ago, I had an older brother. His name was Kaien Shiba; he was a Shinigami like you. He was…a great guy, a model Shinigami. One day he died. That was the day when everything changed. I learned that my brother was murdered; he wasn't killed by a hollow. No, he was killed by a fellow Shinigami from his division."

A shocked look emerged on Ichigo's face having never figured that a Shinigami would kill another seemingly upstanding Shinigami. He would have liked to believe that it was for promotion purposes but given the derogatory tone of voice, he doubted so he was left with the mystery of who?

The image of Byakuya and Rukia leaving the building flashed into his mind. _'It must be one of them.' _He concluded given what was said by both her and Rukia.

"I see you got this all figured out." Kukaku whispered seeing the contemplative look on the man "Back to the story, when all this happened I was just barely out of my teens and I was suddenly thrust into the head position of the Shiba family. I bet the Soul Society expected me to be mature like Kaien and just suck things up like everyone else who lost a loved one, too bad I was both angry and stupid."

The woman took another gulp of her bottle just barely getting it in her mouth. As she moved it away she let out a huge exhalation. "I pulled out of the Seireitei with my brother Ganju and we'd lived in the shitty world outside the court of pure souls. Funny thing about retrospect being twenty-twenty, you know being able to see all the mistakes you made. Looking back on it, I can say what I did wasn't fair on him. I forced Ganju into a life he didn't really deserve. I took away a bright future for him, and for what? Temporary satisfaction? Spiting on the establishment that took Kaien away? I don't really even remember now, but it must have been a shitty reason. That's why after living a year out here, I decided to grow some balls and man up to the reality I was in. That's why I started up my fireworks business." she chuckled as she reached down in the front of her chair and picked up another bottle of alcohol.

"'The Kukaku special: Buy one of ours and shoot for the stars!' that was our original motto. We worked hard practically every day of our lives, I had single handedly went from a sister to a mother," she looked over at Ichigo briefly "I'm tellin' ya, it was a colossal pain in the ass, and I don't recommend you do it." she said which made Ichigo laugh at the joke, while she turned back "We fought, screamed, cried, hugged and nursed. We did a lot together." Sadness flickered across her eyes "…and now it's gone." She mumbled to herself

The woman then shifted in her chair, her foot touch back against the floor, and looked sympathetically at Ichigo "You lost your friend as well, from what I heard. So believe me when I say, I know you can understand a small taste of my pain." She then pushed herself up, using the top part of the chair to steady herself from the vast amount of Sake she had consumed, she lifted her hand telling Ichigo to stay where he was, and that she had this. With the woman back in balance she leaned against the nearby wall "(hah) (wuu) Anyway, I'm gonna tell you what I told that primed out Taicho and his kid sister."

"And that is?" asked Ichigo, as he saw the woman smirk dangerously

"I told that son of a bitch that he'd better fucking cherish his sister. Two of my brothers died protecting her, and I will march my happy ass all the fuckin' way to Seireitei and bitch slap the silky scarf off from around his piss thin neck, if he doesn't so much as treat her like a handmade gift from the spirit king himself. Bah! It took a little yelling and a couple a days of those two blockheads showin' up, but I think we finally see eye to eye." She said only to then let out a pained groan, and begin to feel her knees giving out from underneath her.

Ichigo jumped from his seat and picked the woman up, letting her use his shoulder. The woman placed a hand on the black ninja-esque uniform allowing herself to grip it as tightly as she could despite her debilitated state "T-thanks kid," she then closed her eyes and brought a hand to her head "Oooooh, I don't…feel so great. Damn, I hate to say it, but (huff) could you help me to my room? I should be fine if I can reach the door."

"Yeah, no prob." answered Ichigo

The two walked at a very slow pace, Ichigo serving as the crutch while the older woman used her free hand to comb the wall and help her orient herself within her house. To both their relief the woman's door wasn't too far away,

Ichigo felt the woman shift her weight more against the wall so as to manually get through. Still he waited there the whole time as she went to the other side of the wall to open up the Shoji door. When it was opened enough for her to slip through she gave a sparing glance at him, and beckoned him over with her finger.

Taking a step forward he was surprised by the woman's strength when she pulled him in close to her, and kissed him on the lips. Acting on instinct he pushed himself away, enough to put a small distance between them but certainly not enough to cause her harm. Kukaku though looked absolutely amused.

"Geez, calm down you. I was given ya a thank-you kiss for not leaving my drunk ass over there I wasn't gonna fricken' invite you inside my room to have pity sex with me. I ain't that drunk and you aren't that lucky!" She exclaimed even breaking into a laugh when she saw his face turn bright red and grit his teeth at her actions. "Hey kid."

"The name's Ichigo, Kukaku-san." He corrected letting the whole thing slide to her obvious turmoil and drunken state.

"Right, Ichigo." She said more firmly, her playful nature giving way to seriousness "Thanks for everything. You're a good guy and if you ever need anything; a place to stay or just someone to talk to, you got me. So don't be a stranger."

Ichigo nodded appreciatively "Thanks."

"Heh, those girls are lucky to have you." She nudged before turning into the room leaving Ichigo confused by what she meant by that statement. Unfortunately before Ichigo could get out of his stupor and ask she had already slide the door closed completely, ending the conversation. The Strawberry shook himself of this whole endeavor, since he doubted she even knew what she was talking about so turning around he headed down the hallway and outside the residence, his visit done.

It was only when he reached the patio that he closed his eyes and cursed having forgotten to ask about Senna's dad. _'Damn and it's not like I can just go back in there. (Sigh) oh well.'_ He thought to himself, and looked around finding the area devoid of life _'I wonder where those color coded twins are; maybe they took Ein with them into Rukongai or something.'_

"Oh, well. I suppose I should go visit my other friend." Ichigo mused sadly as he disappeared in another series of flash step back to Seireitei.

(Shaolin and Senna)

"Wow, I guess you really did sneak up on us." Senna said in awe as she found both her and her guardian inside the same cave that was used to plan the final stages of the invasion process.

"This is also where I first saw you." Soifon stated passing by the very same spot she had hidden behind when Renji, Subaru and Senna met up to investigate the disturbance she'd caused.

"Hey yeah, your right, this is where Subaru-chan and I almost-…" her voice trailed off as the captain stopped walking "I'm sorry for what happened."

The woman shook her head, though Senna only saw the back of her hair and the twin bands wave back and forth "You don't have to be. Their actions are perhaps the strangest of all things. I know they cut Ichigo down, yet they did not go for a killing strike, merely an incapacitation. They also didn't wish for me to see them, which definitely explains Subaru's constant worry. She wasn't afraid of me finding out that she worked with you all, she was afraid of what I would think if I discovered she had stabbed me in the back."

Senna took a small step forward, and shakily put a hand on the smaller woman's shoulder. Less than a second later did Senna find her hand covered by the woman's own "I thank-you for your sympathy, but it is unneeded." She said calmly, as a small smile started to rise on her face "If there is one thing I have learned in all of this it's that not everything is at seems. Yoruichi-sama was framed for crimes she did not commit and left Seireitei, Ichigo-kun was framed for crimes he didn't commit and fought against Seireitei. I'm not stupid. I don't fall for the same trick three times in a row. I'm sure they had their reasons for doing so, and rest assured; I will find them and the truth."

"Sensei!" The female Kurosaki said aloud, as the woman glanced fully at her apprentice "I know they're good people. And well, I ahh umm…I-I know I'm not the best fighter. But I promise to fight my best to help bring them back to you. They are a part of my family just as much as you and brother."

"…" the Taicho's lips curved upward just a fraction "Thank-you. I'm counting on you, so please help me bring them home." She then walked on to the pools of water

"You can count on it Shaolin." Senna promised, as she followed the woman.

Once they found a rather large pool of water, the two women started to remove their clothing from their bodies. Once both were fully undressed, with each other sneaking glances at the other's body when the other thought they weren't looking, just acknowledging that the other was a beauty in her own right, they both slowly slide into the warm waters that slowly started to ease their exhaustion and pain.

"Ahhhhh~. This is nice." Shaolin moaned blissfully as she remained on the side closest to the edge, since she didn't know how to swim and couldn't risk going too far out. Though at the rate in which her bodies' muscles were turning to jelly in the water, she had to keep her arms out lest she sink beneath the waves.

"Tooootaallllly. I almost forgot about how nice hot springs were!" Senna replied as she moved one arm around her neck and massages the spot just underneath her shoulder blade, removing the knot. The girl opened one of her eyes as she stared at the content looking captain, feeling minute amounts of envy. "Wow, you just seem to be radiating happiness." The woman softly whispered as she gazed innocently at her friend

"Really?" she said quizzically popping open one eye, to keep her in tuned to the world around her "I thought I was frowning like normal, perhaps I was mistaken."

"Ahaha, funny woman."

"I try. I'm really not used to the whole humor thing though. Ichigo says I try too hard sometimes." She muttered as she sat up, barely revealing her chest above the pond's water level

The other girl let out another small chuckle as the water ran down her skin. She then looked solemnly at the relaxing Taicho "But seriously, you…certainly look happy."

For Soifon the look on her associates face and the tone she took let her know something was up just underneath the surface. Leaning forward to stare into the countenance of the strange Shinigami, she decided to press her luck "Is there something else on your mind?"

Senna sent a bitter smile to her "Kinda," she started as she brought her knee close to her chest, so she could blow on it with her breath, which caused small ripples in the water "I really don't want to say it, but I AM jealous of you and brother." Her amber eyes looked down into the water, but still caught the reflection of her friend's face "I…really do wish Ichigo and my own relationship was as deep as yours. That he cared about me as much as he does you."

Shaolin brought another arm out of the water and placed it against the rocky edge of the surrounding floor to lean against, _'Hmm, I suppose it's natural she'd feel left out since; I've known him much longer than she has and they haven't had the chance to make up for lost time.'_ She noted as she saw the melancholy of the teenager "I think I see what the problem is." She replied simply, forcing the girl to look at her, the captain took a sharp inhalation as she prepared to take another wild stab in the dark "But still, what may I ask makes you feel that way? Did he say or do something to give you such a notion?" she asked trying to get a concrete idea

"Well…during the invasion process and even before then back in Karakura town, you're the one he was worried about most." Senna stated "Don't get me wrong, I mean yeah, he definitely wanted to protect everyone from Aizen, but…it seems whenever he wasn't focused on the task at hand, he always seemed to have his head in the clouds thinking about you."

"Hmm, I guess you felt like you were being shafted because of the situation. Is that about right?" Shaolin surmised wanting to reprimand Ichigo for not paying more attention to his allies at the time and instead thought of her; though, she wouldn't since she herself had been reflecting back on Ichigo during their separation like he did.

"Kinda." She sulked

The Taicho then smiled "Then I am pleased to tell you, Senna. That you're overanalyzing it."

"I…am?" Senna said dumbly, as she raised an eye brow, wondering how the captain came to such a conclusion

The woman nodded her head "Correct. Ichigo as we both know has a very big heart, and is willing to protect people with his life if the situation occurred. But you were analyzing that fact out of context. You see he was afraid that he or I would die, before we could ever reconcile with each other, and even then it was still pretty close. I…think what he did Senna was that he tried to surround himself with as many good memories as he could, in case he…died. That way he could pass on without needless regret." She then pushed herself off the wall and moved in close and placed her hand on the amber eyed girl's bare shoulder "But I'm sure you were in his thoughts."

"Ohhh." Senna replied with a small blush, from the feelings of contentment. The teenager smiled softly as she looked into the face of Soifon who's lips curved upwards, as she leaned back. Seeing the woman move back, Senna decided perhaps she should come clean "H-hey Shaolin-san can I ask you something?"

"Anything Senna, and please it's just us, you don't need to be formal at this time." Shaolin replied quietly, opening her ears and mind to answer what it is the girl wanted to ask.

'_It's now or never.' _Senna thought to herself as she took a deep breath, closing her eyes for the brief second before launching her question "Tell me does…polygamy exist in Soul Society?"

'_Polygamy? Where have I heard that word before…Polygamy…Polygamy…tip of my tongue…wait. I think that's multiple people being married to one person or something like that. Why is she interested in that!?'_ The woman raised an eyebrow at the question wondering where that came from. Her musing was brought to an end when the girl looked on expecting an answer.

"I ahhhhh…I-I don't really know." She sputtered out finally, giving the woman an even look "(sigh) you see Senna, I wasn't one to think about marriage, and I wasn't cultivated to be concerned with politics and stuff of manner when I was growing up, unlike most people. I was born into a family where your destiny was set the moment of your birth. You either: became a member of the Onimitsukido and protect the Shihoin clan or were excommunicated and exiled from the clan." The wet captain shared, while her companion silently nodded with a contemplative look "So I naturally chose the only real option for me, and trained to become strong. I didn't really have time for those kinds of thoughts. So sorry I really don't know if polygamy is allowed in the soul Society, I can only tell you that I have heard no laws preventing it." Her eyes then hardened a bit "Why do you ask?" she said wanting her question answered now.

"W-why!?" she hollered loudly in surprise, which was met with a calm 'yeah' from the Chinese woman, "Well I was just…a little bothered by what that girl Kiyone said."

"Kiyone?"

The teen scratched the back of her head with an enthusiastic smile "Yeah, about tag teaming it with her sister to make Ichigo fall in love with them, ha-ha. I just wanted to know if that was true since this place is so different from earth."

Soifon remained quiet for a moment which did worry Senna. Finally the woman glanced off to the side with a dull expression "True." She muttered which allowed the love-sick girl to breathe a sigh of relief. "Though, I suppose that all in all it's just a matter of personal preference, on the ones involved."

Senna was rather surprised by the declaration "Wow. I never thought you'd be so ok with it."

"I was only lying about the whole strictness on interpersonal relationships. Me and Ichigo are already toeing the line, I'd be hypocritical of me to chastise others for their choices."

Senna nodded her head silently appreciative at how things were going. She might almost been willing to grab the captain and give a huge hug though she held back on it since it'd probably followed up by some kind of demand for explanation. Senna was going to open her mouth to speak when Soifon beat her to the punch.

"Still I don't see why this would be something you'd be interested in" Soifon's eyes narrowed slightly "…unless…" the look on Senna's face was all it took for to know, she was hiding something. "As I thought. You have some kind of interest in this."

"W-what? Me? Naw! I was just curious!" the girl tried to play the fool though from the look on Soifon's face she clearly wasn't buying it.

"Senna you can lie to me, and I will know it. Start talking." She stated firmly

Seeing that there was no way to avoid this she decided to slug it out. "Well, the reason I brought it up was because…I kind of like someone." She said as she moved over next to the captain "But the problem is the guy I like is currently in a relationship with someone else."

"…" The captain remained silent while her eyes peered a little harder at the woman, after a moment she spoke up "I see." She answered harder with an undertone of suspicion "Well, what exactly _do_, you know about this person?"

"D-does it really matter?" Senna said hastily, not wanting to raise any more red flags too quickly

Her dreams were crushed when the pale girl gave an affirmative nod "Yes, you see depending on how much you know about the person, could be the difference between a fleeting crush between humans, no offense." She said raising her hand up in front of her, while Senna dismissed the backhanded comment "and, not to sound sappy, but for want of a better word, 'true love'."

The moist purple haired girl bit her lip, as she turned away from the confused woman. She looked at her rippling reflection in the water, and after seeing it bear a tiny resemblance to Mirokumaru, remembered she'd promise herself she would do this on her own. She then cupped some water in her hand and splashed it against her face, to help settle her nerves. "It's a little hard to explain," She replied solemnly "realistically I've only known about this person for a really short time, but 'spiritually' I guess, I've known about him all my life." She smiled gently, at the way Mirokumaru was infatuated with him, which in turn meant herself "I admire him and everything about him. He's strong, brave and kind." The girl brought a finger up and scratched her cheek nervously "He probably doesn't realize it, but I've actually had my eye on him for a while now."

"I _seeee_." The captain stressed even harder as silent alarm bells started to ring in her head "Senna," she whispered cautiously knowing that patience and acceptance was going to be the only way to get her to talk "I want you to know, that whatever you have to say here. I won't hold it against you, but if you don't tell me, I cannot help."

The younger woman moved a piece of hair from her face, as her eyes held uncertainty "Do you promise?" Senna asked unusually quiet, but at the same time held firmness in it, wanting a guarantee "Do you promise not to think any differently of me?"

The older and shorter woman looked into the other Kurosaki's eyes and saw the enormous amount of hesitation, which made the woman herself both curious and fearful of what she had said, and alluded to, still having reached this far she wasn't going to let it drop. Bring a hand up over her heart she uttered two words "I promise." She formed giving her sacred word to not criticize or look down upon the girl

Senna's amber eyes softened as she looked back into her sensei's steely grey. After finally registering the green light, she took a deep breath and prepared herself for her journey past the eye of the storm "I'm in love with Ichigo." She admitted the words leaving the captain speechless

Soifon looked on stunned, her brain not even able to tell her to blink her eyes. She mechanically opened her mouth to say something only to close it but a moment later. The silence continued for a few seconds until she was able to collect her wits "A-are you…sure?" she asked, not knowing how exactly she was supposed to react to such a thing, or supposed to ask for clarification in case she heard and thought wrong, especially about an affair that was greatly considered taboo by certain cultures and demo graphs.

Senna looked abashed, but her voice still continued, when her heart wished she didn't "Yeah." She swallowed a lump in her throat "Whenever he's around, I feel extremely happy. I feel free." She articulated so that the blue haired woman could better understand "Like I can do or become anything I want to be! Whenever he's looking my way I just find myself trying that much harder."

The Miko placed her palms against the top of her kneecaps, and continued to look over the steady water "After I found out from my 'human' dad that he could possibly be my brother, I tried to quash the feels I had, trying not to see him in that way. I managed to get it under wraps within the first few days, and it worked for a little while," she said much more hopefully then before, though it was short lived "But only for it to return later even stronger than before. It was around the early training stages of the invasion that I started to think of him less as the person who shared my parentage, and more of a good man who genuinely cared and loved me."

"But you knew about me as well…" the usually stoic commander pointed out seeing the obvious problem.

"Y-yeah." Senna answered skittishly "There was you. Always you."

"You're not telling me something, aren't you?"

"Just forget it." She tried to forcibly shut-down the conversation "let's just end it here." She glanced away almost tearing up from feeling ashamed of what she might say "You don't…need to know anyway."

"You're wrong." Shaolin cut in "I want to know because I believe I can help. I am your sensei; you come to ME for guidance. I have already given my word, so stop being afraid and tell me why you are so hesitant!"

The words sank into the younger woman's soul, after calming herself down, she tried to speak in as neutral a tone as possible "I admit. On some secret level, that I didn't even know existed before now. I…" she started to feel her eyes tearing up "I wished that you two didn't make up! That, that, after you parted ways, he would…he would see me, a-and only me."

She moved her hand and wiped the tears away only for them to be replaced by more "I know I must be really petty and shallow for wanting that…that's why I tried to stop my myself and think of how you would feel. I came to know so much about you from what Ichigo described of you. Then I finally met you." She gave a pained smile "At first I really thought you were just a stupid, overly controlling, inhuman bitch. But with each passing day, spent training with you, and gradually getting to know the real you underneath the 'captain'. I came to realize, I couldn't bear to wish such a thing on you anymore." She then lowered her head back down as her frown replaced her broken smile "But, I still couldn't bear the fact that my feelings for him would still go unnoticed, to just wither and die."

She turned her tear-ridden face back to the frowning and concerned Taicho beside her "(sniff) Th-that why I asked about the polygamy thing. To me, it would be the perfect solution to solve the problem without any senseless arguing or infighting. T-(sniff)-that way we could both be happy together with him, and he us." She then sniffled again and wiped her tears away with her hand, forcing a smile on her face to try and play off what her body was doing "geez, I-I don't even know why I'm crying. Ha-ha…wooh, I must look like a complete idiot, huh?"

To Senna's utter surprise she found herself pulled into a tight embrace by Shaolin. "W-wha…?"

"Shh." Shaolin hushed "its ok Senna. Let it all out…"

"Sh-shao…eggh…"

Senna then cried again full force into the other woman, who remained absolutely silent. Her only continued act of reassurance was the hand caressing up and down her back, letting her know that everything was going to be okay.

Ten minutes passed before the young Miko found the strength to push herself off her friend to lean back against the wall. Her eyes strained but not red from the tears. "Thanks." She whispered as her voice came out nearly inaudible.

The cool captain shook her head "You don't have to thank me. It's not weakness or idiocy to let your feelings be known to others, in fact it's probably better to vent than keep it bottled up inside. Believe me; I learned that lesson the hard way."

She then reached down and held both of Senna's hand gingerly, her mind mulling over what to say to the confused girl, who fell in love with the same man as her, who not only wanted to be accepted but make peace between them.

"I don't really know what to say. I do understand where you're coming from, trust me. When I was younger I sought the approval and affection from my teacher Yoruichi Shihoin, as you may or may know, it didn't work out, and I ended hating her guts for fifty plus years." She gave a rough analogy, dropping some of the more important details along the way in order to get through

"Really?" The female Kurosaki asked not really knowing that fact about her friend "You…like girls?"

A dash of heat adorned Soifon's cheeks "Yes, I like men and…women."

"Wow that's brave (3)."

"I thank-you for that compliment but that's another story for another time." She said dismissively not wanting to go into it, at least not yet. "The part that concerns you is this Senna. What you ask isn't something you, me or Ichigo could decide on our own, and for this to work, you would not only have to receive Ichigo's unconditional love, but my own as well. I would have to love you…be in love with you as deeply as I do him, which I…honestly can't say that I am. We've only met." She admitted truthfully, which the girl had a pained frown on her face "You are young Senna, and granted Ichigo is too." She pressed on putting on a childish smile at the end to cheer her up.

Senna mirrored the action "hehe, y-yeah. You're a cradle robbing shotacon." She joked, unable to not take the opening the woman presented

A tick mark appeared on the girl's head "As I was sayiiing…" Soifon she muttered angrily, sending a half-hearted death glare at Senna for her words telling her to watch it, but continued on almost like nothing happened "Ichigo is young too, but he's experienced the cold brutal world for what it is. As you've no doubt witnessed of the Rukongai sectors and the Seireitei, this isn't the place the people of the human world would like for you to envision 'Heaven' as. We don't have poverty; we have wide-spread destitution with people starving in the streets. We don't have merciful protection; we have Soul eating monster waiting to devour everyone and everything in their path. The very beings who are supposed to protect you, we Shinigami, are callous to the plights of the suffering and leave individuals to their misery. It's because he was raised in such an environment, that he's had to grow up very fast, and he's gained much maturity because of his origins; and that is why I love him for who he is regardless of anything anyone says. He has and is my heart."

Soifon let out a small breath and looked into the pondering face of Senna who was truly thinking things over. "Senna." She said to get the young woman to look at her "If you want a less abstract example then I can't think of anything simpler than this: If tomorrow morning, he felt compelled to join Sosuke Aizen's cause in destroying the world, I would simply grab my blade, and go with him. The reason for his joining not once crossing my mind; and more importantly, not mattering in the slightest." She said so simply of such a life-altering decision, as if it was just a report for the local weather "That Senna-chan is the depth of my love for him." She then looked firmly into her protégé's eyes and continued "But, you Senna, you have your whole life ahead of you. You should never rush in to such uncertainty. You must be patient and look through the other person's eyes, and see what they see, feel what they feel."

"B-but I have!" she rebutted defiantly knowing that she had careful and had thought about such things; otherwise she never would have confessed. But one look on Soifon's saddened face made her second guess herself.

Turning her eyes downward, she found herself staring once again into the reflection of the water, and was met with the visage of Mirokumaru, who instead of having her typical lecherous grin or scowl of contempt, had a look of pity, her face acting like a dark mirror to what she truly felt. In that instant her heated resolve began to crumble. "…haven't I?"

Shaolin shook her head 'no' "You haven't considered how Ichigo feels." She then stated the problem outright "While I may have some reservations about it but otherwise no real qualms, the idea remains shaky at best. But let's be hypothetical and say that I was in love with you and him as well, and that I'm willing to share him between the two of us until the day we die, my question to you Senna-chan is this: 'Would Ichigo's feelings for you change of his own volition'? Would they change from mere platonic or sisterly to the same kind of love he confers towards me?" she asked the ever piercing question, which Senna hadn't considered.

When a guilt ridden silence was given to Soifon she continued "To be in a loving relationship Senna, you need to understand your partner, much in the way you understand your Zanpaktou. There will be times you laugh and cry with each other, they may have tendencies to get on your nerves, even make you outright hate them to the core, but you'll always come back to a level understanding between not only you, but them as well. It's not about satiating one side's selfish desire like station, power or material possession. It's about the fundamental soul underneath."

"The soul…" Senna intoned softly giving thought to the word. She looked into her sensei's eyes "The thing that makes us human."

"I promise you Senna that I won't stand in your way about what you choose to do but speaking professionally as your Sensei and…personally as someone also in love with the same man; I just don't see how things would work if he didn't feel the same way as you."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." The purple haired teen admitted softly to the truth. The girl had to face some level of reality, that try as she might some dreams were just that dreams. She knew that she probably couldn't have it for keeps, but she felt okay about it now. Casting her eyes skyward, she felt like an enormous weight was seemingly being lifted off her shoulders. "Shaolin…" she whispered quietly "I want to confess my feeling to him."

Soifon didn't utter a word and continued to stare expressionlessly at the woman, no quick judgments being voiced. Secretly glad that she was being given the chance to explain she took it "I want him to know that I love him, even if all of us being together is…hard. Will you let me…please?"

The captain nodded quietly, having no problem to such a thing. "Of course, I also think it would be best for the both of you if he knew."

"Really? Aren't you afraid he might get…put in a tight spot?"

"No, I'll handle that." The captain then got out of the water and gave a hand to Senna "Come on, let's get out of here."

Senna full of appreciation gave a 'thanks' as she took the hand. The two girls dried themselves off and began to put on their clothing once again. With their gear back in place the two women exited the cave and began to travel back to the division barracks. "You know Senna. You might not realize but I've also been jealous of you too." Shaolin admitted as they traveled through the forest.

"W-what? Jealous of me?" the girl sputtered with ill hidden surprise

"That's right. You have a kind older brother who isn't afraid to show it. I never had such a luxury growing up."

"But wait, isn't Shinjiro-san…?" the confused girl trailed off not wanting to ruin her mood but still get an answer

"No, he…isn't my biological brother." She responded no tell tale signs of the topic being brought up affecting her "I also didn't meet him until much later in life, after I had already been placed in Onimitsukido."

"I didn't know that."

The captain huffed to herself "I can't say I'm all that surprised." She said dryly "It didn't take me very long in our acquaintanceship for me to reach the conclusion: You really don't know a whole lot about anything." She jibbed as the women landed upon the barracks roof heading to Shaolin's balcony "Like how you've been quite the topic of discussion between me and Ichigo; whenever, we have the chance to talk in our small breaks between repair work and messenger missions. Having learned about you through our interactions, and experienced your rather innocent heart first hand; I can see why he had wanted us to get along, personal relations aside."

Senna stuck out her tongue playfully as the woman entered the door into the office "Thanks."

Walking back inside Soifon went to her empty desk and pulled open the top right hand drawer to retrieve an item. From what Senna could see as Shaolin's hand pulled back, was a PEZ candy dispenser with a mirror for a head. "What's that thing?"

"This is a nifty little tool that will save you possible embarrassment. What this device does is erase the immediate memory of a person and replace it with a faux memory." She then extended her hand towards the woman "You might find yourself scrambling to use it after you confess to Ichigo."

"Oh, thanks." Senna said as she gently pulled the toy from the captain's grasp. A thought then occurred to her that hadn't before "But what if I confess and he…returns my feelings? That kind of complicates things."

"I've already considered that. If Ichigo does accept your feelings, then I will step aside Senna and allow you to have him for the rest of the day. Afterward, I want you to solemnly swear that you will use this device and wipe his memory of the incident." She then shifted her eyes away, and spoke with a foreign hint of fragility "…please…"

Senna quietly nodded her head as she now knew the problem in its full scope. Even if Ichigo did accept it, Shaolin hadn't. Even accounting for the fact that she admitted to enjoying individuals of the same gender and could theoretically fall in love with Senna too, thus completing the triangle, the fact of the matter was, having only just met her, she couldn't possibly be in love with her enough to agree to do such a thing. A fact that Senna herself couldn't claim to say, she liked the Chinese woman yes, but actually harbor feelings of love for her? Sketchy at best a lie at worst.

And even though that altercating fact was hanging between them, Shaolin _still_ went above and beyond for Senna's happiness, and now the young adult morally felt it was her turn to respect her sensei's right to happiness "I understand, Soifon…I won't break my word so you don't have to worry about a thing."

The woman shifted her eyes "Thank-you for understanding, however in the event that he does denies it right then and there. Then still use it. We can't afford to burden him or you with unnecessary worry and regret."

"I understand." Senna's expression lightened up "and thank-you for this chance, Shaolin-chan."

"You don't need to thank me." She declined "Alright, I'll go get him and bring him back. Don't leave this office as I should be back soon. But if you get tired or want to sit down and plan out what you're going to say, my bed room is right over there. Feel free to use it." Shaolin then walked back to the balcony door and looked at Senna "Good luck." She said as she left, leaving the girl to wait and ponder what it is she would say in her fast approaching confession.

(Ichigo)

Amidst the quiet hallowed grounds of the memorial cemetery, the orange haired fourth seat of squad two stood in front of a single grave that took him the better part of an hour to find. The ruffled edges of His Hakama, that he had changed back into after visiting Kukaku, blew softly in the direction of a small black obelisk that had two short pillars wrap around it, with only two small bouquet of flower at it, the only indication of the grave being visited.

The man, who stood in front of it, felt not only relentless grief and vexing frustration, but incredible amounts of anger. As he stared at the name of Hanataro Yamada, written clear as day on the tablet, he was absolutely seething in the fact, that almost no one had bothered to come pay respect to him. "Goddamn it." he whispered as he kneeled down beside the tomb, placing his hand at the top of the mortem "You did such amazing things Hanataro, and now no one even bothers to care."

His eyes fell down to the small flowers adorning the sides "Probably from Lin and Retsu." He made an educated guess going with people he knew that knew Hanataro "It's rather pathetic." He closed his eyes tightly "You mentioned before that you were an ordinary guy who blended in the background, but that's not true. Even now, you're reminding me what I'm fighting for. I failed to protect you, so I wanted to apologize to your face. I won't let you down again." He said with a fierce look as he planted his eyes firmly on the words written vertically on the memorial.

_Ichigo-san…_

Ichigo's eyes widened a bit as he perked his head upward, almost swearing he heard someone whisper his name. _'Was that? It…almost sounded like…'_

"Ichigo-san." Another voice called out to him. The man looked around and spotted the silver haired Fuku-taicho of squad four approaching in her neatly ordered Hakama.

"Ahh, yes?" Ichigo said finding his voice, as he started to stand up at the approaching woman who was carrying a small bundle of flowers in her arms.

"Oh, nothing. I was just surprised to see you here." She then moved her gaze to the small totem beside them "and visiting Hanataro-kun no less." She allowed herself to smile at the rather kind act "I'm sure he's pleased to have a friend visit."

Ichigo looked back at the monument "He's deserves better." he cursed bitterly

"Mmm." The silver haired woman hummed "It's never really fair is it? I know you were good friends with him. He proudly told me of all the adventures you two had together, yet you of all people couldn't be present for the day he was 'buried'." She said referring to the ritualistic manner of laying bodies to rest underneath the ground, despite the fact the bodies would eventually disappear and return back to the cycle of reincarnation "But I think he's in a better place."

"The human world?" Ichigo asked skeptically, giving a bemused scoff at the notion "I don't know about that. The kid's so helpless from time to time; I swear I'll never figure out how he got through the academy."

"There's nothing wrong with being concerned or thinking about a friend who's no longer with you." The woman said as she walked forward and placed her bundle down in front of the grave. Then reached into her outfit and pulled out a stick of incense and used a small fire kido to light it. She then placed it against the tomb and sat down upon her knees to pay her respects. "Ichigo-san," the lieutenant said with her eyes still closed "I just want to tell you, that me, Unohana-taicho, and the rest of the fourth division are behind you all the way." She then opened her eyes and stood back up "Hanataro-kun might seem undecorated but he's really looked up to now in the fourth. Because he stood by you in your time of need and in our time of need. We'll follow his example and fight alongside you Ichigo for a better tomorrow."

The orange haired man blinked, as he felt a small shift in his heart, as if something of a weight released itself off him. The man brought a hand to the back of his neck and gave a one-sided smirk "Thanks for that Isane-chan it really means a lot." His smile then grew wider "I'll be counting on you and everyone else, let's do our best out there."

"Not a problem, Ichigo-kun. Please have a wonderful day, and keep yourself well." Then the tall woman bowed, excusing herself, and began to walk back the way she came.

"Oh hey!" Ichigo called out to her, throwing his hand in her direction to get her attention

The gray haired woman turned around with an interested look on her face, waiting to hear what he called to her for "Can you tell Unohana-san, I said hi and thanks again for patching me up." He requested; which the girl smiled and nodded her head before disappearing off in a flash step.

The bearer of Zangetsu looked back and placed his hand on the top of the small monument in front of him. Then nodded to himself reassuringly. He then removed his hand, and placed it in his pocket. He turned to walk off when he felt someone's Reiatsu fast approaching, which after confirming it was Lin-chan, made him curious as to why she was coming in so quickly.

In a blur of speed, the Chinese Onimitsukido member landed on the path of the tombs, her sandals kicking up a small patter of dust from her sudden stop "Ichigo." She said softly as she looked to the spot he was standing, and recognized it as Yamada's grave "Now I see why you were here."

"Yeah, I just finished up talking with him." he said with a cool smirk "I feel a lot better now." He then tilted his head when he saw the woman seem to be more than troubled "Is everything all right? You look like something's bothering you."

"Ichigo, I need to tell you some things." She said flat out, not wanting to beat around the bush.

The woman then began to explain the situation to Ichigo fully. Informing him of Senna being from what she could tell, really in love with him. As well as the fact that she was waiting in her office ready to tell him of the way she felt. By the end of the tale, Ichigo had a very disheartened look on his face, as he opened his mouth to speak

"Wow. I guess that might have been her way of dropping a hint." Ichigo said quietly referring to the hot springs incident, while Shaolin looked confused at the statement she decided to she let it go

"Tell me Ichigo what do you think of her?"

Ichigo raised an eye brow wondering why she would ask that particular question. He had a feeling there was more than meets the eyes on this. "Senna is a good girl-

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT ICHIGO!" she shouted seeing that he was going to dance around the question, when she needed answers. Facts. Now. "Do you love her?"

Seeing that she wasn't going to let it drop, he let out a huff "Even before it was brought up she was my sister I admit I did and do think she's cute, and I do think that she has her moments, but I've never put any serious thought into her. I'm happy with you, Shaolin.

The second squad captain let his words settle down as she absorbed what he said. _'That didn't really answer my question…could he…?'_ She then started shaking her head lightly, as she continued to mull over her thoughts "I see. Then what may I ask do you plan to do when she confesses her love to you?

Ichigo bit his cheek slightly as he knew there wasn't any easy way to settle this.

Someone was going to get hurt either way.

"It's gonna suck. But rejecting her is the only option at this point."

"No." came the immediate reply

"No? What do you mean 'no' Lin-chan?"

"It's…not the only way."

"You can't be serious." He replied as he knew the only other way would be to say yes, which meant she did have something cooking "Why do you want me to say yes?"

Shaolin's eyes dimmed at the question, her own bad memories being stirred "Because…I know what it's like to be hurt by love. In all honesty, Senna…reminds me of me. Of the way I used to be. Wide-eyed and idealistic, and then when I fell in love and got betrayed I changed for the worse. Senna is at similar crossroad. She's scared of saying how she feels and about what people will think about her…but she consider you to be the center of her world and that's what lets her keep going. Losing that one thing will destroy her completely."

"…"

"Ichigo, the war against Aizen is going to be coming soon. You know that and I know that. We both know Senna is gonna fight either of her own choice or because Soul Society is going to forcibly enlist her. I don't think it's fair that a regular seventeen year girl old is going to have to fight in a cosmic war that can ultimately result in her being killed and forgotten. Her life taken for nothing. I want her to be happy, humans beings are fragile creatures. No, I take that back, we are all fragile." A resigned but warm smile spread across her face "I'm…okay with losing you to her…if only for a while."

She then locked eyes with her boyfriend "So please do this for me. When she confesses her feelings to you I want you to return them for whatever they might be. I won't hold it against you, because I trust in you."

Ichigo closed his eyes as he thought it over, unsure of how exactly he should act in this precarious situation. He knew that everything she said was true, the war with Aizen was sure to start sometime soon, and Senna would probably be on the front line with them defending her home. The carrot top opened his eyes and then with a resigned sigh, pulled his girlfriend into an embrace and kissed her softly on the forehead "Alright you win. We'll do it your way."

The relieved woman let go of the breath she held "Thank-you Yojimbo."

The man scoffed but still held unto an amused grin "Whatever you self-righteous half-pint."

An equally dangerous grin spread on the captain's face "Don't you dare get sassy with me you orange-headed lummox. I'M still in charge of this outfit, when I say jump you say how high. Failure to do so will result in your ass being deported to the floor."

"Am I sensing hostility?" Ichigo asked rhetorically, happy to know he could still rile her up "Is the great captain Soifon threatened that her fourth seat is better than her?"

"You wish!"

"I do believe we had an argument similar to this once before." He replied with a certain knowingness in his voice "Yes, it was about How anything you could do I could do better."

"You better than me? Ha! Omeada could probably keep me at a better satisfaction level then you ever could."

"Oh really?" he questioned mockingly taking a thinking pose and decided to run with such the unintentional pun. "If I remember correctly a certain blue-haired captain was screaming 'AH! Ichigo! AH! AH!' in the forest once before and I don't think it's because she wasn't 'satisfied'."

With that little zinger time stopped for Shaolin. _'He…he didn't just!'_ Her face trapped in the pinnacle expression of horror at what he was saying out loud. In a PUBLIC location! The otherwise taciturn captain's face exploded into a vibrant crimson "S-s-shut UP! Don't go saying that out loud you moron! Stupid Idiot!"

"We're in a graveyard! Whose gonna overhear THAT THE GREAT CAPTAIN OF SQUAD TWO, SHAOLIN FON, WAS HAVING AN ILLEGITIMATE AFFAI-"

"SHUT UP YOU DUMBASS FRUIT CUP!" The red faced captain screamed out in embarrassment trying to drown out his words from unwanted ears.

Ichigo let out a hearty chuckle as Soifon desperately flailed in his arms trying to reach for his throat to strangle him. She continued the struggle until she came to the realization it was futile because he was just too big, so she dropped dead in his arms with a deadly glare locked at him.

Sensing her obvious chagrin at the situation, the young hero lifted her chin up and kissed her on the lips, an action which the woman returned back just as lovingly after letting her anger subside.

"I love you Shaolin." He said tenderly as he placed her back down on the ground

"Don't worry about it. You're not gonna remember anything come tomorrow morning." She commented "Let's go see Senna and then you can just leave everything to me you dummy."

The younger Shinigami nodded and the duo disappeared in a flash step heading towards the second division barracks from the Shinigami memorial grounds. Within about fifteen minutes, the pair was outside the door leading into the captain's office. The small bluenette looked over her shoulder, and when her larger orange haired companion nodded his head, she nodded hers. The sign the operation was underway.

Slowly turning the door knob, the female captain opened the door and allowed Ichigo to step inside as he saw Senna sitting in Shaolin's chair twiddling her thumbs back and forth looking extremely nervous; for reasons that was supposed to be foreign to Ichigo.

For Senna, she immediately perked up when she saw the smiling face of Ichigo, who seemed to be his normal laid back self, while her pokerfaced Sensei remained at the door, but was slowly backing up quietly, seemingly unbeknownst to Ichigo.

"Yoooo, Sen! Lin-chan said you wanted to see me about something important, so what's up?" he asked with an easy going smile despite already knowing what was going to happen.

The girl looked down and couldn't help but blush. Secretly, she glanced back at her fellow conspirator who only gave a terse confident nod before quietly closing the door fully, and begin her sentry duty of warding off unwanted guests; keeping the meeting private until Senna was done with her talk with Ichigo.

The girl caught Ichigo giving a small backward glance though she assumed that he was probably just checking to see that Soifon had left since he seemed to be under the impression that what was said wasn't meant to get out.

That small window in time for her meant it was do or die now, the small reprieve that would be given to her before this moment of truth.

Working up her courage, Senna took a deep breath and pulled the ribbon out of her hair letting the spiked pony-tail in the back fall loose revealing smooth jaw-length hair "I-Ichigo. I…we've only really _-reeaallly-_ known each other for a short time; less than a month actually." She smiled nervously as she inched closer to him, pausing slightly to swallow the lump in her throat "But in that time, I've grown very much attached to you. You've been one of my greatest—most inspirational role model. You've… always been there for me. To cheer me on during the training sessions with Urahara, pick me up if I ever fell to the ground and hurt myself or just crack a simple joke whenever I was feeling bored. You make me laugh and smile. You help define my life for the better."

She paused and smiled as the memories of everything up to this point played itself in her head, from the turbulent encounter in the streets of Karakura to the frequent hospital visits in soul society with Shaolin "I went and saw Unohana-san during my free time, and learned a lot of things about who you are and…and how our mother is…or rather was, like before she died by Grand fisher." She nervously glanced away unsure of how he'd take that little bomb and its unpredictable aftereffects "I know, I know, I should have told you sooner that I got a firm confirmation, but I really didn't want to mess this up. So I'm really sorry, I didn't tell you about that sooner." she apologized with a childishly smile allowing a small comical break, a proverbial calm before the storm "even so…I…know that we're blood related, and that's something that no one can take away from us. It's one of our special, dearest, bonds that I hope continues to grow between us as we get older."

As she stood in front of Ichigo, she reached down and grabbed his hand gently and lifted it up to where it pressed against both of their chests. Her eyes closed tightly wanting to just remain in the genuine happiness given to her by being next to the man who had stolen her heart.

"But, that's not the special bond I want to talk to you about right now. What I want to say…to tell you, bears many negative connotations and it might make you think differently of me. It might disgust you. Maybe…maybe even make you hate me."

She calmly opened her eyes and stared at him straight in the face, completely unafraid of what she was going to say "Even so…I won't lie to myself or to you anymore. Ichigo…brother, I…I love you. I'm in love with you." As tears started to form at her eyes, she closed her eyes tightly, to stop herself from looking into his face, lest she lose her nerve "Y-you're the only person that makes my heart go as crazy as it does, and makes me want to think about a future we can have together. I want to marry you! I want to be your wife and have a family. I want to be able to wake up every single day and tell you 'I love you, Ichigo!' and always mean it! That's, that's all I could ever ask…I don't want…I don't _need_ anything more from life than that." the light grip of her hand on Ichigo's fingers increased in force, as she laid the truth bare "Rich or poor it doesn't matter to me. To simply be able to live with you, as husband and wife in a place we can call home…to…to fill both it and our lives with the children, born from our love…to be a family, happy forever-and-ever. That would be a make believe dream come true for me. "

She opened the lids of her eyes revealing the amber hue tenderly look at her opposite, arms shaking ever so slightly "So tell me Ichigo-kun, do you love me?" shaking her head softly, she whispered "Not as your sister, and not as your friend, but in the way that I love you. Do you love me only as myself, as Senna?" she asked softly, begging for an answer for some sense of joy and relief or bitter but needed closure.

The pause that followed after Senna asked the question was the most excruciating experience she'd ever gone through; her heart pounded away in her chest, her breath short and so quiet from anxiety, that it if she didn't feel her chest rising she wouldn't have been sure if she was still breathing. Finally, after what felt like an eternity in that silent hell between them; Ichigo leaned forward in a slow descent and placed his lips on hers, his arms encompassing behind her neck and waist, pulling her in closer. The young woman's breath hitched as she felt the kiss, and she then closed her eyes, melting into the warm feeling of bliss from that simple act of love.

Pulling away he smiled gently as he cupped her cheek "Yeah, I love you too, Senna." He replied sweetly, as Senna's heart continued to melt at the seemingly surreal reality she thought she was trapped in.

The tomato red girl breathed heavily as she looked at her knight in shining armor, and then looked over to the door leading to the bed room. With a short one-sided mental debate, she edged her eyes over to the door beside them,

"Ichigo…" she muttered seductively trying to catch his attention, and when it was quickly given to her, she tilted her head suggestively, singling the door out for the fourth seat. The man seeing the motion and its implications surprised her by sweeping the girl off her feet entire, carrying her bridal style into the next room over.

Once inside the room he laid her gently down upon the bed, his eyes roamed up and down her taking a moment to admire her innocent child-like embarrassment. With a silent satisfaction he leaned in and kissed her sweetly on the lips again, gently stroking the threads of her silky violet hair. As Ichigo caressed and moved the strands of her hair, the Miko snaked an arm behind his neck to bring him closer and deepen the kiss, her eyes closing in satisfaction of the euphoric sensation that was coursing through her body. A sensation she wanted more of.

Senna felt Ichigo slide his tongue into her mouth, and decided to mimic the actions as best as she could and touched Ichigo's appendage with her own, letting them dance together. Breaking away from her mouth, the stout Shinigami began to plant kisses in a small line down her neck, making the woman huff in wanting as she felt the small static charge of each and every point of contact flood through the nerves in her body, making her legs squirm against each other, her fingers curl, and her panties begin to dampen.

Casting a small glance at her face, Ichigo was pleased to see she was enjoying herself, so he decided to turn things up a bit. Reaching to her neck line with his hands, he began undo the buttons holding it open. Once the final row of buttons were undone, he pulled apart the placket of her Hakama, revealing the toned core of the woman, and her bright red bra that held her full C cup breast, that lay just underneath.

Running his hand over her body, he stopped at the small clip that both rested between her mounds and protected them. Casting a glance up, only to see Senna staring back at him with a bewitching smile, shake her head shaking vigorously with approval, did he continue in their exploration. With the flick of the wrist he undid the clip and tossed aside the crimson garment, allowing himself a moment to send a confident smirk back at her before leaning down and running his tongue from her abdomen all the way to where her breast were, making the girl blush harder and close her eyes in delight.

He pressed himself tightly against her and started licking and sucking the erect nipples of the female Kurosaki, making her arch her back towards, both from being unused to the sensation of having such a sensitive spot teased in an erotic manner, and wanting him to have better access to continue his ministration.

As he kept vigilant attention to what he was doing at her chest, his free hand decided to gain a mind of its own and wander downward using the crevasse created from her half opened attire to dip down to the nether region, following the perspiration and saliva induced trail like guideposts until it led to a thoroughly soaked pair of panties. The seemingly intelligent hand fingered the undergarments lightly, gaining a feel of where it could slip under until it found its entrance, less than a few seconds later did begin to stroke the girl's special spot.

"Ahhh!" Senna cried out from having that once forbidden area touched by his hands. Her muscles tightening up considerably only to then spasm out of her control, making her really glad she was already laying on the bed; because had she been standing she would have sworn she would have fallen to the ground.

Not that there was any doubt in her mind that the man turning her into putty wouldn't strive to catch her from her sudden plummet.

Getting up to better adjust himself, Ichigo went down between the barely conscious woman's legs and pulled down the rest of her pants revealing her white panties stained with sweat and love juices from her virgin pussy. Sliding the damp garment down her smooth moistened legs, he allowed himself to glance at the woman's face before he put his mouth to work upon her sex.

"Mmmm oh god!" Senna panted out as she felt on the edge of something that she couldn't even begin to describe. She could only tell it was hot and rapidly approaching. Seeing this Ichigo increased the pace of his mouth while one of his hands played along the upper half of her slit. After a few more seconds of this treatment, Senna let out a piercing cry as she felt something flood her system, releasing the woman's essence unto the bed and her orange-haired lover.

"I…I... (Pant) (Pant) I'm s-s..soo..sorry Ichi…g-go (pant)." She apologized windily, arms crisscrossing over her face to hide her discomfiture and allow the catching of her breath, from the strange but addicting sensation that had overcome her.

Ichigo however was unapologetic and in fact just gave a bemused smirk "There's no need to apologize. If anything…" he got up beside her ear "it made you look cuter." He whispered sending a shiver down her spine.

The bridge and cheeks of the girl reddened more "D-do you really mean that…?" she stuttered out, not knowing such an unconscious act made her seem cuter in his loving chocolaty eyes.

The affirming 'yes' that was given made the woman part her arms out of her face, a sheepish smile forming from the mixture of embarrassment and gratification of his words.

But mostly the gratification.

Regaining her breath the Miko took notice that Ichigo still had his Hakama wrapped around his still untouched body, which made the girl want to face palm herself for forgetting about him and his happiness. Again.

"Umm…s-should I take off your clothes or…something?" She asked awkwardly since while she knew both people had to be naked for sex to work and really wanted to be proactive in this and not just be on the receiving end of things, couldn't really come up with a more articulate way of say what she wanted him to do.

Ichigo blinked, and couldn't help but laugh seeing that he was still dressed, and only now did she begin to notice "Naw, it's ok, I got it." he then got off the bed and began to take off his clothing,

As Ichigo's shirt started to come off, the woman gulped audibly as she saw his muscular physic that was normally covered up. _'W-whoa…'_ she thought to herself

'_**Ahh…Ichigo-sama…'**_ Mirokumaru panted huskily as she could see-feel what Senna was experiencing, and was ready to enjoy every minute of this. _**'Let's give him a night he'll neeever forget, Senna-chan.'**_

As Ichigo discarded his pants now, Senna tried to suppress the smile that came from liking what she saw but was failing at the task miserably, thanks to Mirokumaru erotically egging her on mentally and physically stimulating her adrenaline and sexual response system.

Ichigo himself felt his hand almost twitching from…excitement? He really couldn't tell. All he knew was that his head was as clear as the evening sky that everything was laid out before him and just needed her approval.

"So are you ready for the real thing Sen? You can still back out now if you want." He insisted remaining courteous, despite his nudity.

"No! I-I want you." She then leaned back and spread her legs open for him, using her three middle fingers to spread the path that led to her core "I want you to be my first." her flush reddened even further, as she swallowed the lump in her throat "…and my only one, Ichigo. J-just p-please be gentle." She requested, knowing from Sex ed. that due to physical structure, the first time for women was always supposed to be the most painful.

Walking back unto the bed, Ichigo lined himself up with her sheath and pushed himself in "Ugghhh…!" Senna groaned out unused to the foreign feeling, and almost willing to believe she'd have died on the spot from the incredible pain that surged through her, which was accompanied by a small trail of blood that leaked from her unto the bed.

After Ichigo waited a few seconds, to allow the girl a chance to breathe and get used to the unusual feeling. Once he was sure she had he then started to pump back and forth, repeating his actions like a pendulum in motion. With each thrust, the initial pain Senna felt gave way to an indescribably blissful sensation. After the third thrust, Ichigo allowed one of his hands to grab hold of Senna's sweat covered breast and stimulate the areolas as he leaned down and kissed her lips in tandem with each of his thrust, while Senna leaned in closer to his body, allowing for much easier penetration for her incestuous brother and much, much, more time to capture the lips she'd been lusting after for far too long. As the man continued to pound away, Senna started to feel something once again build up inside her lower abdominal region.

Senna's face soon scrunched up again as she felt herself almost boil over again, as Ichigo thrusted into her again, the female Miko let out a loud cry, as she climaxed a second time. Her nails digging into the skin of her lover, using him as an anchor to keep her tethered to reality against the wave of chemicals that tried to wipe her mind blank.

Upon seeing the girl reach her limit a second time, Ichigo stopped his moving and allowed himself a chance to breathe and allow his member to relax from the stimulation of the activities, before pulling himself out of her.

The sudden parting from her warm flesh made him shiver slightly as he came back down to rational thinking and knew it was almost time. He allowed himself to take a brief glance back feeling more than happy at seeing the contented satisfaction on Senna's face.

Pushing himself up to get off the bed, he spied the memory replacement device barely sticking out of her hakama's pocket beside her. The guy made a fluid half-step to the side, so he could naturally turn into the flash, when Senna would try to make him forget what happened, sealing the deal. But before he could turn all the way around to start the plan, Senna called out to him from the bed, still short of breath. "Brother (pant) did you…have that (pant) feeling too…?" she asked, since she thought something was up when he didn't look all that pleased.

Ichigo hesitated from the question in his mind, not expecting her to make small talk "Yeah, I did." He lied

'_**Ichigo-sama…? Be wary Senna, he lies…'**_

'_I know…'_

"You're lying, Ichigo. Your face it didn't change at all. You couldn't have kept a straight face…" She muttered truthfully, which forced Ichigo to looked back at her and face the accusation. And while he did see her still gasping for air, she knew that something was up. "Was I really that crappy at it?" she asked him, as she moved her jelly-like arms to push herself off the bed sheets a bit "Or were you just fixated on Shaolin-chan." She further wondered

'_No point in lying, anymore.'_ Ichigo thought to himself; as he brought one hand to his shoulder and scratched the limb "I admit that I care a great deal about you Senna, much more than any other random girl," he then frowned as he said what would surely break her heart "but my feelings for you don't quite reach as far as yours. Believe me, I didn't want to lead you on in a bad way, but at the same token I didn't want to break your heart and see you become bitter and depressed. You and I both know that we've been through hell and back just to get where we are right now, and we both know that in the near future there are gonna be fights we might not be able to run from, or win, or even survive. That's why I wanted to let you have this. I know I'm wrong for taking advantage of your feelings like this and I'm sorry for deceiving you, but all I want is for you to be happy. If you can't accept my apology and hate me for it, that's ok. I can live with that. I just want to say I love you too sis."

"It really does hurt to know that you lied to me Ichigo, especially when I…offered myself…my soul to you, and you took it." The woman said fragilely, which made Ichigo feel really crappy about himself. "But…" she then continued getting him to look back at her "I do get that it wasn't a fair choice for you, and that it wasn't fair for me to have put you both in this situation."

'_Both of us?'_ his confusion gave way to the obvious answer "So you figured out Shaolin did more than just bring me along, eh?"

"Yeah, it wasn't too hard. I know Shaolin-chan would have at least told you something, if you so easily agreed to sleep with me. It also explains why you got off the bed in the first place." She then leaned over the edge of the bed where her clothes lay, and pulled out the memory replacer "So you'd be in a great spot for this."

Ichigo shook his head bemusedly "You are way sharper than you let on, Sen."

"Don't you know Ichigo? Girl's like playing dumb and hard to get, ahaha." Senna then started to smile as she got from the bed and walked over to hug her fake lover from behind "But, for all of that, I do get why you did it. I know that you love her. I just hope one day, I'll be as important to you as she is, but I can wait for that day." she then went around him and spoke with a devious smile "Buuuuut in the meeeaaantiiime! Since you owe me for giving you a one night stand, even if it was kinda crappy, how about we try an idea I have that'll work everything out, for at least today." She then gave him a merry wink "So would you at least humor me? I mean I've never led you wrong before have I?"

Ichigo let out a contented chuckle "Well there was that one time at the hot springs." He referenced

"That didn't count! I wasn't in the right state of mind!" she shot back quickly

(Soifon)

Outside in the hallway, Soifon, with one slender leg crossed over the other and her arms folded lazily on her lap, sat expectantly in the chair next to her office door; waiting for the Kurosaki's to finish up their meeting and Senna's confession.

So far a little more than an hour had passed with no real signs of impending changes, and while she was getting a bit anxious, she chose to respect their privacy.

A sigh escaped her, a product of having all this sudden free time thrusted upon her with nowhere to go. She leaned back in her chair, head touching the wall, giving her ample time to spend on thinking if she was doing the right thing, since she had pressed Ichigo to make a decision on the spot instead of giving him time, and any real development of this would be lost within the matter of minutes or hours if Senna needed consoling afterwards. "Why are problems that involve Kurosakis never simple?" she asked herself listlessly. Before her philosophical question could be answered the sudden creaking of the door caught the woman's attention making her shift her body to see what was up.

Sticking only her head out comically, Senna looked directly at the patient neutral faced captain "Shaolin-chan can you come in for a second?" she inquired with her usual chirpiness, hoping to peak her interest just enough "I really really need you for this!"

"Sure, but are you do-" the rest of her sentence died out when Senna ducked back inside before she could finish asking her question of the conversation being finished now. Sighing to herself vexed at Senna's hastiness, the woman got up and closed hers eyes running one hand through her hair while the other pushed the door open enough to where she could enter and see what the problem or possible solution was. _'Hmm…maybe she needs help moving his body…men do weigh more after all.'_ she concluded believing the storm having passed.

How wrong she would be…

As soon as she entered, the short woman was lurched forward unexpectedly into an embracing kiss by a half-dressed Ichigo. While the other Kurosaki used the distraction to close and lock the office door, ensuring that no one would be entering or leaving anytime soon.

"Mmm, ahh…w-wha? Ichigo!? Why are you awake?" Shaolin asked despite her luminescent blush from the sudden intimate kiss from her shirtless lover.

In her mind she was panicking, this development having not even occurred to her in her seemingly flawless plans with dealing with this sudden Senna hiccup. Before another thought could occur to her, a grunt escaped her as she felt an extra pair of hands begin fuddling her breasts from the outside of her tight form fitting uniform "mmmahh…S-Senna, what are…ahh!…you doing!?"

Senna smirked filled with naughty intentions "Weeeell after we finished up, it kinda leaked out that it was a set up by you." She said in a sing song tone only to then lean closer to the woman's ear and whispered seductively "So…since it's going to be for one night only, I wanted to see what it would have been like if we all loved each other." She then went and kissed Shaolin on the neck while the Asian girl's moan was stifled by Ichigo locking lips with her once again "I hope that's ok with you, Shaolin-chan." She cooed

As Ichigo broke the kiss again, Shaolin unconsciously moved one of her arms behind her landing upon the top of Senna's head, pressing her in closer to continue the nuzzling "I guess we could find out if only for today." She panted out eyes half-lidded

"I can live with that." Senna replied as all three of them flash stepped into Soifon's bed room

After reaching the safety of the bed room Senna immediately found herself pinned again to the bed but this time by Shaolin Fon, who was leaning forward vigorously kissing the woman intently upon the lips, their tongues both sliding and dancing around the other's lips and tongue. Sneaking up behind the lip locked women, Ichigo kissed the cheek of his girlfriend bring her attention towards him as he slipped the straps of her uniform off her shoulders, revealing that woman wore no bra under her uniform.

Seeing the bouncing breast now floating freely in front of her, Senna pushed herself up and started to suck upon the mounds as similarly as she could when Ichigo had done the enticing action upon her, gaining a favorable response from the woman.

"That's…mmm…not bad," the horny bee commented, "but I don't think we should have _all_ the fun Senna." then disappeared with Senna in buzzing speed of flash step and throwing Ichigo forward unto the center of the bed with both women appearing behind him topless.

The more experienced woman guided the younger girl and had her sit on her knees opposite her, while she undid the pants of Ichigo's Hakama, revealing his elongated member. Knowing of Senna's inexperience -not that she herself was an expert- she decided to play teacher in the bed room as well and invited the girl to assist in a little fun "Now, Senna you need to use your tongue like this." She 'instructed', dragging her slippery accessory upward against her boyfriend's hard cock, her off hand clutching it to prevent it from escaping.

"I…I see like this…" Senna repeated the action with a heavy blush, feeling more hot and bothered by the second.

As the girls were playing teacher and student, Ichigo was doing his best to hold back, and closed his eyes in a fierce manner when he felt the horny teen put the top of his cock in her mouth, allowing her tongue to roll around the head, while Shaolin licked the shaft itself, her hand pumping slightly every few seconds, stopping in intervals to hand out more instruction to her student.

The only describable thoughts that were firing in Ichigo's head were of how good it felt, as the warmth of his own cock increased. Approaching his release, he was promptly shocked by the cold denial of the pair when they came to a sudden halt.

It was in the small lull that the warm internal feelings began dying down from the sudden stopping of mouths, tongues and salvias colliding together in unisonance. Propping himself up, he saw Senna whispering something lowly into Shaolin's ear making the girl go extremely red in the face, before looking at Ichigo and smirk devilishly, go along with the idea apparently.

He was about to pull himself off the bed, when his arms lost their strength and threw him back down against the cushions as he felt both women pushing their tits together and giving him a titty-fuck. He groaned from the soft, smooth, delicate flesh of each woman press against his throbbing shaft.

"Is something wrong? Let us know if you're displeased." Senna asked seductively using her larger breasts to the fullest, while licking the head of her brother's tool.

"Fufufu…Are you really speechless?" Shaolin replied before taking another moment to suck along the side of his dick as best as she could in the situation. As both girl's removed their faces away from his shaft and increased the pace of their pushing breast, they exchanged another seductive kiss, before turning towards him with a devilishly cute look, cheek to cheek, and uttered as one "We live to serve you…Goshujin-sama."

As they worked in unisonance, they were rewarded with their object of affection's load being splatter over the both of their chests, hands and faces. Getting over their initial surprise, the women gazed lustfully at the other as they started to lick up and remove the delectful creamy liquid off the other's body, allowing Ichigo a chance to collect himself from the double team experience.

Releasing herself from Shaolin's warm embrace, Senna couldn't help but blush at what her assister in the risqué act said "You're right, all men are little perverts." Shaolin stated calmly as she licked some semen off her fingers "But you're definitely something else for coming up with that little stunt." She added sending an interested glance at her apprentice.

"I guess I can amaze myself too." She said, knowing she had a vast amount of perverseness due in part of Mirokumaru.

Shaolin then let out a small chuckle of mirth at the explanation, but now felt it was high time to put her apprentice through the ringer. Turning slightly she gave Ichigo an invisible hint to him of what she had in mind next, and was greatly pleased when he smirked in return on board of what she had planned "But now," she pulled back against Senna's body, her smaller breasts pushing against Senna's larger ones "it's. our. turn." She punctuated as her arms slowly slide up against Senna's shoulder.

Shaolin quickly pushed Senna's back down unto the bed, making her bounce slightly for but a split second, but for the assassin that second was almost an eternity. Shaolin grabbed the Miko's arms and bound them together using the red ribbon the girl always wore, while Ichigo straddled atop her and started tease her breasts, allowing his free hand to caress the flesh in between her mounds. The easily corruptible Kurosaki moaned out from the rather kinky actions both her and Mirokumaru's perversion being fed.

While Ichigo was keeping the upper portion of Senna occupied, Shaolin poised herself in between her legs, running her fingers against the teenager's sheath sensually "Is this what you want?" she asked seductively running it up and down the exposed pink flesh

"Ahhh…y-yes!…ooohh…" she yelled almost painfully from the assault from two different fronts of her body

"Alright, then." She answered inserting two fingers inside the woman, her legs twitching and muscles tightening. The twin banded captain started at a near sadistically slow pace into the other woman, a smirk slow in growing wider as she watched the woman lose herself in the sexual pleasure of the actions. The sadistic captain then had to bite back a yelp of her own when she felt something stroking her own folds, when she was distracted servicing the other Kurosaki.

"You shouldn't get revenge like that Lin-chan." Ichigo warned humorously, having used a flash step to get behind her "You _did_ indirectly cause this." his fingers slid smoothly across his lovers soaked womanhood, making her slow her own pace in Senna's satchel from the increased diverting of attention to the new feeling building inside her own body.

"T-tha…not (pant) fair…" she whimpered, as her hand nearly came to a stop.

"I think it is…" he countered as he increased his pace effectively killing his beloved's muscle movement as she let out another moan.

"H-hey…don't stop…" Senna whined from the dying feeling that had once been building inside her, earning a sympathetic gaze from the two bickering lovers. Pulling himself away the man gave Shaolin a kiss politely asking her to move, which she complied and switched spots with Ichigo.

This time Ichigo slipped into the amber eyed teen much more easily, and the girl audibly let her approval be known. "You certainly look happy, Sen-chan." Ichigo said with playful mirth at seeing the sweat covered girl blush heavily before locking lips up with the naked glistening hornet straddling her waist.

Lifting her legs up with his arms, he pulled out and pushed back in as far as he could getting a feel for her again, before he started to pick up the pace. With each passing second that he continued to thrust inside his blood relative, her inner walls would clamp down again his hard cock, almost begging him to not leave.

He continued his pumping inside his blood relative whose folds started to clamp down against his hard cock; as desire began to fill his head he dropped one of Senna's legs and began to fuddle the breast of Shaolin who only gave a slight shiver as she was too busy swapping saliva with the other Kurosaki. Unabridged this time, he felt his body telling him that it was almost time for his release again, as he continued to hammer into the younger woman.

"Ichigo…I...ahh..." Senna could barely speak as her eyes closed in a wince. She couldn't control herself any longer as she crossed her legs around Ichigo's waist stopping him from pulling out any further than necessary to ram it into her again. "Please! Don't stop Ichigo! Harder!"

Her tempered cries only served to fuel Ichigo even more as he continued to fluidly move back and forth in the woman, her sweat mixing both with his and her own love juices from the previous orgasm, letting him reach even further inside her all the way till he touched the entrance of her. Slamming himself into her one more time he felt his load explode out of him and into Senna, who also went over the edge from the warm liquid bouncing around inside her.

"_Ahhh…I love you Ichigo…"_ With the temporary connection between her brain and her legs shut down, Senna's legs fell back down freeing up Ichigo to pull out of her now white stained sex.

"Crazy girl…" The man huffed to himself trying to catch his breath as he wiped the sweat off his brow. _'That's one down…'_ Unfortunately he only got a split second to relax as Shaolin turned around and was locking lips with him now.

After planting the tender kiss she broke away, and leaned against his chest to whisper into his ear. "Don't worry about it Ichigo. I think you did the right thing and that's all that matters." The matted girl said quietly as her normal long jagged hair was pressed against her hot wet skin. She then closed her eyes and leaned upward into a passionate kiss by her lover, who let his tongue dance against hers. The kiss was abruptly cut short as a moan escaped her when she felt his cock brush up against her now hardening up for the next beautiful woman.

"Still," he said to the hot and bothered woman "I should make it up to you." And pushed her down to the bed with him and sunk about half his length inside his clandestine lover. As she crashed down to the bed, Ichigo lifted up one of her legs and slung it over his shoulder allowing him to go even further inside her much to her contentment, if he was to go by how hard she was gripping the sheets of the bed as they rocked back and forth, and her initial wide eye look from the first thrust.

Not one to slow down, he started pump into her as quickly as he had Senna, trying to overload her mind with ecstasy. Shaolin was feeling rather light-headed from the multitude of stimuli running through her veins but she didn't care at this point. Acting on impulse she grabbed Ichigo by his hair as he pumped back into her kissing him roughly on the lips.

The man responded in kind by shortening the lengths of his thrust, and by nuzzling into her neck, biting softly into her making her body go taut from the exhilaration of what he was doing to her. Dragging his neck away, he groped the captain's sweat covered tits as he ran his tongue on the well-formed thigh that hung on his shoulder.

Under the constant sexual assault, Shaolin could feel the burning flame inside her begin to beg for sweet release. She saw through her hazy vision that Ichigo too was nearing that limit. "Ichi…I…I'm!" She couldn't even finish her sentence before she finally lost control to the blissful sensation. Barely a second after her the spiritual hero gave one last might thrust and let loose his load into the waiting womb of Shaolin, who pulled him in close to her body, allowing herself a well deserved chance to breathe from the stress of their physical activities.

As her heart rate returned back to a better resting pace, she allowed herself to fall back unto the bed letting Ichigo pull out of her cleanly. "I…swear. (Pant) (Pant) I'll never know where get all this energy from, Yojimbo."

Ichigo smiled as he leaned unto the bed to lay beside. He stared at her lovingly which she returned in kind before leaning over and kissing her much more gently. "When it comes to my wife Shaolin; I always treat her like a queen." He said sweetly

"Don't play coy-" the woman stopped at what he just said _'Eh? W-wife…'_ The woman's eyes widened a bit at what he was asking of her. She turned away from his gaze slightly reverting back to when she was the meek teenager in front of Yoruichi "D-do you really mean that Ichigo? You…you want to m-marry me?" she stuttered out with a heavy blush on her face, greatly touched by being proposed to by the one and only person she eternally loved and adored.

The strawberry Shinigami just gave her a look that said it all to her as he lazily flicked a strand of her hair from her face. "Why wouldn't I wanna have family with you, Lin-chan?" he asked rhetorically but still sealed it by kissing her again on the lips.

As they broke away again, a sly yet modest smile appeared upon the Chinese woman's countenance. "Well, if you want to have a family with me…" the bluenette leaned closer and whispered "you'll really need to show how much you love me." Her face then turned into the epitome of seduction "And I'm not satisfied _yet_. I. Chi. Go. _Koi_."

Now Ichigo smirked near predatorily back at her "You really know how to push my button, Shaolin ku-ro-sa-ki." He replied just as slyly at her.

Just as the man leaned back in another arm draped around his side, surprising both the elder Shinigami, turning their attention to the limb they saw the face of Senna rise just over the horizon of Ichigo's body, face showing signs of weariness but definitely ready for another go.

"Sorry for dropping out you two." She apologized

"I was beginning to wonder if you were ok."

The violet haired girl turned her gaze to Shaolin and smiled cheekily "I'm not gonna let this chance to be with him and you go to waste by sleeping. I'm gonna make the most of it." she then pressed her raring to go body against Ichigo, who couldn't help but feel his member get harder again at the softness of her breasts against his back.

Before Ichigo could say anything to Senna, Shaolin took notice of his 'Zanpaktou' reaction to Senna's teasing "My seems your happy about the prospect." She then leaned in closer so her chest was resting against his while her womanhood kissed the tip of his member "I don't mind so much. What about you Ichigo?"

Ichigo remained quiet as his mind had completely stopped processing everything after being sandwiched between the two beauties vying for his affection. Turning his head slightly to look at Senna, he saw the girl with curious expression wink at him merrily like nothing was wrong, turning to his front he came face to face with Shaolin who was very interested to see what he would do now. He did the action two or three more times, each time the women nuzzling a little closer to his body.

'_What…to…do…'_ his remaining shred of sanity and rational thinking asked any beings in the universe that could hear him.

Unfortunately one did…

'_**AUTO-PILOT ENGAGE! RETURN TO ENGAGEMENT ZONE!'**_ Hichigo yelled out over a megaphone _**'Come on! Make it happen, motherfucker!'**_

'…'

The young man drooped his head as he felt everything beginning to go blank and his eyes begin to go cloudy. The girl's faces showed confusion at what he was doing, concerned by his actions. Suddenly he opened his mouth and what looked like steam as if something internally was overheating came pouring out.

Then the only warning that the girl's had came.

"Fuck it."

It was the only sound heard before the man wiped his arm underneath Senna and flipped her over to Shaolin's side of the bed. The two girls felt exhilarated and anticipation as they watched him rise up and stare at them predatorily, before launching himself at them with reckless abandon.

Several hours passed with the only real indication being the moon had changed position in the night time sky, it was about when the moon was leaning towards the western sky that the the participants of the ménage-à-trois collapsed back unto the bed.

The closed heat-filled room was nearing suffocating levels of the various scents of the three individuals who were not only tired beyond belief but were dripping with varying degrees of sweat, saliva and extracts of their passion.

On the left hand side of the bed was Senna who was on the edge of consciousness and unable to keep her eyes open due to no small part of fatigue and massive amount of erotic stimulation that had taken place that she was unused too. The purple haired woman laid unashamedly on her side with her body turning towards Ichigo, one of her arms running across Ichigo's stomach while her corresponding thigh rested on his leg, some of the man's excess semen flowing out of her from the small gap in between her legs and unto the bed.

On the other end of the spectrum was the fiancé of Ichigo Kurosaki, Shaolin Fon who was cuddling the center piece of the bed. Her long loose hair was either pressed against her dripping body or sprayed across her end of the bed behind her. One of her hands rested on the man's pec as she laid there in complete satisfaction after being teased by the man, proposed to by that same wonderful man and then being thoroughly filled to the brim with his essence, a personal gift from that man.

Finally with both women resting atop each of his arms was Ichigo, who felt ready to drop dead from all this. The amount of physical energy he burned would have been enough for a hundred work outs, though casting a quick glance at both their peace filled faces; he felt it was worth it before he closed his eyes to the world around him.

"This was completely unexpected…I could have never foresaw this happening." The captain mused aloud

"Yeeeaahhhhgghhh…no kiddin'" Senna replied with a slur

"Still…" she continued, dropping her head against Ichigo's shoulder "I…don't think this was a necessarily _bad_ experience."

A light blush emerged upon both women's faces at what the normally cold captain said. "S-so how's everyone feeling? Tired?"

"After all that who wouldn't be?" Shaolin mocked almost willing to slap her on the forehead if she had the energy "What a dumb question, right Ichigo?"

No response was given to the woman which made Senna chuckle "I guess he agrees with me. Haha."

"No way. I can't believe this. You agree with her?" She pouted

Again nothing which made Senna laugh a little harder.

"ahaha, he's giving you the silent treatment. That's funny." She then turned her eyes upward "but seriously Ichigo do you agree with me?"

When nothing was said after the third time with Senna being the one who asked, did the girl both lift their heads up and stare at the other girl with understandable confusion. Sure it made sense if he was ignoring Soifon for the line of questioning but to then ignore Senna when she asked you and you were taking her side made no sense at all.

Using what little strength remained in the tank, they pushed themselves off the bed slightly to see what Ichigo's problem was only to nearly lose it all from what had they witnessed.

"That…that idiot…he fell asleep!" came the astonished respond from the fiancé, while Senna fell back against the bed in a laughing fit. The captain raised her hand up to hit on the head for what he did, but seeing his calm relaxed face made her lower it back down and instead give him a kiss on the cheek.

Settling back down to rest against his chest, she heard the sound of his heartbeat soothing, as a strange peace seemed to just fill the room between her, Senna, and Ichigo. Looking across the man's chest she saw Senna also rubbing her cheek into his body, like a child snuggling into a loved pillow or favorite stuffed toy.

An action which made the woman feel oddly happy in being able to see. Moving her eyes away from the young Miko, the long haired captain gazed lazily into space. "I'm actually really surprised about how all this turned out."

Senna who had not quite fallen asleep winced slightly when she heard that come out from Shaolin's mouth "I'm sorry about that." The seventeen year old apologized misconstruing what the older woman meant

"You certainly apologize a lot Senna." The girl noted as she gazed back to Ichigo's sister "Don't. You have nothing to apologize for."

"I guess you're right. But I think it's always good to be polite, especially to people you care about." She explained "You're my friend and my brother girlfriend. So we should keep sticking together."

'_Stick together, huh?'_ The Shinigami thought to herself as an oddly warm yet familiar sense started to fill her persons. Moving her gaze away from Senna she turned to the only other Kurosaki in the room, her look filled with a longing purpose as if trying to understand something unsaid.

"Are you ok?" Senna asked after not hearing a reply for a little bit

"Just thinking about what happened before I got dragged into this." She said quietly still focusing in on the sleeping Ichigo "If I remember correctly he was half dressed and you were naked. So I take it you two had sex before this?"

"Umm…y-yeah." She diverted her gaze to anywhere else but in front of her "But he was a gentleman the whole time."

Breaking her quiet stare from Ichigo, the woman turned back to her bashful friend "Perhaps he holds some feeling towards you, Senna."

That caused the other girl to snap back to the captain "W-what!?" she sputtered out not believing what she was hearing.

"I told him to return your feelings with whatever he felt more or less. He also did admit to you being cute." She informed sparing barely a glance as she pulled the slimy blanket up to cover her body "So maybe…"

"Maybe…?"

"Maybe he does feel something else towards you." She said

Now Senna turned red "This…is awkward."

Indeed it was since Ichigo couldn't confirm or deny this, and the other girl in the equation was less than two feet from her.

"Senna…Do you truly love Ichigo with all your heart?" The woman asked with all frankness

She nodded "Yes, I do. But why do you ask?"

"You're a good girl Senna. A kind person." Shaolin replied which seemed kind of random for Senna "I…really _like_ that." After hearing that part and the way she said it, Senna looked like a deer in the headlights as she put two and two together, which made Shaolin snicker quietly before return to her usual seriousness. "I'll make you a deal Senna. IF and this is a very big 'if' but if all three of us survive the war between Aizen and Soul Society, I'll consider sharing Ichigo with you and no one else."

"You…will?" the girl lit up at what she was being offered

A nod was given "My only reason for not sharing him with you is simple. One this situation is very sudden, so I had no time to truly consider my option, and more importantly two I don't know you very well to be precise little more than a week and a half there's no way I can be in love with you." She closed her eyes and then opened up the palm of her hand "However, if more time is placed before a decision must be made. I can make a better one."

"…" Senna continued to pay attention to what she was saying

"I believe a person's actions define them; therefore, when this is all over I'll have a very good idea of what you're like meaning I'd have no reason to be afraid of you." The woman then dropped her hand down uncaringly "This is all assuming of course your still in love with him by that point in time, and haven't found someone else."

Opening one of her eyes to see what she thought the girlfriend saw the young woman in front of her in tears. "T-thank-you." She whispered quietly "but…" she looked sadly at Ichigo "but doesn't that mean he won't have a say? I want him happy as well."

The older woman allowed a warm smile to reveal itself, setting the younger woman anxiety at ease "As I said he wouldn't have had sex with you in the first place if he didn't already feel something towards you. If he was as completely platonic in his feelings about you as he said he would have taken you out on a date somewhere instead of having sex with you. So no matter how miniscule there is a chance he'll say yes to your feelings one day, but he also does still reserve the right to say no too. Which means you'll have to accept that and move on with your life." She then lightly stretched out a hand to the emotional girl "So do we have a deal, Senna?"

The woman gave a confident nod "You bet. It's a deal." She then leaned over and instead of grabbing the hand kissed Shaolin on the lips surprising her. As they kissed Shaolin brought her extended hand behind Senna to pull her closer and deepened the kiss. Her tongue going into the rookie's almost like an exchanging of secret vows.

Pulling back Senna was red faced at what she experienced "I guess this makes us 'friends with benefits' now with the possibility of being life partners and even co-wives to Ichigo-kun later on in life? Maybe this can be our daily morning exercise instead of the basic training regiment! Ahaha."

"Pervert…" Soifon muttered to herself sardonically though the mentioning of the word 'wife' brought a certain pep to Shaolin's step; while she was too tired to argue that she was already his fiancé and technically her sister-in-law, she was going to just give a casual 'playing dumb' smile. "Get some rest you stupid kid. We -meaning you and I- have a long time before were 'co-anything' let alone wives…and I only said I'd think about it, nothing is set in stone little Gakusei."

A small chuckle was heard from the other female "Humanity always looks on the bright side because sometimes it's all we got. Good night, Sister Shaolin.

"Good night, Sister Senna."

* * *

[Post fic banter]

Blackout2010: Hmm…I gotta admit that was rather intense, perhaps I might actually have to do the 'Summer of love' fic I've had bouncing around…eventually.

[Trophy Alert!]

Blackout2010: Oooh! What'd we earn in this save file?

PS3 B.T.A.T: Silver Trophy earned 'A beautiful dreamer' [(="o"=)]

Description: For letting Senna find comfort in her heart, and live an impossible dream.

PS3 B.T.A.T: Gold Trophy earned 'Humming Birds and Honey bees both love succulent Strawberries!' [(S.I.S) O 0 o \\(0u0)/ _wave wave_]

Description: For bringing the gold home! – Hichigo, BTAT: Ch.6

Blackout2010 (teary-eyed): (sniff) beautiful…

Isshin/Masaki: Our little is boy is finally all grown up…

Masaki (crying): hold me Isshi-chan…!

Isshin (crying): Yes, Ma-chan!

Ichigo: (I wonder if Yuzu and Karin have to deal with this in their fics)

Shaolin/Senna: Later!

* * *

Omake: Partner reaction?

(Ichigo's Soul scape)

Kicking down the roof top door of the highest building in the side winder like city. A tall white pallet version of Ichigo ran all the way to the building's edge, and looked into the sky, as the normal gray skies parted by the intense radiant light of the sun. The solar rays illuminated the entire city skyline, and bathed the young hollow in a warm sensation.

The grinning madman felt his excitement hit new heights when Cherubic choir started singing hallelujah. Finally unable to restrain himself any further he threw his arms out, in complete and utter surrender to the light and screamed as an unending stream of joyful tears escaped him "YES! YYYYYEEEEESSSSS! (4)"

Not too far away the real Zangetsu looked on, and merely crossed his arms fiercely and said "Fund it." (5)

(Senna's Soul scape)

Sitting down at the top of the mountain in Senna's world, Mirokumaru lay kneeling down in quiet prayer, having stopped her tirade of waiting for the confrontation with Senna. Sensing the great change that had happened outside she merely decided to add unto her normal prayer _"Thank-you my lord God for creating someone as sweet as Ichigo for my fair lady to love."_ She then warped to her dark half **"and thank-you master Satan for creating a body as sexy as mine, and the knowledge to use it."**

(Shaolin's Soul scape)

"YAAHHOOOO! I knew it, knew it, knew it, knew it that she had it in her!" Suzumebachi cried out joyfully as she did some loopy-loops in the air. She then smirked triumphantly, and rubbed her knuckles against her black and yellow outfit in a cocky manner "And she didn't have any interest in anyone to begin with. HA! I called that guy out a mile away, and she got even more than what she was bargaining for. Ohohoho! I should go into the match-making business! 'You've been stung by the love bug, Mistress Suzumebachi!' Ahahaha!"

(Omake: A Kurosaki thing…)

"So tell me Soifon-taicho what brings you to my office?" Retsu Unohana asked of the seemingly deflated captain of squad two.

Said captain lounged in the chair without any regard of her body language, back slouched, hand over face, legs sprawled, the one eye that was revealed tired, face screaming release. "I wanted your personal opinion on my day today." She said in almost life-less tone

"I see." The kind healer said as she grabbed a nearby paper and pen to take notes "Whenever you're ready."

Straightening up her body Soifon then launched into her explanation "Over the course of the day I have been involved in a variety of things. I trained alongside Senna in extremely high intense, high repetition exercises. Shortly thereafter we encountered you and attended that completely off the wall Shinigami Women's association."

Retsu nodded her head affirmatively "Ah, yes I recall that. It was indeed much more hectic than usual." She jutted down some notes quickly "Please continue."

"After that I got dropped with a lot of heavy stuff such as Senna being blood relation to both Masaki-sama and Ichigo-kun. And then after that we went to a hot spring where it was utterly laid out in front of me that she was completely in love with him, and wanted to have polygamous relationship between the three of us."

Unohana sweat dropped at that and decided to _not_ put that in the notes, but she couldn't help but ask on it. "And how did that work out?"

"That comes a little later." Soifon attested "I told her to think things over more or less, and had her wait to confess to Ichigo, while I went to inform him on what happened. I convinced him to hear her out, but he made a…small comment about a compromising incident between us."

"Compromising?"

"He more or less stated the fact we had sex in a public location. I was mortified beyond belief. I can only pray the captain-commander didn't overhear."

Unohana closed her eyes not wanting to image how that went "…and then?"

"I got them to meet up, and was eventually invited inside."

Unohana breathed lighter seeing a small hope spot trying really hard to salvage the smaller taicho's day. It was almost inspiring and she had to stop herself from cheering it on out loud. "And when you were let inside had they finished up?"

"Yes and at the same time a huge resounding no."

"What do you mean exactly by that…?" Unohana's mouth asked before her mind could stop her. The hope spot she'd been cheering for in her head was now on the chopping block. _'No… it might be bleak but he can still turn this around. Like the little train that could.'_ She tried to convince herself about the little bugger.

"I ended up more or less having three-way sex between myself, Senna and Ichigo. And I was then proposed to by said man."

The dull clacking of the guillotine coming down was the only sound heard the in the back of the healers mind. Unohana was left utterly speechless. She didn't know if she should laugh or cry at this completely preposterous story, yet here it was being told by the otherwise serious, no-nonsense Soifon.

And the kicker? Poor little hope spot died, which made this story even more depressing for the healer.

Soifon saw the look on Unohana's face and could roughly guess what she was thinking. "And that was my day. So my question for you is, in your professional opinion am I str-"

"Yes. You are very much stressed." Came the immediate reply, with enough conviction behind it to make a second opinion on the matter pointless.

"I didn't eve-"

"It's a Kurosaki thing." Unohana replied which got a confused look by Shaolin. Seeing it she elaborated "I say a Kurosaki thing because they cause…unusual incidents. You see back before I was a captain and Isane my lieutenant, we both worked under Captain Masaki before she retired. She…had a very odd habit."

"Odd habit?"

"Yes. She was really into the aura and synergy of the squad. And one day she said that it was completely off base. Of course, we -the members of the squad- didn't know what to make of what she meant, so we made the stupid mistake of asking her what it is we should do about it."

Now it was Soifon who sweat dropped not liking where this was going "And what exactly did she suggest?"

"She believed that the Synergy of the fourth division could be increased if there was more skin to skin contact between not only us and the patients but between each other. So…every seventh or eighth day she'd have a…ummm" a blush crept on the healers face "an underwear day. A day where you had to attend in your undergarments: Bra and panties for women, and boxers or fundoshi (6) for men."

Soifon's mouth hung open as she started to picture, Ichigo and Senna running around the barracks in their underwear followed by Yoruichi, Shinjiro and Subaru. It was when she got to Omeada in a fundoshi that she nearly threw up "Uggh…N…no way! I couldn't survive that kind of embarrassment."

"Y-yes. I admit it was _extremely_ embarrassing. In fact poor Isane was one of the few who tried to skip on those days because she's so self-conscious about not only her height but also her chest and hip size. Unfortunately Masaki-sama…was very team-oriented and would personally go and find those who skipped out and drag them to the squad barracks for work, even going so far as to strip them of their clothing personally. Poor Isane-chan, ever since then she's become even more self conscious about her body. It used to just be her height now it's when people stare for too long."

"That's…insane."

"Yes, I agree. In fact it was during those times that we had the 'highest injury rate'. I clearly remember the many excuse from captains Yamamoto and Kyoraku of needing 'immediate emergency treatment' by either myself, Isane or Masaki for 'serious bone trauma with the _possibility_ of fracturing from falling down a flight or two of stairs.'"

The younger woman sweat dropped as she found herself amazed and admiring the resolve the healer must have in not killing them for such blatant sexual harassment. "Talk about rough."

"Indeed. That's how I know you're stressed. All I can tell you Soifon-san is that everything bad that happens is more or less a product of being near a Kurosaki." She then placed a reassuring hand on the downed captain "I wish you well when you get married to him. You'll need it."

(Omake: A Kurosaki thing…)

* * *

(Small learner's guide)

This part is entirely skippable (well technically everything is skippable with the end key.) this part is just a small correction of a misconception about the word 'kami'. Now in my perusing of fanfics, I've come across several instances where kami is misused.

Ex. His muscles were so kami-like.

Ex. Oh, kami!

Now the reason I say this is misused is because literally Kami translates into 'Sacred Power'. Literally. It's meant to be understood in conversation as 'Divine power/influence', it doesn't directly refer to god(s). If I have my facts straight from my religion class the reason is that Kami originates from Buddhism, and Buddhism doesn't have a god (Buddha was originally seen as an average guy who grew wiser/enlightened). Everything is Brahma, and Brahma means 'one being' or something like that. I'm Brahma, your Brahma, the fic is Brahma, my computer is Brahma. Everything in life is Brahma from their P.O.V (hence why they don't believe in taking any life and are vegetarians. Life is sacred and is Brahma)

So from that being said about the meaning of Kami, any spiritually aligned being that is 'good' can be considered 'kami'. A simple angel is Kami, yet it's not necessarily god (unless he's in disguise). Any Shinigami in bleach is Kami because they are 'sacred powers' in the scheme of life.

If you wished to be using something a little more accurate and Japanese, then I suggest you use Izanagi (-like) for men, and Izanami (-like) for women. Reason being they're the primordial god and goddess of all creation for Japan, and refer directly to the highest of beings in Shinto culture (Japanese religion).

So I hope that helps, and this is just me throwing it out there, cause I felt Obsessive compulsive to just clear up that little misconception, and I felt this would have been the best way to reach a lot of people.

Hope you learned something!

* * *

Guidepost:

1. This is a pun. To those of you who read h-manga or even just urbandictionary, you understand the pun. Vanilla means more less 'sex' and further depending on your definition 'pure love kinda sex', hence the pun since with the weather getting cold and it being entitled hot vanilla, it can mean hot sex or a type of hot chocolate that you drink. So I better not hear that there was no warning about all this as the savvy ones probably jumped down here, and the information to find out is clearly obtainable. Remember a rose called by any other name would still smell just as sweet.

2. Ai Yori Aoshi. Literally means 'Love is the color of indigo' (blue)/Pure love. It's an indirect reference to Shaolin (blue hair) and her love for Ichigo, and it is also a reference for Senna (purity) and her love for Ichigo. The S.I.S of course refers to their name, and shows equality between the two ladies, since it's never mention which girl's name comes first, Shaolin or Senna. Hence S. I (Ichigo). S.

3. This refer to the fact that in Japan relationships between women is considered Juvenile, and women who still practice it into adulthood are given a negative stigma. Hence why Senna calls her brave.

4. M. Bison and Daniel Bryan approve.

5. The line comes from a really random show called 'Perfect hair forever'. In it a executive producer big shot get proposed this extremely out there idea, and the producer says in a dead serious way 'fund it.' in approval. You gotta hear it to believe it.

6. A Fundoshi is both swimwear (for hot springs) and underwear. If you've watched enough anime you know what I'm talking about if not it's similar to a Sarong.

* * *

Unohana: If you believe that hope spot deserves a second chance to live please leave a review. (Teary-eyed) Please. He needs your support! Give his story a much needed a happy ending.


	26. Right and Wrong: Shaolin's choice

Author's response to unknown reviews.

To unknown reviewer: Zenkari

We at Ocasio industries recognize, the points you are making and we offer our sinceriest when we say: We try our best for entertainment. Come rain, hail, shine and possibly being a teacher, we strive to provide semi-decent entertainment at the low, low price of Zero dinero. Now for changes...hmm well technically there's more than five but that's neither here nor there. We follow closely to the story like with just the changes of reasons and personel, that is all that we do...unless we are misunderstanding your question: In which Ocasio industries provides plausible deniability.

To: MP Enchanter

Yes. I like happy ending myself. They make me feel way more optmistic about the world around me. Give a thumbs up for postive thinking!

To: Guest (1)

I fearith not dracula. I hath played a array of castlevania titles. I hath no reason to shudder in his prescenes, unless he be real, then I have plenty.

To: Ziro

I'm filing that under suggestion category. Ooh the ways to spin it.

* * *

Aizen: Greetings viewers. I have an important announcement to make. As of this chapter I will now be incorporating my own fanfiction story. Yes. Blackout2010 has been gracious enough to let me use production funds for this task. So now you may rejoice. (Ahem) Without further ado play the fic.

* * *

Chapter 1: Aizen the great

In the dawn of time there once existed a man who would exceed all other his name was...

* * *

Blackout2010: Aaaaand that's all the time alloted by your funding.

Aizen: W-what!? But you said-

Blackout2010: I make a big fat ZERO in the funding department, Aizen. (turns away) Now you know what it feels like to have to create a production without proper funding. You gotta rely on spirit, gusto and lots of dedicated free time. Like this...ROLL THE OPENING CREDITS!

* * *

Chapter 26: Right and Wrong: Shaolin's choice

As the soft sounds of movement continued to ring in small intervals, the man lying on the bed grunted slightly his sleep disturbed by the noise. Prying his eyes open, the room around him was illuminated by the light of the sun. With groggy groan the man turned away from the window on his left. As he brought his hand down against the sheet of the bed he nuzzled into his pillow before closing his eyes again to drift back to sleep.

It was not a moment later that his eyes sprung open fully as he felt something was definitely different than before. He propped himself up on one arm and looked at the empty spot in front of him wondering why he had a nagging feeling. Thinking hard on it he was rewarded with a single thought "Shaolin" he muttered as it finally came together.

Shaolin had been sleeping in that spot beside him but was now strangely absent. Recalling the events of last night he looked towards the other end of the bed and saw that Senna was missing as well 'Where'd they go!?' he asked himself as he slid out of the bed cautiously

He soon heard the sound of something shuffling followed by a loud resounding shout of pain from the door leading to Soifon's office. Fearing that the scream was caused by one of the two girls, he moved as fast as he could to the door. Hoping that maybe he'd be able help them if they were being hurt by something.

The loud crashing of the door, as it was violently ripped open and slammed against the wall, accompanied by the loud yell of 'What's going on are you alright!?' from Ichigo had been more than enough for the captain to jump in surprise in her chair.

The documents that the busy woman had been carefully organizing and filing through for the last twenty minutes were suddenly thrown in the air in a scattered cloud with one hand while she bit down on the poor finger in her mouth that she had momentarily stopped to nurse after the wicked paper cut she just received.

Steadying her shaking hand, the captain inhaled and exhaled rather quickly as she closed her eyes and leaned back against her cozy chair with her right hand pressed against her chest to calm down her rapidly beating heart.

Once she steadied herself again, she pushed her body out of the chair and gaze a fearsome glare at her loud mouth boyfriend. "Jesus Christ, Ichigo! You nearly gave me a heart attack! You're indoors, so use your indoor voice!" she demanded in her typical bossy 'Soifon' manner

Before Ichigo could open his mouth to offer reasons as to why he did what he did, and effectively cut her off _before_ she went down the war path, she prevented him by suddenly stopping herself. Much to his surprise her volatile reaction was short lived; instead of proceeding to chew out whoever got on her nerves per the norm at work she went blank in the face when she got a better more concentrated look in Ichigo's direction. The fuse to her oncoming rant seemingly snuffed out from what her eyes were telling her brain.

The man watched with the deepest perplexion as the woman's head slowly tilted downward further and further away from his face before settling down at a nice forty-five degree angle. After a moment of staring at whatever had caught her eye, she returned her gaze back up to Ichigo, this time with a light but noticeable blush running across her face.

The woman gave a forced cough to stifle the laughter that threatened to escape her lips; while she did succeed in that endeavor the resulting smile that came from both amusement and playful joy wouldn't be so easily quelled from her face.

As the redness began to fade the woman looked at the man bemused and decided to answer the very silent but very obvious question that was on his mind "By the way Ichigo are you really that happy to see me? Or are you secretly one of those masochistic types who enjoys being abused and yelled at?" she said coolly, while pointing downward with her index finger.

Ichigo let the words sink in before he forced himself to look down as she had done. He was rewarded for his effort by getting a firsthand glance at his morning wood; which was busy giving quite the salute to the captain it was intimately familiar with.

With the blood rushing to his head the man quickly closed his legs in embarrassment while he slapped his forehead with an audible thwack. He couldn't believe how stupid he'd been for forgetting that he was naked now that he was thinking clearly. He went to sleep without any clothes on and obviously hadn't put on any when he got out of the bed to come to Shaolin's office, so he really shouldn't have been as surprised as he had

Unfortunately this would become a life lesson in always making sure you had clothes on because it was at this moment in time that Senna came into the room carrying a tray full of food. "Ok, so I really didn't know what would have been good so I-"

Her words died in her throat upon seeing the naked strawberry she called Ichigo staring, with a very prominent erection, at her Sensei and his girlfriend. The tray of food comically slipped out of Senna's hand and clattered against the ground dully, while Senna closed her eyes harshly, incredulous at the situation she walked in on "Geeeez, you two are something else! We we're up all the way to 3 am! It's 11 now and you can't wait till later on in the day before getting 'busy at work'!?" she yelled unable to believe the amount of shamelessness they had in going at it so soon while she was making sure everyone was able to eat.

If they were truly so desperate they could have locked the door or put up a sign saying be back later after all. But nope not now!

"It's not like that damn it!" Ichigo yelled desperately trying to clear up the misconception brought on by his own stupidity while Shaolin snickered at his expense.

"Yeah, yeah. I totally believe it nature boy." Senna teased sarcastically, as she bent down and salvaged what food she could

"Uugh! You guys suck! I only came out here because you both disappeared and I got worried! You know what if either of you go missing again see if I pay any mind!" Ichigo roared as he stormed back into the room to get changed, while Shaolin reached into her desk and pulled out a band aid for her cut.

"Someone's a comedy show in the morning." Shaolin said as she walked over to go assist her student after sticking the band on.

"Thanks I try." She replied in an easy going tone befitting her

"Was he like this back in the human world?"

"Not that I know of but if he did walk around naked it was thankfully not in front of me. I can't make any comments about Rukia though."

The two shared a small laugh as the teacher bent over and assisted in putting some of the more salvageable food back on the tray "So Senna what will you do now?" The girl looked confused about what she was asking so she clarified "About Ichigo I mean. What do you want to do?"

To her surprise Senna actually seemed to stop and really consider her question. After briefly thinking it over she said "I suppose I'll have to talk with him and apologize. I really did put him in a corner yesterday, haha." She then smiled serenely "I'm not gonna pressure him any more than I have. I'm just gonna give him time and let him decide for himself, just like you'll decide on me."

"That's very mature of you Senna." The woman said surprised in the shift in attitude

The girl scratched her cheek out of embarrassment "Well…some of the things you said yesterday they've really sunk in. It turns out you're right, I was selfish. I do love him and I want to be with him but that shouldn't come at the expense of your happiness. So after hearing what you said last night I figured that if you're going to be fair to me, then I need to be fair to you, so I'm going to really commit myself to being more mature and…more receptive to the both of you."

The girl gave a sideways glance and spoke a little softer "But umm could you promise me something?" she asked while the other woman acknowledged that she was listening "If thing don't work out with me and him, could you please promise me that you'll look out for him for me. I worry about him.

Shaolin's eyes softened as she touched the shoulder of the idealist "I will." She then allowed a mischievous smile to dance across her face "But in return my apprentice, I would ask in that you help me eliminate our common enemy, Urahara-baka." She finished having learned that the girl was briefly 'taught' by the mad scientist, and was more than eager to get back at him for both her sake and for Yoruichi-sama's continued state of purity in an environment free of the man's foul odor and perverted ways.

Senna then mirrored the girl smile "Oh, don't worry Sensei. I plan on getting ass-hat for every injustice he's done to female kind." She returned just as menacingly already working on rough drafts that she'd have final versions of for after the winter war was over.

The two girl continued to share their thoughts of torture of the blonde genius, even as Ichigo walked back into the room, which perplexed the man to no end, and left him wondering if the two of them getting along was a good omen or not.

Shrugging off the feeling he started to walk towards the door "I'll be back in a flash, I gotta grab something."

Seeing her chance to talk to him, Senna spoke up "Not without me!" She exclaimed forcibly inviting herself as Ichigo reached for the door. He momentarily stopped in his tracks and sent her an odd look as if to ask why, a question she had an easy to use excuse for "Hey, ease up on the look. I just wanna make sure you don't go dropping your junk in front of any other easily impressionable ladies." She chided like a mother hen

'_**Tch. Ya know she's got a point.'**_ Hichigo commented with his finger stroking his clean shaven chin, as he viewed the girl and her dynamics.

'_Shut up you! You're supposed to be on my side!'_ Ichigo mentally retorted

The creature shrugged like he didn't care _**'Hey, I call it like I see it.'**_

'_Then stop look at her chest and more at her face!'_ Ichigo yelled as a tick mark appeared on his face

'_**Huh? Did you say something, King?'**_ the creature feigned not hearing the man, which earned him a down pour of water from the man's soul scape as retaliation for the comment. _**'Fucking bastard, just wait till I get my hands on you.'**_

Tuning out the threat, Ichigo gave a shrug "Sure, why not Senna. Though, I'm not going on a magical adventure or anything." He then stopped and considered his words much more carefully "I better not be." He added in a low murmur not wanting to tempt fate any further. The two girls due to close proximity sweat dropped, at the strange measure of truth to his words.

He just couldn't catch a break.

Stepping out of the office, Ichigo and Senna walked down the hallway. To Senna's infinite surprise, they had arrived at their destination much sooner than they anticipated. "This is your room, isn't it?" Senna asked since he was the fourth seat and they'd only gone three doors down from the captain's. Heck, her temporary room was right next door.

"Yeah, it is." Ichigo confirmed as he used his key to unlock the door, and then stepped in, with Senna following closely behind him.

"Huh, so this is where you live…" Senna said taking in the small room, while Ichigo walked over to the nearby dresser "It's not very colorful." She determined considering the lack of adornments and other objects in the room.

"Yeah, well, there aren't as many decorator shops over on this side." Ichigo said as he stopped his looking for what he came to grab and looked over his shoulder to his partner "Most Shinigami tend to decorate their rooms with stuff they obtain from the human world, since that place has the most variety of fabric, toys, and other knickknacks and doohickeys. Pretty much their just souvenirs not really needed for survival."

"So that cat clock on the wall in Shaolin-sensei's room, that's a souvenir? I don't mean to sound rude but she really doesn't strike me for getting something that…tacky?" she said uncertainly, since while it wasn't anything special, considering the woman and her occupation, it was definitely out of place.

"That cat clock was actually a gift from Yoruichi. Truth be told, I'm actually surprised it's still around."

"Why's that?"

Ichigo turned away and went back to investigating his drawers "That was given to her from a long time ago, prior to the falling out that they had, before I even stepped into the picture. It was actually given to her after Lin-chan returned back from her first mission in the human world. So it's actually kind of a memento to her."

"Oh, right I remember you mentioning that Sensei and Yoruichi-dono had a huge falling out," she recalled back to the time at the cemetery and when confronting Yoruichi and Kisuke "Still seeing how they act now, you never would have thought they fought in the first place."

Ichigo nodded as he opened the next drawer "True. Time can heal all wounds."

"Hmm." Senna nodded to herself as she rocked back and forth in her spot "So what are you looking for?" she asked wondering what it is that he was rummaging through his stuff to find something. Which judging by his smile he unearthed at last.

The man pushed the drawer closed with one arm as he turned half-way around, "This." He said and held up a small silver ring that had a small medium-dark red ruby engraved just at the top of the band, physically embed it in.

Senna stared at it for a second, her mind processing what it was that her eyes were seeing "That's a ring," she said mechanically, _'Wait. Ichigo plus secrecy plus having his loving girlfriend Shaolin back plus a ring equals?'_ the woman's face then lit up coming to the correct path "You're gonna propose to her!?" She said in quiet excitement, trying to keep her voice as low as possible, though it didn't stop from her clasping her hands together and approaching closer to her brother.

"Y-yeah, well…" Ichigo lazily glanced away "I kind of already proposed to her yesterday."

That got her attention "You did? When? Was it before you met up with me?" she asked

"Actually…I proposed to her while we were in the middle of having sex." He answered sheepishly, scratching the side of his cheek in embarrassment, while Senna just gaped at him for his answer. "I think the reason you don't remember it was because you were still passed out from fatigue after you and I did it."

"You idiot!" she yelled as she whacked him on the head "Who the hell proposes to someone in the middle of sex!? Even I would have known not to do that!"

Ichigo chuckled slightly as he lifted his head back up, and rubbed the spot childishly, while he sent her a smile with one eye closed "Well, Sen, as you already know, me and Shaolin are an unorthodox couple to say the least, so might as well blaze our own path, right?"

The woman's pupils went to the top of her eyes while she shook her head playfully "You certainly are a weird bunch, but I guess it is kinda romantic." Senna then looked back down at the band "So why exactly did you get a ruby? I mean most people tend to get diamonds or pure gold rings." She asked curiously

Ichigo looked down at the item with a cautious expression "Well, I don't exactly get paid a lot, and the ruby was pretty expensive by itself so I couldn't afford a gold band. But I was pretty set on the gem since I wanted something meaningful and rubies are supposed to symbolize health, wisdom and success in love." He then looked away with a firm dash of red across the better portion of his face "I thought it represented us best, and would help our future. Then again I bought this before coming to the real world that second time around so maybe it was a bit soon to think 'help our future'."

To his surprise, Senna placed her hands around his arms and looked at him with a well aimed smile "Hey no need to be embarrassed. You put a lot of thought into it and she's head over heels for you. She's not as shallow as you're mental image of her so just do it. It's a great way to seal the deal."

"Heh, thanks for that." He said pocketing the ring somewhere safe in his outfit, while he ruffled the ribbon wearing woman's purple mop she called hair. "Let's go."

"Wait! Just a sec Ichigo!" the girl cried out, quickly seizing the opportunity before it closed itself

"What's up?" he asked unassumingly

"Umm…I want to talk to you real quick." The girl's cheek lit up "It's about…yesterday."

Ichigo's cheeks also lit up at what she said "Oh…ahh…" his voiced died due to the awkwardness of bringing it up, leaving the duo in an uncomfortable silence that neither really wanted to break.

After getting enough time to collect her thoughts Senna pushed herself onward "Before we had sex yesterday…when I confessed to you I really meant what I said." the woman grew red in the face "Every last word. I love you more than life itself Ichigo." As the flush went away Senna continued in a calm serious tone "Honestly I don't care if I have to share you with Shaolin or if I have to share you with a hundred different women. As long you don't treat me like a number or just use me for my body…as long as…"

She stopped to piece her words together to truly convey what she was trying to say "as long as you love me for who I am and mean it when you say it; that's enough for me." She whispered just loud enough for him to hear

The girl moved a stray piece of hair behind her ear "But at that same token I know how you are, the kind of person I mean, and well I didn't respect that…yesterday I…I took advantage of you. You're kind and want to help others out when you can. I preyed on that. I almost destroyed your relationship with Shaolin just so that I could have a shot with you." She explained with noticeable remorse "I don't want to stay that person if I am her and I don't want to be that person if I'm not. I don't want to force you to do anything that you're not okay with ever again. I respect you as a man, but I didn't respect you as my brother or as a committed individual."

The Miko scratched her cheeky softly "So…umm I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm really sorry for all those times I never respected you like I should have. And I think that we should take things slow for a bit okay, Ichigo? If someday you decide to love me back and want to marry me too…I'll be waiting." She then shook her head softly "But if you decide you only want Shaolin as your wife then I can live with that. I'll be glad that you'll still care about me as your kid sister."

"Senna…" he whispered quietly before embracing her with a reassuring smile "I forgive you Senna and thank-you."

The woman turned an even darker red "Ahaha…a-anyways, umm I just wanted to say that I'll always be on your side." She then pulled away from the embrace albeit reluctantly "Let's go make a certain Chinese girl happy."

"Right."

The pair stepped outside the room and saw Shaolin was standing outside in the hallway reading a scroll of some kind. The captain's steel grey eyes kept going up and down each sentence, from the right to the left. Coming near the end of the document, she noticed the approaching bodies of both Kurosaki.

Seeing the stern look on his fiancé's face he asked the most apparent question "Is it an order from the Sou-taicho?" he inquired, since squad two was busy running patrols and delivering messages everywhere while the Seireitei recovered.

"No, it isn't." Shaolin replied quietly, "It's actually a summons from the family. They're requesting my immediate appearance."

"Really? Can I see?" asked Ichigo as he extended his hand outward to see what they might have wanted

The woman shook her head and folded the paper up to pocket it "I highly doubt either of you can read Mandarin Chinese." She said matter-of-factly

"No. I might be fluent in another language but Chinese isn't it."

"Sorry, I'm taking English as my foreign language."

"I thought as much." She then huffed out tiredly, already knowing this visit was going to be draining mentally and physically "Anyway, I might as well go see what they want. Last thing I need is for them to be bugging me at this crucial point in time about something stupid like needing a new training schedule or an approval for building materials or expansions."

"Can we come along then? At least if you're miserable you'll be miserable with friends." offered Ichigo, since he didn't want to miss an opportunity to give her the ring, since he didn't know when she'd be back or how tired she'd be.

The unknowing Taicho shrugged unfazed "Eh, I don't see why not. I'm still the leader of that place. Just be sure to get your Zanpaktou before we head out. You never know when Hollows might attack."

Gathering their weapons to protect themselves from any possible attacks, the team left the sanctuary of the Seireitei and went through the dusty feudal town of Rukongai, on route to east district number fifteen.

The way there was thankfully uneventful but as they approached the hill leading up to the compound they were immediately surrounded by a bunch of men in gear similar to Onimitsukido.

"Halt at-" the man started but when he saw Soifon leading the group his words died in his throat. The man quickly signaled for his fellow soldiers to stand down while he straightened up and bowed his head "My apologies Fon-dono." He offered having now realized he stopped the lord and lady of the Fon family while she was evidently on business.

"While I can certainly appreciate the fact that the level of vigilance hasn't gone down since my last visit, I must confess that your choice in stopping me and my guests has me disquieted." Shaolin said with an apathetic look, though her tone let them know she wasn't in a good mood "Would you care to explain the reason why you have surrounded us weapons drawn Yahiko Fon?"

The leader of the squad Yahiko shifted his eyes to the woman's guest who stood behind her hands on their weapons from the sudden ambush "We received word that a group was approaching but we were surprised to see that you were here with them." He explained

'_Sure were pretty eager to engage the enemy. That's far from normal.'_ The captain thought to herself as her gaze grew just a smidge less friendly "And why is that cause for attack?"

"Once we drive them away outsiders typically don't return here a second time around and live. This is the second time for the boy, so hopefully we'll continue our hallowed tradition." He answered self-assuredly while all three of them had to stop themselves from yelling out a certain thief's name. "Regardless we apologize for holding you up. We will go on ahead and alert the facility to your arrival." The man and his team then disappeared from sight in a flurry of speed

"Talk about a jackass." Ichigo muttered to himself now that Yahiko was well out of sight. "Still kind of surprised they didn't know you were coming." He commented quietly, not really seeing how the supposed patrolmen wouldn't be well informed of their boss coming in; especially, after being summoned by their major decision makers.

"Incompetence takes many forms Ichigo. I thought Omeada would have taught you that." The captain reminded her disgruntled subordinate as she resumed walking "Come on let's get this over with before night fall."

Senna moved her hand away from her asauchi and then gazed off into the nearby trees spotting a few of the soldiers looking back at them intently, which caused her to shudder involuntarily. _'What's this ominous feeling?'_ she asked herself, as she watched her onlookers disappear in a burst of speed, in the direction of the complex.

Turning back to the path she decided to keep it to herself, as she ran to catch back up with her brother and Sensei. Coming to a large gate, the woman witnessed it slowly open before them as she rejoined the group. When it was sufficiently opened, the captain told them to come along inside the fortress.

"Wow, so this is where you live?" Senna asked as she observed the miniature old-fashion village inside the large stone enclosure.

The captain slowed her pace as she looked over her shoulders to her wide-eyed apprentice "Yes and no." she replied with a small look of reminiscence "I did live here when I was a little girl apprenticing under the combat master's watchful eye, and I do still have my spare living quarters from those training day, as well as my room for my current status as head of the family and first daughter; although, my division barrack is where I've lived the longest portion of my life and has nearly all my personal possessions; however few they may be." She answered and was going to continue walking on until she noticed Ichigo standing completely still gazing off in another direction.

Ending her gait, she turned around to follow his line of sight and see where it was that he was looking, which ended on an old wooden building that could have passed for a small temple belonging in some isolated mountain range. "You seem rather interested in that building, Ichigo." The captain commented taking note of her secret fiancé's linger gaze "Something on your mind?"

Ichigo spoke but kept his eyes steady on the place that kept giving him this strange feeling "I guess you could say that…" He then pointed at the place offhandedly "When I came here the first time and saw that building it…well…I don't know…it just made me feel depressed." He said trying to best describe the strange effect the hut had on him.

"Hmm." Senna glanced over, tearing her eyes away from the patrolling archers mounted along the walls, and over towards the building in question. She didn't have to look very long to get the full effect of the myriad of emotion simply radiating from the place "Whoa… I sense a lot of bad vibes coming from that place. I sense sadness, fear, but most of all I sense malice and spite. It's practically oozing out from the entrance way."

The woman shivered slightly from the Goosebumps she was getting from the relatively close proximity to the resonating aura "I don't know what that place is but I think we shouldn't go over there." She reported taking half a step backwards, feeling much safer now than before.

The court guard captain let out a heavy sigh at Senna's precise conclusion, "I can't say I'm surprised." She admitted with a soft murmur "That building," she thrusted her hand towards the object in question "is actually our so called 'burial ground'. It is the place where fallen members of the Fon family are laid to rest."

Ichigo turned his body towards Soifon on his left "That doesn't explain why me and Senna are feeling such a foreboding aura from the place; if it really is just a 'burial ground'."

The woman let out another heavy sigh "Senna probably senses all those things not only because mikos and priestesses are spiritually and emotionally more sensitive to things; but because what she said relates to an easily discernible truth about us."

The woman turned away from the tomb and gazed sadly into Ichigo's amber eyes, obviously disconcerted "We of the Fon family believe strength above all else is important. Strength allows us to fulfill our duty and by fulfill our duty we can thus obtain honor for the clan. This belief is instilled in every child of the family from the moment they are born and is tailored to their duty in life.

Soifon's eyes tore away from her boyfriend and rested at her feet "My belief was that I was born to protect the current head of the Shihoin clan; every mission that she went on and survived served as a validation of my worth. My death would only be seen as an 'acceptable loss' if I died ensuring Yoruichi-sama's survival. That belief superseded everything including my own freedom and happiness, my sense of self-preservation, and the bonds with my blood siblings."

Ichigo grimaced "Yeah, you told me about your brothers." he said knowingly as he brought a hand up and squeezed her shoulder gently. The only sign of reassurance he could give her in public.

While she kept her usual impassive expression, on the inside she was thanking him for giving her the strength to maintain composure and stay collected.

Meanwhile Senna was considering her story and was struggling to find the connection with her estranged siblings and the moral behind the story. '_I still don't see what this has to do with that.'_ Senna then looked back at the building and then the answer dawned on her _'Oh. I get what she means.'_ She thought sadly

"Yes, as you remember Ichigo, before I met you, Shinjiro, Subaru, and before I was taken in by Yoruichi-sama. My brothers had all died in the various mission related to the stealth and punishment force. You remember how cold and ruthless I was back when we first met, so it should be no surprise that they'd be angry at me, when I was so much worse when they had perished. I cursed and hated them for their weakness; blinded by my own perceptions of strength. It's only after meeting you and so many other people that I at last found my heart."

The woman's expression became slightly more mournful "Unfortunately such a small change would mean little to them. They know I hated them much longer than I had otherwise given a second thought too. It is something that I will need to live with." She then shook herself of her self-wallowing before looking back to Senna albeit solemnly "But to affirm what you said, that is no doubt what you sense, the anger and regret from various clansmen who have been credited only as disgraces after death despite their efforts must linger in that tomb." She then turned away and back to the road ahead "Let's be on our way. I don't want to be around this place any longer than necessary."

The team then walked on passing by the enormous training field filled with men and women in black garbs sparring, which Ichigo saw some of the dirty looks they, or rather he, was receiving. Still they made their way past them, and continued on until they reached the end where the two guards on standby were.

The guards crossed their spears in front of the door and the one on the right spoke "It is a private audience. The outsiders must wait in the training field."

"Fine." Shaolin said aloud rolling her eyes from the sheer stupidity of all this. "Go on you two. I'll be back in a moment." She dismissed, leaving the group to enter the room alone.

When the woman disappeared behind the door, Ichigo tapped Senna on the shoulder and nudged his head in the direction they came in. As the pair disappeared, the guard on the left lifted his spear and tapped it against the ground twice, giving a silent signal.

In an instant a number of soldiers appeared from the hallways "You are to follow the orders given by decree of the council. Be advised your target is heading in the direction of the courtyards and has an associate that should be treated with caution. Yahiko's unit will support you so do not engage the target until he has reached there. Move out at once." the spearman ordered, as the men silently nodded their head before vanishing from sight.

(Ichigo and Senna)

A small chill ran up Senna's spine, making her look back in the direction they came, while she put a hand to the back of her neck against the standing hairs. Ichigo stopped walking as he looked back at his stock still compatriot "You alright?" he asked concernedly

"Ahh…I just had a bad feeling." She said feeling like a target for some strange reason; she then looked back at Ichigo with worry "Umm, brother. I think now might be the time to tell you something, I saw earlier."

"What's that?" Ichigo said not liking where this might be heading

"Back at the hill, I saw a couple of them staring at us for a bit longer, before disappearing ahead. It made me feel really uneasy, and that same feeling just crept back up on me, less than a second ago."

Ichigo's eyes lowered fiercely "Now that you mention I was getting a few dirty-" he suddenly stopped talking, as he started scanning nearby reiatsu feeling the masked presences of others quickly approaching

"What's wrong?" Senna asked as she took a step closer to Ichigo

"Quiet." He hushed then spoke in a whisper "Someone's there, watching us." He then turned around "Keep walking like everything's normal and don't make any sudden moves." He spoke lowly, as he took a step forward to continue the conversation.

"Is this normal or is this something else?" Senna asked to get a better feel for the situation, since her sensing skills weren't up to the level of Ichigo, thus they were invisible to her.

"No." he said with cold finality, "Something tells me, we're gonna have to get ready for a fight."

Senna was going to open her mouth to ask why they didn't fight now, when the instincts Shaolin and Yoruichi drilled in her kicked in, allowing her take in the surroundings. Narrow corridors. Meaning Zangetsu wouldn't be able to be used, and Mirokumaru couldn't be utilized efficiently either.

Now she understood. They were going to take it outside where they'd have much more room to move, perhaps more enemies, but definitely life saving mobility.

(Shaolin)

The small four foot eleven Taicho walked through the double doors and into the chamber of the council. She silently scanned the room and noticed that only one member was missing from the assembly; which was the man who would normally sit on her immediate right when she was working alongside the assembly.

Still she knew she would find the answer for his absence momentarily and proceeded to the center of the room, where a small pillow was laid in the center for her, to speak to the elders who sat in their inward curving crescent moon shape formation. Shaolin brought both legs down as she sat upon her knees, and took a moment to remove her Haori and Zanpaktou, placing each precious object at the sides of her hands. Looking back up once herself assigned task was done; the woman raised her voice to address them civilly if irritably "So why is it that I have been summoned here? I have my hands full dealing with problems in Soul Society. What could be so pressing that you'd interrupt me doing my job as a Taicho to come here and clear up something as the head of Fon?"

"As we said in our message: we felt it was most urgent and since it will affect not only you but the clan as well, we believed it should be brought to you attention here in your home, milady." A man said from Shaolin's diagonal right hand side.

Shaolin however didn't bother to look in the speaker's direction "If that is so then tell me," she pointed beside the spot she normally sat at "Why is one of our numbers missing from such an important meeting?"

"Head Councilman Fon has fallen extremely ill."

Now Soifon turned her eyes at the speaker and gave a very hard glare "Explain." She commanded in a low pitch

Slowly getting up from his cushion the Fon elder open his mouth to adhere to the request "The man has been getting frailer and frailer as of late. He…unfortunately collapsed." The man closed his eyes and shook his head despondently, his voice continuing quieter than usual "It is unlikely that he will live."

'_What!?'_ The captain's eyes widened just a fraction, though to those who saw it, they knew of the deep concern in them. She was about to raise her voice, when she remembered who she was talking too, and inhaled while simultaneously clenching her fist behind her back to control herself.

After recomposing herself, she spoke in a controlled tone yet abrasive tone, letting a small token of her anger be released "So then tell me why this was not brought to my attention _earlier_. Given the nature of the plane we live in and the longevity of spirits, you will have to forgive me for being rather skeptical on what you say, as people don't just _suddenly_ collapse and fall on their death bed so easily, you fool!"

She then turned away disgustedly from the man and addressed the committee as a whole "Tell me, and I ask this question to all of you wise councilmen, why is it that no one decided to petition to me to bring a doctor from the fourth division to heal one of our oldest and founding member of our clan, or better yet, why did you not go do it yourselves?" she asked dangerously, testing to see who had the balls to either own up or try and bullshit their way out of this.

"It was just too sudden." A voice said quietly within the faceless masses, though the woman heard a certain amount of smugness behind it. "We thought he would be fine initially, and then when he became bedridden we tried to cure him ourselves, so as not to involve outsiders and save some face within out clan. However…our plan failed, as simple as that."

'_You expect me to believe that a clan of warriors and assassins who've dedicated their lives to the kill, are going to be in possession of a doctorate in the medical arts!? Toxins and explosive compounds yes, Practical medicine no.'_ she thought to herself darkly, as she was now beginning to think something more was going on here, and that foul play was definitely involved.

The Taicho decided to change the subject, before she grabbed Suzumebachi and end up putting someone _else_ on their death bed, "Tell me what it is that you want to tell me so that I may be on my way." She snarled impatiently

"Yes, let's do get back on track." A bald council man said coolly, as he turned his head back to his leader, who brought her eyes to rest on him "We, the council, have decided upon the accepting of a certain policy which will bring about a much needed change."

"That's what you called me all the way out here for!?" she shouted incredulously "Oh for the love of, if you wanted my vote on something you could have just a sent it in the message. I would have answered back immediately, a day later tops." She then wrinkled her nose and shot a dirty look "But, instead of utilizing that logical solution, you instead opt to wasting precious time by dragging me out here for a simple announcement!?"

The man smiled cruelly "We are not asking for your opinion or input." He pointed out which made the woman tilt her head wondering what he was getting at "We have decided to accept the marriage proposal between our family and the Omeada clan; the marriage between yourself, Milady, and Omeada-sama." Shaolin's eyes immediately turned to hate, as she figured out what this was really about. "It has been decided by us that it would be most beneficial. And before you say anything, the bi-law created by your two outsiders is null and void, as they are not present to enforce it. We also know the reason why they are not present."

The man's eyes narrowed, as the ice queen of Seireitei returned such a glare with unequaled distaste "We know those two are nothing but filthy, disgusting Rukongai trash that shamefully brought dishonor to this clan by their intimate association with the traitor Sosuke Aizen during his coup d'état, an association that forced our hand in regain our lost honor, an association that was allowable by your actions, _milady_."

Clenching her fist in anger, the female captain stood up slowly from her spot, her eyes never leaving off the person who poured burning salt upon open wounds. "Deplorable." She muttered "You have no right to speak such words, not against my honor or their own. I will not lie though and say I am pleased by what they have done and while I will not take their lives as penance they will be brought before justice. However you lot speak of what you know nothing about and that is unacceptable."

She then quickly moved her foot and pulled back on her heel, throwing the weapon into her hand, so she could pull out the sword directly at the man "So consider this your first and last warning," her eyes then narrowed as she started to release her spiritual pressure "and for you sake I hope use your wisdom and shut your mouth!"

The fuming woman then glanced to her sides sizing them all up "Now the next matter to address: Do you honestly think I'm just going to nod my head moronically and agree to these backdoor deals like a sheep being lead to the slaughter? If you did, you are sadly mistaken. For all my life I've done nothing except what people have told me to do and frankly I'm getting sick and tired of it and all the unnecessary shit it's brought me." the faint image of Ichigo standing courageously flickered in her mind "And that is why I'm going to forge my own path. I'd sooner embrace banishment then spend another second listening to you pervade the air with your abhorrent words."

"For a little girl who always used to cling to her father's coat you can certainly talk a big game, _Taicho_." The man directly to the left of the center said calmly despite the battle ready captain in front of them "But tell me do you think you have a choice? We are not as dumb as you would care to believe. While we might have grown weaker in our age, our minds haven't lost their edge too much."

He then stood up and gestured around the room "Consider where you are along with your proclamation: You would declare us as wrong and threatened us with violence if you don't get your way this essentially makes you an enemy to both us and the clan. One we have little reason not to eradicate save for following our will. You are strong without a doubt, but could you defeat every single man, woman, and child in this compound, all of whom have been training to fight against Hollows and are willing to throw their lives away at but a moment's notice? Even in the outcome that you should live and escape our fortress, have you thought about how it would affect you and the world around you?" the man smirked and continued in his condescending tone

"Of course not, such is the rashness of youth. How would you explain the situation to the court guard squads and the Sou-taicho? You will be accused and found guilty of killing hundreds if not thousands of individuals! Your name and credibility: black listed with a price placed upon your head, your coveted status as a Taicho: rescinded and revoked, all the spiritual powers and abilities you attained from training and battle: forever sealed away, and for what?" he asked, pausing to get a reaction out of her but only received a cold stare "Because, you simply wouldn't put aside your personal feelings; and do something for the greater good of your own clan? Is it not one of the duties as a high-ranking commanding officer of the Gotei 13 to put the needs of the many over the needs of the few?"

"You think I don't know the repercussions of my actions?" she asked rhetorically "I am quite aware that the Sou-taicho and the other Taicho's will not look favorably upon me for what I'm about to do to you for putting me in this situation; however, I'm not going to submit my free will to you just because it conveniences you."

"Hahahaha! You say it like you have a choice." A new voice said from behind the Taicho. Turning around the bluenette's eyes widened for a mere moment before turning to mere slits at who she spied entering the door.

Her Fuku-taicho Marechiyo Omeada.

"I was wondering what that foul odor was though I shouldn't be surprised to see you here." The captain bit coldly, as the man gave a cheshire grin in return "You will have to excuse me for not rolling out the red carpet over your ugly ass."

The large man laughed again "Oh captain, my captain. Never short on wit. It's one of the things I love about you most." He then looked slyly at her "Bet you figured out the reason why I'm here and the reason why you lose this time."

"It's because of your status as the first born of one of the four great noble families." She answered not missing a beat "Even if I were to go killing everyone here, you would fall under one of two scenarios. You'd either become the sole witness to the crimes I'd committed and with whatever back-up plan you might have indict me and have me declared unfit for duty. Thus promoting you to the position of Taicho, where you would no doubt offer me a place in the maggots nest instead of burning at the Sokyoku, using the fact of my loyalty to Soul Society as leverage for the decision."

A scowl slowly started to grow as she continued with the nightmare scenario "And while I'm chained to the walls in the maggot's nest completely defenseless I can rest assured that you'll be visiting my cell _every single day_ to make sure I "don't try to escape" until I either die or submit myself to you and become your play-thing." She spat not daring to sugar coat it by saying wife, which she couldn't notice the man didn't bother denying.

"Keep going." The grinning nobleman urged for her to continue to unravel his master plan

"From there you'd keep my powers sealed so that I couldn't challenge you and because of my previous actions made public, no doubt thanks to you, no one would ever believe me that this whole thing was set up between you and my family." She then allowed herself to glance behind her at the silent but unobjecting councilors before turning back to the visage of overweight and spoke with a low gritted tone. "Conversely if I did kill you along with the rest of the clan, you probably left some kind of note to you family detailing that you'd be here for a meeting. And given the nature of our security, only someone with enough influence or direct blood relation could enter here and with me being the sole survivor and having already registered that I've departed the Seireitei which overlaps with the time you departed, it wouldn't be very long before rumors and suspicions arise. That is of course if they don't try and arrest or kill me first." She surmised "I'm even willing to wager that you were the one who helped supply the materials to poison High Councilman Fon. You visit frequently enough about the merging between our clans; it wouldn't be too much trouble to slip it in his tea since he doesn't consider you a threat but an annoyance."

The woman crossed her arms while her aura radiated her threatening demeanor "So tell me Marechiyo. Did I hit the nail on the head or is there a little more to your plan that I failed to recognize?"

"Well since you're asking oh so nicely I would like to inform you on my side plan to have my own personal harem." He uttered deviously, licking his lips at some of his perspective choices "I know you have a very good relationship with Yoruichi-sama. I certainly don't mind inviting her over from time to time, maybe even financially supporting her clan back to fame in exchange for her hand. There's also that girl from the invasion the one you and carrot head are constantly around. Despite probably being a commoner with just a little _etiquette_ training she'd definitely be a nice addition to the fold and I can't forget about that other commoner beauty Lyn-chan."

The man felt his heart skip a beat from mentioning the girl while Soifon had to resist the urge to vomit from a combination of his re-mentioning of her and his grand perverse desires. Mistaking her disgusted expression for hazy memory the man clarified "You met her remember? At the festival last year. Real sweet girl that one, looks exactly like you too; could easily pass as your twin sister; once I find her the three of us can have some _private_ time to chat and catch up."

"Oh?" she muttered with thinly veiled anger and distaste "The only harem you'll ever have is a desperate for compensation narcissus obese-obsessed all male harem. As for the girl who looks like me tell me was that her in your little pornographic book or was that book depicting how you intended to treat me if father or I had accepted your proposal?"

"Hahaha! You found that! Wow! I hope you liked it, I did try my best to get you right…but I just felt a little…role reversal was necessary. We can experience the real thing at a later time. Still I must commend you for being ever so through. Finding out not only about my little hobbies books but also being able to know me so completely. I dare say your ability to read me is a sign of destiny." The man said care freely as he took a step forward "So the ball is in your court, Soifon-chan, what will you do? Become my wife willingly or go through a plethora of things involving pain, humiliation, disgrace, imprisonment, _special_ visits, and ultimately still becoming my wife. Don't take too long to decide my dear, I want to have some alone time with you." He chided arrogantly as he stuffed his hands in his pocket, while his grin increased in size for finally getting the woman of his dreams but also for being able to one up Kurosaki in the end.

The woman took a step forward with her fist clenched, ready to make her option apparent, when she stopped and felt something; like a small ripple of energy. The ripple waxed and waned in feeling, then started to draw closer towards them, seemingly unnoticed by the others around her, she wondered what it was she was feeling until realization began to finally dawn on her, her face slowly lighting up by his impeccable timing "ha…hehe…" she found herself starting to chuckle, getting worried glances from the men in the room for the odd choice in action. They all wondered if they had inflicted enough psychological torture to make her mind collapse upon itself "ahahahahaha! Oh, this is too rich!" she laughed aloud at some unseen joke which only she seemed to know. She then wiped her eye as if a tear had escaped and spoke in her usual calm, controlled and mocking tone of voice "Never have I laughed so hard in my life, I must thank you for that excellent show of entertainment." Giving a back-handed compliment "before…"

"Before what wench!?" one of the men demanded, only to be silenced as the nearby wall exploded as the debris flew inward, while the rubble from the wall collapsed away. Then two figures stepped out of the smoke one a orange haired boy with a large sword, the other a girl with purple hair and a golden staff and saber, the two of them wearing Hakama's of the Shinigami while behind them lying face down on the ground were a just a few of the many unconscious Fon assassins, that led all the way through the hallways and outside.

"Before, I present my counter-argument." Soifon said calmly as she 180'd to direct a sharp eye back to the assembly "Now, what's the matter? You all don't have to look so pale. I'd like to keep the bloodshed to a minimum; that's why I have the perfect idea to settle this little debate." She then turned around and as she did, sent a small wink to Ichigo who nodded "You and You" she pointed to Ichigo then Omeada "Will do battle to decide this problem. Should Ichigo win, then this entire thing is called off. Should Omeada win then we go along with the plan." She then stared into Omeada's face with a frigid glare "I'm sure you'll be fine with that as your opponent is no doubt weakened from having fought to get here, unless of course, you'd rather I go with my first course of action which was to break your nose before I walked all over you." She hissed

Now the giant glared back at the girl who was supposed to be his obedient fiancé "Why should I? The way it stands, even if he has shown up, he's nothing more than a weak traitor to Seireitei. It's probably only because of luck that strawberry over there survived against Byakuya and then Aizen. HEH! More than likely they thought they killed him and he just feigned death besides, when it comes down to it, in the grand scheme of things, he's just a bystander who has no say and no respect, easily replaceable."

The woman closed her eyes and shook her head unsure of if it was pity or disbelief in the man's idiotic illusions he had casted upon himself. Aizen and Kyoka Suigetsu would have a run for their money in creating something this bad. Opening up her viewing orbs again, she looked at Ichigo lazily "I see. Tell me Ichigo, I want an impromptu but full report on every major achievement and accomplishment you have done within recent memory, right now."

The man smirked as he raised two fingers to his eye brow "Not a problem Taicho. My name is Ichigo Kurosaki, I am one of the Seireitei dubbed and localized leader of the group called the 'Infil-traitors', a group who successfully broke into the Seireitei and assisted in the fighting against Aizen. The woman beside me is Senna, a fellow Infil-traitor." He then looked over at Omeada through his peripherals "Not to correct you too much, but I'm not lucky, that's why I had to fight and defeat Captain Byakuya Kuchiki in battle. I didn't get the easy way out of giving up or him surrendering, so get your facts straight." He then looked back to the other men sitting in their crescent moon formation "I'm also the son of the Miracle Worker, and ex-Taicho of squad four, Masaki Kurosaki as well as Isshin Kurosaki a noble clansman."

"I don't know of any noble clan or family that goes by Kurosaki." One of the men out cried not believing it for a second, while Ichigo himself did feel inclined to agree with him, since it was a long shot using Isshin's title without proof, but didn't for the sake of argument.

No need to give them an edge.

"Belief or disbelief rest with you, but you can't disprove the fact that I have connections through to the Kuchiki family by Rukia Kuchiki; whom I and the rest of us on the team saved." He countered which got the men to start to talk amongst themselves, but was cut short as Ichigo stepped forward and tightened his grip on his Zangetsu "Look, I didn't come here to argue, and have only been as patient as I have out of courtesy for my Taicho. So I'm going to make things really simplified from how Soul Society is gonna see things, now that you know who I am." He then pointed his sword at them to intimidate them

"They're gonna wonder just what was the cause for the massacre, exactly as you say, but when they see my involvement they're gonna be giving me a good ear, since not only I did save their butts after they tried to kill me, but I have a rather impressive track record with the Kuchiki clan, former Shiba Clan, former Shihoin clan whose princess, Yoruichi I might add, would love to hear what you're doing to her apprentice, and I have the backing of captain's for squad thirteen, ten, eight, four and TWO, Lastly, I have been selected to be the incumbent Taicho of squad three after Aizen has been dealt with: a selection made by the Sou-taicho Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryusai himself. So I suggest you take the battle bet with me and Omeada, otherwise I'm just gonna slaughter you all, like I originally intend after finding out how you tried to assassinate me and Senna back there, but didn't because you were Soifon-Taicho's clansmen." He finished as a heavy silence filled the room

The multitude of men on the council looked to each other, and all nodded their head seeing that their plan had fallen through, and everything now rested on this decision, since now that their overwhelming numbers were gone, this was merely a mercy decision on the trio who could slaughter them and get away with it "Very well. You shall fight in the training field now." The man on the far right said through gritted teeth.

"Glad, that you see things our way." Shaolin replied hatefully as she turned to head towards the battle zone with Ichigo and company, and fill them in on some things.

(Outside)

After finding an open area free of unconscious fighters the crowd of individuals separated far away from the two combatants, with Ichigo on the far right hand side and Omeada on the opposite end. The taller man glaring hatefully at the one obstacle who always seemed to be getting in his way regardless of everything he'd done to ensure success. Ichigo on the other hand was ignoring his opponent and looking at Shaolin, and nodded his head before turning back to his enemy, promising to prolong the fight so she could do one last task.

"Are you two ready?" Senna asked, as she had been appointed Referee for the match, the two flags she held in her hand one for each person to dictate the winner raised off the ground

"Yeah." Omeada grunted out as he pulled out his Zanpaktou and released it into Shikai state, while Shaolin started to inch away, slipping slowly out of sight before disappearing completely

"Let's make things interesting, the winner will also get to take something away from the loser." Ichigo said as he brought his sword around, focusing now on the duel as he felt his fiancé's spiritual signature fade into the distance.

"Alright then." Senna brought both flags down as she jumped backwards "Begin!"

The lumbering giant jumped high into the air, and launched his massive ball and chain towards the man, who looked on impassively. As the weapon drew closer, the fourth seat backpedalled with a jump back, allowing the weapon to harmlessly crash against the tile, smashing it into pieces.

Ichigo kept his guard up and didn't move from his spot until he heard a clicking noise. His eyes then widened when the spikes rotated a bit, and shot outward, forcing the strawberry to use Zangetsu to block the fired projectiles, as they sent him skidding back though still standing.

"Hahahaha! I told you all it was just a fluke!" Omeada chuckled as he hit another button on the side of his grip, causing the weapon's spikes to retract back to him "You're still the weak common place dog that you've always been, while I've grown stronger. Haha," his smirk grew wider as he spoke in a more dangerous tone "You don't deserve to have received all the attention of my goddess, in fact if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here. We'd probably be having a rather civil wedding, but that's ok. We can still have it, AFTER YOUR DEAD!" he yelled as he ran forward with his weapon in mace form wildly swing the weapon from side to side to clobber the man and end his life.

Ichigo remained silent, unsure of what to say about the man, as he used his sword to block each and every strike that came at him. The strikes were surprisingly stronger than the Shinigami originally anticipated, though nowhere near strong enough to force him to use all his strength since he needed to wait, on account of Shaolin's task.

As the giant brought his mace arm back around to smash against the sword to break through, he found himself open to Ichigo's jab to the side. The fourth seat side stepped around the man's girth and struck him en passant, as he maneuvered around to the back and kicked him forward, making the man stumble forward, before crashing against the ground in a painful heap.

"Is that all you can do?" Ichigo asked in a bored tone "Fucking pathetic. I swear even if I were to lose, Soifon-taicho would probably wear the pants in the relationship, powers or not."

"What did you say!?" the large nobleman said as he pushed himself off the ground wallowing in his anger from the humiliation the man was putting him through

"Clean out your ears fat-ass! I'm saying that you'd be the bitch in the relationship, if it actually panned out, but I'm gonna tell you exactly what I told you before I left 'You're pathetic, in all aspects of being a Shinigami, and only got where you are because of your family's name. Not because of the skill you've miraculously conned yourself into believing you possess,' that's why you're not gonna beat me. EVER!" He taunted, repeating the exact same thing he said before leaving to the human world the second time.

Now Marechiyo was seeing red, scrambling back up he ran full speed as he started to swing the ball and chain around his head. During his rush forward he swung the weapon in its large arc to nail the man to turn him into strawberry jam across the floor, when Ichigo jumped atop the weapon and jumped forward again towards him with his hand held out in front of him

"Sokkatsui!" Ichigo yelled as he fired a point blank kido spell into the self proclaimed immaculate face of the nobleman, using the man's plump body to spring board off himself and avoid being hit by the withdrawing chain. The man fell to his knees a second time as he clutched his face from the pain, while Ichigo just looked on in silent anger "Come on, is that your best Fuku-taicho?"

"Be, be quiet you." The man said as he rubbed his face, only to then be forced to place both his hands on the ground to support his body from the spiritual pressure pushing against him

"Marechiyo." He hissed saying the man's name very rudely "You will shut the hell up, and not speak; unless you are answering a question I ask, which you didn't. Now tell me: Are you doing your best?" he said much harder telling the man to answer or else suffer some horrible fate.

"Y-yes! What's it to ya, are you scared?" the giant asked as he felt the spiritual pressure ease up, allowing him to stand back up, and look into the cold eyes of Ichigo who looked ready to paint the town red

"Really? That's good then. I really needed to know that because truth be told Omeada when I accepted this fight I wanted you to put all your strength, all your pride, your very soul even, into this fight. That way I could crush it and grind into the dust." He whispered dangerously as his spiritual energy began to swirl around his body

"From the day I met you, I've hated your guts. You're a disgrace to the name Shinigami. Seeing you now pisses me off to no end because good, honest, hardworking people like Hanataro Yamada, the man who took care of your wounds whenever you were injured, and Ganju Shiba the proud warrior of the former noble clan Shiba, died protecting the entire afterlife and every soul in it; souls even as wretched selfish and disgusting as you!" he declared as he brought his sword around to point directly in front of him as the cloth wrapped around his shoulder

"I can't stand it. It's not right. It's not fair!" He shouted hatefully as his body started to glow white as reiatsu began to flood off his body "and the worst thing about you still being alive is that you remind me that I failed to keep them alive!"

He then spoke one chilling phrase that sent dread into everyone except Senna, who merely looked on in awe "Bankai!" When he said the words, the energy went into the sword's tip and fired outward destroying part of the wall beside Marechiyo who was reeling at the fact that he knew Bankai of all things. The large man started to shake in primal fear at knowing that he'd awaken a great demon.

With a flick of Ichigo's wrist the dark reiatsu dissipated from around his body, revealing the man's form as his jacket billowed in the wind and his jet-black sword touched the ground, leaving a noticeable gash in the concrete from merely touching the sharp sword. "Surprised?" Ichigo asked in a patronizing tone of voice as he beckoned him with his fingers to step up "Come on tough guy," he then let the full force of his spiritual energy hit Omeada, sending him sprawling upon the ground gasping for air "Stand up." The fearsome reaper commanded.

Though try as he might the man lay there squirming trying to avoid being squished to death by the power. Ichigo continued it for a few more seconds until he felt the reiatsu of Shaolin return, and eased up so the man could stand again.

With the pressure removed from his body, the man looked at Ichigo for just a moment then followed his natural instincts. To run far away from this, this monster. The large man turned around and attempted to run, to shockingly find Ichigo standing ten feet away from his with a fierce scowl.

"I think I know why my Bankai specializes in speed so much. It's because I already possess the strength necessary to protect my friends," he then drew his sword back and charged a small Getsuga "I just needed to learn how to get there quicker, so they won't die." And swung Tensa Zangetsu, which launched the cloud-like energy beam and swallowed the man up in his entirely; loud screams were heard as the impermeable black wave continued to chew Omeada's flesh up, before spitting him out twenty some odd feet away from the initial suction point, bleeding on the ground gasping for air while experiencing large amounts of physical pain as he clung desperately to life.

Senna was about to call the match, when she stopped seeing Ichigo raise his hand to her, with a softer look telling her to trust him, which then hardened as he glanced over at his opponent before zipping over to the wounded Fuku-taicho.

Materializing above him Ichigo tsked to himself "Remember what I said, winner gets to take something from the loser," he then spun his sword in his hand, while the downed man's eyes widened considerably "I'm taking this." He said as he threw the sword down into the ground.

The blade embedding itself a centimeter away from the man's ear, as Ichigo kneeled down and removed the arm band which signified the second rank in a division. "Be thankful I didn't take your life."

"A flawless victory." Shaolin announced to drive the dagger further into the crowd of councilmen around her before she left the crowd and started walked over to the distant pair.

Hearing her announcement Ichigo glanced over and nodded acknowledging her before looking back at Omeada "By the way Omeada I didn't spare you out of mercy. I spared you because it was the more practical choice." He said as pushed himself up and removed Tensa Zangetsu from his spot beside this waste of space

"W-what…?" the man groaned out dully wincing from the intense pain his body was under

Ichigo's eyes grew colder and more lifeless as if some small part of him was enjoying seeing the ogre of a man in pain and wanted the rest of Ichigo to twist the dagger in further "I spared you so for once in your miserable life you can be a man, so you can die serving an actual purpose in the upcoming war against Aizen. And I guarantee you that you won't be squirming out of it; because I'm gonna personally order you to be on the front line of every battle we participate in. So enjoy whatever time you have left Omeada and may the spirit king have mercy on your soul." The reaper returned his Zanpaktou to it's rightful resting place and left the wounded man to whatever fate the spirit king had in store.

With that out of the way he turned back to see his captain with her hand out stretched for the badge he just earned. Placing it in her hand, the woman smiled softly at him "I've never been more proud of you Ichigo-koi." She said softly so no one could hear before raising her volume "Firstly, I thank-you for being the bigger man and not sinking to his level. He was at your mercy and you chose to spare him. Had the situation been reversed I would be hard pressed to say he'd extend the same courtesy. So congratulation."

"I don't have to become my enemy to beat them." He replied sagely

"Good. Now the second thing I must ask you. You have defeated the Fuku-taicho of my squad in not only my presence but in witness by a gathering of nobles and sacred guest of Soul Society and you have also completed a tour of duty in the human world, making you eligible to for the position of Fuku-taicho. I will ask you now: Fourth seat Ichigo Kurosaki, are you prepared to accept the position of Fuku-taicho for my squad and all that it entails?"

"For you, always." Came his response

The smile on the woman's face grew a fragment more "Then it is my great pleasure in appointing you as Fuku-taicho for squad two." She then leaned in and carefully tied the badge on his arm. "Yojimbo. I will be expecting even greater things from you from now on, try not to disappoint." She said playfully with her contented smile

Ichigo gave her a sideways glance "Hopefully, nothing too great; I really don't need another Senna chasing after me, from some misplaced feeling of adoration."

"No kidding, it's a good thing I actually know her. The rest of the SWA on the other hand…" Shaolin gritted out in annoyance at how fame seemed to put a big cluster fuck in people's lives.

"Don't worry about it. With you and Senna around I won't have time dealing with them. Speaking of you I have something for you." He was going to continue until he saw the mass of elderly men looking at them and felt they needed to be addressed. "But it can wait later. Come on let's go see the old guys eat their words."

"Oh, I forgot about them. Well seeing how today went I do believe I have a shocking piece of new to give them." The captain said with a dark smirk, as they turned back to the crowd, and stopped beside Senna who held her weapon threateningly.

The crowd of older men stared at the trio bitterly, not wanting to admit their defeat in not only their plan but also in their forces. After a long silence one of them spoke begrudgingly "Having seen the results first hand and agreeing to it, we accept the results on the matter."

"Hmph. I don't really care either way at this point." Shaolin said with an unconcerned shrugging of her shoulders

"W-what, why not leader-sama?" the man asked confusedly, not understanding how or why she was being so laid back about all of this "I'll be frank. I don't care; because, I am through. I am through with this place. There is nothing here for me anymore."

"You-you can't abandon your duties to the clan."

"Abandon?" Shaolin quoted with mock curiosity for the word, only to then let the façade dissolve into a dark smile "Abandon is such an _ugly_ word. I prefer that I'm eloping with Ichigo here," she then put a finger to her chin as she gave another mocking suggestion "or I guess forsaking is a good word too." Her cruel smirk penetrated into the hearts of the men at not expecting the words she was saying "Yes, I'm forsaking the clan."

"Do you even know what it is your saying!?" he asked exasperatedly since this would be the first time in history that a Fon went rouge, instead of being KIA or exiled.

"But of course I know what I'm saying. However…" she glanced at Ichigo and then to Senna who both smiled "If you want me to put even simpler so you can understand it is basically this," as she opened her mouth to say the next word, Ichigo and Senna assisted so they spoke as one "Fuck off."

The words stunned the assembly at seeing one of their own, including a local heroine and big time leader, turn coat and willingly leave the fold. The trio seeing that nothing more would come of this flash stepped as fast as they could out of the compound.

As they exited the front gates, Shaolin hung back just a second longer to stare at the wooden temple like house used as a burial grounds, before smiling and then bowing to it with seemingly years of built up respect. While she didn't expect any good karma to have come from the gesture, she would admit to herself to feeling at least a little lighter on the inside. "I'm sorry, and thank-you." She said to the inanimate object, before turning to catch back up with the others.

After having left the place the team went full speed back to the second division, ready to put this incident to rest forever.

Shaolin and Ichigo bidded Senna good night, and promised hard training come next day, before proceeding to the roof top above the barracks. The two lovers sat on the edge of the barracks with Shaolin sitting between Ichigo's legs and leaning against his Bankai provided Gi, as they stared into the fading summer evening together.

"Tell me, Shaolin did you see him?" Ichigo asked as he lightly encompassed his arms around her waist, which she touched softly with her right hand

"Yes…" she replied in a pained whisper "it wasn't…what I would have liked our final meeting to be like."

(Flash back)

After slipping off from the battle, having already told Ichigo quite bit on the way to the challenge grounds, which Ichigo promised to take as long as possible, the woman moved as fast as she could to the High Council man's room. Cocking her fist she smashed the door to pieces, as she forcefully entered the room, and saw her father looking extremely pale and most certainly on death's door.

"Ah, leader. Sorry for letting you see me like this, I hope you are having a good day." The poisoned man bidded well, as he looked up with a welcoming smile at his daughter, who had a heartbroken look on her face "But judging by that look on your face, I take it you found out about a lot of things." His smile then decreased significantly "Most of which I could not stop."

The morose woman trudged over to the bed and dropped down to one knee "Father…" she said quietly, her emotions visible within her eyes, as she gazed at the man.

The man tried to push himself off the bed and only succeeded in letting out a violent stream of coughs and strained sputters. Shaolin in her panicked concern leaned forward and placed her hands against his chest to help stabilize his breathing and keep him from moving any further. Once his chest started to rise and fall at a steady pace again, a sign that the flare up subsided, he spoke again "Bah, this is my own fault. I should have been much more alert; it seems my lack of diligence has caused my skills to deteriorate to the point I can't even tell when I'm being poisoned." The man then chuckled at his own morbid humor, and grew serious "I am not long for this world, Soifon. It's only a matter of time before I return to the cycle of reincarnation." The man let out a sigh, as his hand reached down and touched Soifon's "I suppose now that I'm at my end, I find myself with regret."

"…" the woman closed her eyes accepting the inevitable "and what is that?" she asked with a heavy heart

"My greatest regret was not being able to be the father I could and maybe should have been to you and your brothers. All…all I wanted of you all was to be able to stand up on your own. To have not only the strength of body, but the drive to achieve something beyond clan honor. I…only did what I thought would be…the best way to prepare you for the world outside these walls." He said softly as his other hand softly stroked the woman's cheeks as she strained herself not to breakdown and cry "Please end it, allow me to die with dignity and of my own choosing, not as my leader, but as my daughter Shaolin." He pleaded using the name, she had been told to abandon long, long, ago.

The woman dropped her head slightly to obscure her eyes, as she brought her left hand against the one that was against her cheek, her fingers rubbing against his skin "Alright, but before I do I want to tell you something father. It's something that I learned outside of my time at the Fon family training facilities, and outside of even the Gotei 13." She raised her head and quietly smiled at him "I learned about love, and I am proud to say that I fell in love with a boy. A boy who is strong, courageous, and most of all has a noble spirit.

"You met him before father," she said quietly but she knew he was listening intently "it was that orange haired kid who showed up once before. His name is Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki. He is, without a doubt father, a man able to perform miracles and can soothe the soul. It's because of him that my entire world changed and rearranged itself from what it once was, and it's made me a better, stronger person."

The heiress slowly brought her father's hand down from her face back unto his bed "But, it's also because of that I am at odd with the family. And it's because of our different viewpoints, which I pray you will forgive me for telling you this, might lead to the destruction of the clan." She smiled bitterly, while the sick man only kept his breathing steady still listening "I'm leaving the clan forever so I can marry and be happy with him." A lone tear fell from her eye "So even if you did not ask of me to do this. This…this would be our last meeting face to face on possibly friendly terms. But even so I want to tell you father how much I appreciate all that you've done for me. Giving me my codename of my grandmother; the best female assassin of our clan used. Training me despite my constant ineptitude when I was a child. And…and for both you and mother loving me…even if you hardly ever said it. I can't say just how much I…I…" she stopped speaking as she threatened to lose control

The old man took in a deep breath as he looked kindly towards her "I understand my daughter." His voice then became more worrying, more cautious "But I hope that you know the path you have chosen now will not be easy; however, if it is what your heart is set on I will not stand in your way. I give you my blessing if it means anything to you. (Cough)(cough) huhu…huhu…(gulp) Be happy Shaolin."

"I will." She said as she slipped back and engaged her Shikai, her hand trembling from not wanting to do this "It will be quick father, I promise you this." She then brought her arm around and buried the stinger into the man's chest impaling the heart within, a clean perfect kill.

The woman sniffled as she pulled her arm back and turned to head to the door to leave "Farewell father. May we meet again." She said quietly before leaving, knowing now wasn't the time for tears.

(Flash back end)

"And then I left." She finished her recounting of the event, her eyes showing a level of hurt in them "I suppose I'm technically an orphan now."

The woman leaned back into Ichigo's chest, and took in a calming breath of the evening air to clear her head. The man's arms wrapped around her waist and pulling her in tighter, making a wry smile flitter on her face. The wayward brushing of skin made the assassin look down at her left hand as she felt something both hot and cold. Without moving her head, she saw Ichigo's fingers pushing the last few inches of what appeared to Shaolin to be a ring of sorts.

She adjust her body to the side and lifted her hand that had the silver ring with red gem stone up, and felt the corners of her lips tug more, as her right hand gripped tighter on Ichigo's arm.

"You might be an orphan," said Ichigo he as placed his head to rest on the woman's shoulder "but you'll always have me by your side. We're family now."

The woman tilted her head just enough to spy over her shoulder "It's nice to have family. But I'm afraid it's still not complete just yet." She brought an arm around encompassing the back of his neck as she looked back "You still have a wayward brother and sister in law."

The woman felt the small hitching in Ichigo's breath, which had sent a pulse of worry through her body "I'm sure you probably don't w-"

"Alright." He said interrupting her. He then smiled a little "I'd do it even if you didn't say anything, Shaolin."

The woman frowned a bit at his forced tone "You don't need to lie to me Ichigo. I can tell that you're still sore about them stabbing you in the back…literally."

The man let out an easy sigh "Alright, you caught me, I lied. Of course, I'm sore about that, it friggin' hurt, ya know!" he said playfully, letting out a small laugh before he grew serious "We've known them for a while, so I'd like to hope their fighting against their better judgment."

"Mmm…"

"So I guess that just means I'll have to beat it into their heads, until they admit they screwed up, and come back." Ichigo joked

"Ooh? All I know is you better leave some beating in for me." She added with dangerous smirk which broke into a small laugh as she leaned back contentedly against her Husband. Her ears listening to the beating of his heart as she allowed herself to finally relax "Thank you for making me whole Ichigo. I love you. Always."

The orange haired tightened his grip around her as they both stared off into the fading evening skies over the Seireitei. "Don't worry about it Shaolin." He whispered as he softly kissed her cheek and rested his head against her shoulder "It's what husbands do."

The two continued to look on as the sun continued to set. Both ready for whatever the future might bring.

* * *

Blackout2010: So ends the breather arc of the story.

Aizen: M-my breakout debut...(cries)

Blackout2010: Aizen (puts hand on shoulder) this feeling is called 'painful, agonizing, failure.' Get used to it. (turns back to audience. I also have an announcement for all of you out there from Ms. Unohana. Hope spot is on life support but he's entered into a stable condition. So he could make a full recovery. She has told me that she thanks you for you support and will eagerly await when you cross over.


	27. Ground zero to the future

Once upon a time there was a fic…and it was filled with cheap clichés and catch phrases…

Blackout2010: This fic 400% more awesome then the next leading competitor AND is scientifically proven to break monotony! Ya get that? Means it's a fact, jack!

D. Mirokumaru: INSERT SEXUAL INNUENDO!

It had the oddest cast…

Masaki: Lovey~!

Isshin: Dovey~!

Yumichika: GAAAY!

Nanao: PDA reee-jected.

Strange heroes…

Soifon: W-who care if you think I'm Tsundere, stupid…

Senna: I'm not Yandere! Everyone's a little crazy on the inside right? RIGHT!?

Ichigo: My luck stat just hit negative something…better change my life status from S.O.L to F.M.L…

Contemptible villains…

Aizen: I AM YOUR NEW RELIGION! GET ON YOUR KNEES!

Tosen: I'M WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MORGAN FREEMAN GETS HIGH ON JUSTICE!

Gin:…ukitake likes little boys…

And…recurring satellite characters

Toshiro: What was that Gin!?

Ukitake: CANDYYYY!

Unohana: Strangely…enticing.

Zaraki: GAY AGAIN!

Yachiru: YAY!

All of these strange things came together into one documentary that would shatter a lifetime.

Shinjiro: That…isn't true…

Grimmjow: PLAY THE DAMN FOOTAGE WHITE BOY!

Ulquiorria:…ass… (hits play)

* * *

Chapter 27: ground zero towards the future

In the early morning hours, a figure was stirring in the bed. The person lazily opened one of her eyes revealing amber orbs inside of them, as she looked to the nightstand next to her. "Dang, still an hour early." She quietly read the alarm clock, mentally cursing to herself for still getting up as early as she did.

Moving an arm from underneath the warm blanket, she hit the alarm button of her clock into the off position, since it was useless at this point, and pushed herself off the bed, the woman's purple hair swaying against her movements.

"(Yawn)...it's hard to believe today's the first day of school." Senna said to herself as she raised her arms over her head to stretch her body. _'Hard to believe my summer adventure through Soul Society happened nearly two months ago…'_ she recounted as her eyes moved over to the dresser and saw the picture of her and her dad standing side by side with smiling faces, holding up some fish they caught from the Samgawa river.

The girl bit her lip reminded of her father. It had been three days after the incident at the Fon family estate when she, Ichigo, and Soifon were able to go visit Kukaku again; due to the time constraints of the reconstruction effort, and her own training regiment oversaw by her Sensei's Yoruichi and Shaolin.

When they arrived at the residence, they found the sobered up heiress barking orders at the cowering twins, who clutched each other as the firecracker pointed in the direction of Rukongai. When they asked her about the whereabouts of Ein, the woman's face fell; although she didn't want to give them more bad news, she told them that the man had left the house nearly two and half weeks ago.

Time seemed to stand still for Senna and her memory became hazy. She remembered fleeing the house as fast as she could before jumping unto her Shakujo and taking to the air. She flew from one end of the horizon to the other, searching from the rooftop of the illustrious mansions of the nobles to speeding through the most violent back alleyways. She looked frantically through the droves of souls, screaming out for him as she hovered in the air, looking for any small trace of her father.

Her cries seemed to fall on deaf ears on the populace, who were used to hearing such pleas separated families. The fact that she was a Shinigami only seemed to alienate her more; to some it was even a welcome change, to see a Shinigami know their misery.

Several hours later, Senna was located by Ichigo and Shaolin. While initially insistent in continuing the search, despite the approaching nightfall, the pair managed to pacify her, before telling her that it was unlikely her father was still around. As they walked back home, they told her the rest of Kukaku's account of what had happened.

How Ein learned that the infiltration team went on ahead of him, and how he set out to chase them, beating down Kukaku and her two servants, when they tried to stop him from going to the hornet's nest that the south gate would turn into. The hopeful teenager was about to suggest that they look inside for him, when Shaolin told her that it was impossible. She then recounted Omeada's and Kiyone's report on what occurred outside the gate where an unknown assailant decimated the Shinigami forces before entering inside the Seireitei and disappearing.

Ichigo then told her that according to the description and Kukaku's account, all fingers pointed at Senna's father from the human world, Ein, as the culprit. Before Senna could make a plea of amnesty, the captain assured her that she wouldn't share the information with the Gotei 13, but grimly told her that the spiritual pressure for the unknown entity was lost; which meant that more than likely, the man was dead.

Back in her room at the squad barrack, Senna would stare solemnly into the bathroom mirror, silently digging her nails into her fists, almost to the point where she'd draw blood. She would just stand and stare into it for hours before finally turning into bed, her body soaking in the cold truth revealed to her. Not even Mirokumaru, who delighted in tormenting and frustrating her, had the audacity to do her usual antics; instead, she was quietly giving her favorite servant space to move on.

When she woke up, her body felt cold and numb inside, but she couldn't bring herself to show it, so instead she simulated her usual peppy self, smiling and laughing with the people around her, but her eyes were cold and lifeless.

She kept this act up for a few days and it seemed to work, but she had a feeling that Ichigo and Shaolin noticed the lack of genuine gusto, but chose not to comment out of respect for her, and the belief that if she had some time she'd be able to come to terms.

That hope was easily shattered, when it became readily apparent to the two of them that the girl was just bottling up her pain by recklessly throwing herself into her training. Each day she worked herself harder and harder, pushing her body beyond what was safe. In act which worried her sensei Shaolin, who in turn looked to Ichigo, believing that the heart-broken girl would be more likely to listen to her brother, and the man she loved, than her friend.

As Senna was training in the field alone, Ichigo flash stepped in surprising her. She hadn't even managed to give a plastic smile, before he forcibly took away her Zanpaktou, and told her to stop. At first, she resisted verbally, defiant and sarcastic, before taking her blade back and angrily attacking him, stubbornly telling him that she was 'all right', and that he should mind his own business.

But, as Ichigo continued to talk to her in between attacks, he reminded her that he too knew what it was like to lose a family member and how much it had hurt him; his pain from losing his mother surfacing in his words. He then started telling her how much Shaolin was tearing her hair out, wondering how to help before admitting that she couldn't do it on her own and needed help. How much Kukaku wished that she had been strong enough to stop him from going to Seireitei in the first place. How her father entrusted her to him and wouldn't want her beating herself up over something she couldn't control.

He continued talking to her, slowly coaxing her to listen to his comforting words, while he closed the distance. Finally the young woman collapsed on her knees crying her eyes out; her loud sobs revealing just how she really felt inside, how much she really was hurting and pretending to deny of its existence.

Ichigo grimaced as he pulled her into his chest, quietly rubbing the small of her back as she wailed. After several minutes, Ichigo told her that doing what she was doing: denying how she felt, not taking care of herself, pushing people away; these weren't helping her. He begged her to stop, before she really hurt herself, once her delusion began to fall through to reality.

The young woman nodded her head silently, shaking hands clinging tightly to his shirt. After walking back with him to the barrack, where her worried sister-in-law tried valiantly to strike up a conversation, she didn't say another word the entire evening, opting to cling to her brother's arm demurely with the occasional hiccup. The most the captain got out of the red-eyed girl was an acknowledging stare before apologetic nod.

Ichigo later found her in his room later that night and allowed her to sleep in his arms the same way Shaolin had when her father died. Silently watching over the woman, like her own guardian angel.

And for the first time since finding out about her father's disappearance she felt at ease and slept peacefully.

When she awoke the following day, even she noticed that energetic, cheerful, true self returned back to her. So with hope in her heart she returned back to looking positively at the future and it's possibilities.

This brought her back to the one place where those possibilities could come to fruition, her home. The home her father owned in the human world, to return to school, the place where she could become more enlightened, and better herself, to be ready for the life that awaited her, after the war with Aizen was finally over.

"Done and done." Senna said to herself as she finished putting the finishing touches on her attire; which consisted of her ironed white shirt with brown knee length skirt, the fall version of her school clothing. She took in a breath of air and let it out as one of the two bands of hair that dangled in front of her face swayed slightly, a single red ribbon wrapped around it. She turned over to the frame of both her dad and herself, leaned in and gave it a small tender kiss.

"I love you daddy. I'll see ya later, promise." She said and then walked out the room grabbing her backpack along the way. As she exited the second floor apartment, she locked the door and proceeded down the stairs on the side to reach the street below and be on her way to school.

Senna had to admit to herself, that she was doing a fine job of readjusting back to the world of the living as quickly as she did, having really only returned three weeks ago. As she passed by the local grocery store, she saw the poster of Don Kannoji with his arms stretched out, detailing the new time for his wandering spirit's channel. She smiled bitterly at it conflicted over the memory of the abandoned hospital. Her linger uneasiness stemming from the fact that if she wasn't a Shinigami, she'd still have her father and would be enjoying a normal life.

She then shook her head, casting off those dark thoughts and replacing them with a better outlook, _'Then I never would have met Rukia-chan, Ichigo, or Shaolin-chan.'_ She corrected herself

"Help!" someone yelled breaking the girl from her musing, as she turned her head in the direction to see someone's hand disappearing behind a corner. The girl blinked and a wide smile broke across her face "Time to put her kung-fu training to work."

(Alley)

"What is it that you just don't understand Akashi?" a slimey looking student with greasy hair sneered in disgust as his burly friends restrained a smaller nerdy looking kid "You give us money, and we keep other kids from picking on you. It's the natural order of things," he then leaned in and punched the kid in the gut and kept doing so as he spoke "So I don't like it when you go duckin' me, when it's time to pay up." He said as he lifted the boy's head to look at him

"Don't you think that's enough?" a feminine voice called from down the alleyway, getting the attention of the ringleader

"Ha, if it isn't 'Miss unlucky' herself!" the man said with a smirk as he turned to his fellow student, smiling more at her bristling for the woman's nickname due to her position on the class roster.

"I'm surprised you'd know that name since you're always skipping class like a delinquent, Koji-san." Senna shot back trading insult for insult.

The man raised his hands towards his chest and spoke "Hey, I ain't ashamed of what I am." He then turned away from her to return to business "Now if you're done interrupting, why don't you be a good little schoolgirl and run along. A dark alley with delinquents is no place for a goody two shoes student." He heckled dismissively as he squeezed his victim's cheeks "Isn't that right Akashi-kun?"

"Oh?" Senna said as she loudly cracked her knuckles, ready for a rumble "Sounds like some wannabe badass is chickening out."

The insult had the desired effect, as the man turned back and stared at his cohorts with a look of disbelief, and then shook his head as he looked back at the purple haired girl, who he didn't expect to have a snappy side "I'm sorry." He took a couple of steps in her direction "I must of hehe, I musta heard you say something really stupid just now."

Senna placed a hand on her hips and shot a very confident smirk at him "Aww, is the big bad delinquent, getting his panties in a bunch over a 'school girl'." She then leaned forward and scowled "How pathetic."

"You little bitch!" the man yelled as he marched over, priming his arm back, to swat the insolent do-gooder that was royally pissing him off.

As the arm came to her, Senna lazily moved to the side, brought her hand around, and backhanded the man in the face. She slid next to him and thrusted her elbow into the man's rib cage. As the man cried out in pain, she then moved her right foot in between his legs and swept him off his feet. As he fell backwards, Senna released her hand off his arm and punched him in the face as he slowly fell to the ground, breaking his nose and slamming him against the mucky pool of water on the ground.

She wasn't done however, as she quickly flipped him over slammed her foot against his tendon, then brought his body in close while putting his arm behind his back. In his painfully pinned spot, the woman leaned close to his ear and whispered "And that's it for you." Then tugged slightly on his arm, making him yell out in pain

"Agghhhh!…sss mmm…hahha, fuck." He winced trying to save face, he tried to break out Senna quickly halted his effort by giving a sharp pull on his socket. In his desperation, Koji looked at his associates for help, "Stop gawking like dumbasses and get this crazy bitch off me!"

The two older boys shook slightly in fear at seeing their leader taken down so quickly and effortlessly, by a girl no less! The green haired one on the left, swallowed the lump in his throat and made a move forward beside his bald comrade, but stopped in his tracks when he felt something cold sweep over his body like a morning mist.

He was so unnerved he pulled at his collar finding it hard to even just breath. _'Is…this what they call 'true fear'?'_ he thought to himself, experiencing a level of terror he'd never know in his entire life. _'Am I…'_ the man's shaking grew even worse when Senna looked at him, her golden iris's promising misery. _'Am I gonna die…?'_

"I suggest you walk away with your tail between your legs. If not…" she then yanked extremely hard on the leader's limb while a loud crack echoed throughout the hallway. When the scream of pain finally subsided the woman dropped the delinquent against the ground, who then began to push himself away from the crazy girl, free hand desperately nursing his broken arm "You'll be lucky to hobble out when I'm done with your legs."

"F-fuckin' bitch is psycho! C-come on…l-l-let's go man," the green haired guy said as he tapped his friend on the arm. The bald guy was eager in his agreement to the plan, and the two turned tail and ran for it; desperately wanting to get away from whatever demon possessed that chick.

"Can't say I'm surprised." Senna huffed to herself seeing the goons leave once their leader was beaten. "Still," she walked around to the side of the crawling man "I'd say it's because you're a wuss." She then kicked the guy in the side, launching his body against the side of the brick building, before gravity allowed him to fall into a pile of trash bins unconscious.

The woman dusted her hands off amicably "Now that the trash is taking care of," she joked to herself as she looked back to the teary-eyed boy "Hey! Are you ok?" she asked as she kneeled over to look at him

"D-d-d-on't hhhh…hurt me…m-m-miss…" the smaller kid stuttered out, as he started to scoot back from her to run away, his hand diving into his pocket to fish out some money to bribe the girl off "H-h-here take it" he pulled out a fist full of paper and coins "…t-take a-all of it! Just leave me alone." He yelled as he threw the money at her feat before running off in terror

"No, wait! Stop!" she called as she took a step forward, but stopped seeing he was long gone "Darn." She looked down at the money in front of her

'_**Hey, might as well take it, finders keepers.'**_ Dark Mirokumaru stated not seeing a problem with taking what was earned

'_I suggest if you have the opportunity to return it to him take it.'_ The good half suggested, trying to steer Senna from the path of mercenary hood

"Well…" she leaned down and put the money in her pocket "if I see him, I'll give it back otherwise it's mine." She stated finding the middle ground between the two opposites.

"Now I'm of consenting age, to be forgetting you in a cabera…" the ring tone of Senna's cell rang off in her other pocket. Absent mindedly reaching into her pocket, she opened the device and pressed the enter key to read the new text message she received

[Skool in 10, WAYN Sen? (-.-)?]

[Mov ur but or smell like a toilet!]

[BFF: M-chan (=v=)V ]

"Oh man, I'm gonna be late!" Senna yelled in a panic, as she flipped her cell phone close and ran out the alleyway, silently thanking Makoto for watching out for her.

(School gate)

A tall middle-aged man with glasses was standing in the middle of the entryway between the school gate and the school itself, a clipboard in hand. The man looked at his watch ready to close the gate exactly at seven, while the students still coming were making mad dashes to the other side of the gate, not wanting to get stuck on toilet detail.

"W-wait!" Senna yelled, as she ran down the street covered in sweat, moving as fast as her body allowed while maneuvering through the crowd of other stragglers, who either resigned themselves to their fate or were trying to force their way through like her.

The man looked up impassively at her, then glanced back down at his watch, tapping his foot quietly against the ground. When the little hand hit the seven he walked over and pressed the lever against the stone post, activating the closing mechanism of the gate.

"Oh heck no!" yelled Senna as she neared close to fifty yards away '_I refuse to be put on toilet scrubbing duty!'_

The device cranked to life and started to close, as the students hurried to the other end, Senna continued running even harder. "Come on, make it, make it, make it!" she chanted as she started moving quicker than any normal eighteen year old girl should have.

Still with time against her, she saw no other choice than to leap onto the shoulder blade of the student in front of her. Using him as a kick off point to propel herself into the air. "Sorry, Asano-san, your sacrifice won't be in vain!" she yelled as she somersaulted in the air, throwing her hands out to land on top of the gate, tossing herself over, and landed on her feet in a three point stance.

The teacher blinked impassively at the sight at the girl, who just performed an incredible feat of athleticism. He didn't so much as raise an eyebrow when she turned and looked in his direction, cheesy smile and all, as she held out her school ID card.

"I'm not late right?" she asked with a wheeze as she tried to catch her breath.

"I've seen better, but you tried." The man looked down at his clipboard with the roster, and found her name "Senna Kurosaki of class E. Arriving at 7:00.59 am. Not tardy." He then marked it down and looked back at her "Move along." He ordered while waving her off with his pen.

The girl smiled brightly and thanked him before running to the building, not wanting to waste another second. The bespectacled teacher looked back across the gate at the stunned whispering crowd. "Everyone stop gawking and lineup with your ID cards out, so I can give you a pass and set you up for punishment detail." He then looked over at the downed kid that Senna brutally used as a springboard, "Except for you. You can walk on by, Asano-san." He said as he filled out a red hall pass.

"…thank-you teacheeeer…"

(Classroom: Class E)

"Moji Kaede?" the teacher read out, as she continued to call roll from her podium.

"Present, Sensei." The called girl said as she sat down in her desk

The woman scribbled something before continuing "Hiro Kageyama?"

"Here, ma'am." The boy behind her replied

"Senna Kurosaki?" silence "Senna Kurosaki?" the tall teacher called again as she looked back to the far side window. "Abse-"

The loud banging of noise, and swift clattering of the door opening, as it raced across the track, called the attention of everyone in the room, as they saw the girl in question leaning against the door frame breathing hard, her hair a mess. The girl lifted her sweat covered face and tried to smile but was finding it difficult "P…present, Mitsuki-sensei." She wheezed out

The teacher sighed to herself, "I will allow you to enter the class as it is the first day of the new semester, though I suggest that you wake up earlier to avoid this in the future." The woman said sternly, willing to let it slide since it was the first day, and she wasn't all that different when she was their age.

'_Even though I was basically up two hours earlier than normal?'_ the girl thought with a sweat drop, as she pushed herself into the room "Of course ma'am." And went to go take her seat by the window

The teacher continued the roll call until all the students were called both the on-timers and late comers. Setting the clipboard down, the woman faced her senior students; she was going to start with introducing herself again, when someone knocked on the door. Removing herself from the podium, she walked over and opened the door to find the principal of all people standing there, his arms behind his back and ever-serious expression on his face.

Senna watched as the woman nervously stepped outside, closing the door behind her. In the classroom, the students who saw the principal started to talk amongst themselves, wondering what the strict Ada Mitsuki did to warrant the principal to come down.

"Pss, Sen." The green haired woman to the right of Senna's desk whispered, "Where were you?"

The purple haired girl stared back into the silver eyes of Makoto Yakumo. The female Kurosaki scratched the back of her neck searching for a good answer since saying 'I kicked the ass of a delinquent, and made his cronies piss themselves!' might not sit well back now that she was back in normal society. "Y-ya know, I got wrapped up at tennis practice and had to hurry to put the gear away." She lied, even though she was a member of the tennis club.

Makoto looked incredulously "What? They're making you start training already!? The school year just started!"

"Well, we didn't do too hot last season. Tokyo and our rivals Inaba really beat us down. We barely made it to the finals from what I heard." The girl leaned against her arm and let out a sigh "but it doesn't really matter I'm going to be quitting the team here soon."

"That's a bit drastic don't you think?" she asked concernedly "I mean just because you got sent to summer school for some lousy grades, and missed out on a couple of the tournaments, doesn't mean you should give it up. I mean you love to play Tennis!"

Senna nodded her head "Yeah, I do love to play it, but I have an important job to do nowadays."

"You work part time?" Makoto asked wondering when all this happened. "Why? Your dad owns a pretty successful morgue and cemetery service. He even owns the building you two live in, my mom and dad still worry about the mortgage being paid on time, so why do you need to get a job?" She was her friend she was supposed to be kept in the loop.

"It's pretty complicated." She said evasively

"Is everything ok?" Makoto asked cautiously

"Yeah, I just want to become a more responsible adult, but thanks for asking." Senna replied appreciatively, before she turned away, facing back to the front as the teacher walked back into the classroom, with a proud stride back to her podium in the front of the room.

"Alright Class settle down. And those of you who got out of their seat -and you know who you are- please return back to them." The instructor paused for minute, as some people silent got up from their chair and returned to their assigned position "Thank-you. Now today we are going to be having two new students join our numbers. From what I've been told, they're from our sister town just west of us, Inaba. I will expect you all to treat them with respect, as this seems to be their first time in a big city."

'_New kids?'_ Senna asked herself, as new seniors were a very rare thing. She moved her eyes over to Uryu in the second row of people, and saw him glancing back at her with an equally confused expression.

"You may come in now." The teacher ordered. The individuals walked into the room passing by the first row of desks, they stopped in front of the podium, standing side by side, Senna and Uryu's jaws dropped.

The one on the student's left hand side was a tall brown-eyed guy with bright orange hair, peach colored skin, and a confident smile. He wore a short-sleeved white dress shirt that showed off his biceps and triceps, as well as school regulated Khaki pants. The only things that stood out aside from his hair, was his red and black tennis shoes.

On the right of the man was a smaller girl with dark navy blue hair, creamy white skin and a perpetual frown on her face, almost as if she hated to be where she was at the moment. Sticking out behind the girl was a single trail of hair that was wrapped up by some kind of white bandage. She was wearing a small white shirt and a brown skirt that went down to her kneecaps, and had a pair of leather gloves and running shoes.

The pair continued to stand there for a few seconds scanning the room, giving a mental nod towards Uryu and finally resting on their target: Senna.

When the pair made eye contact with Senna, the girl couldn't help, but sweat drop at the mental message they were sending with their eyes

S: You tell anyone on the other side about this, and you die Senna; sister-in-law or not.

I: We need to talk on the roof later.

The teacher coughed audibly to break the silent treatment between the incoming and current students. "Well, how about you two write your name on the blackboard, and then introduce yourselves before answer a few questions, so we can get to know you."

"Gotcha Sensei."

"Very well."

The two walked around the desk and picked up the small piece of chalk and brought it against the board, then started to write out their name in large Kanji. After a minute or so, the pair stepped back so that they could let the class see the names transcribed.

"As you can see my name is Ichigo Sanada, but Ichigo works fine for me." He said in a welcoming tone, which puzzled some since his face and general build reminded them of a thug.

"Shaolin Date, though I'd prefer Date-san, Sensei." She said coldly, which sent a shiver through a couple of people, practically daring them to call her otherwise.

"Hmm…those last names…are you by chance related to either Masamune Date or Yukimura Sanada?" the teacher asked enthusiastically, this being her first opportunity with having someone connected to her love of history

"Well, if you were to get down to it, we're all connected to one another eventually." Ichigo answered evasively, trying to avoid pressing the question further. Since the eighth and ninth seat of squad eleven would probably drop on down to have a word with them for using their name without permission, and then lying about it. "But Yukimura is an ancestor; though more along my cousin's side, then my own."

The crowd seemed to accept the answer, and it was then that the eyes shifted to the clearly racially different woman. Sensing the shift the woman opened her mouth to explain, "My grandmother ended up marrying into the Date clan, long before my mother was born, and my father seemed to believe that my grandfather was a direct descendant and took my mother's last name." Shaolin stated calmly, allowing it to also explain her clear difference in ethnicity.

"I see well it is good to have you. So tell us about yourselves, and answer just a few questions while I add you to the roster and give you a seat." She then turned back to her podium leaving the Shinigami to the mass of students

"Ok," Ichigo started jumping at the chance to give an introduction, this time without a cross-examination and grading of it. "I'm a senior in high school like everyone else here, and I previously attended one of the smaller school in the Inaba district, probably never even heard of, so I guess you could say I'm a country-bumpkin. As for my likes…Well, I like a lot of things such as going to festivals, hanging out with friends, being with my family, eating meat buns and practicing kendo. Any questions?" he asked as he looked over the classroom

"Who the heck named you? Isn't Ichigo a woman's name?" a thin smirking student in the back asked, as he leaned lazily against his desk while his buddies snickered beside him.

Ichigo twitched and had to fight the urge to go over and wallop him, "Not necessarily," He said restrainedly though the other three spiritual aware being heard him mutter 'you prick.' very quietly at the end

A brunette girl with red oval glasses raised her hand, and within a few seconds succeeded in getting his attention as indicated by him pointing at her "You said that you do kendo, are you any good? Have you been in any competitions?"

'_If fighting an army of Shinigami counts as competition; then sure.' _He said quietly in his head, and then spoke up to answer her "If you mean professional competitions against other people from other Dojos or majorly sponsored tournaments then no, haven't got around to it yet."

"But are you any good?" she asked since the Kendo team could use a semi-decent member

"I'm pretty good when it comes to working with my hands." He answered back,

"I see." commented Uryu, as he rose up from his desk and walked over to Ichigo, placing a hand on his shoulders while his glasses shined with a mischievous glare of light. "Would you consider joining the sewing club? We could use an extra pair of skilled hands." He proposed getting a bunch of laughs from the students at seeing the sewing specialist try a recruitment slogan on the newcomer.

"No, thanks." Ichigo declined politely, even though the both of them knew he meant 'Fuck you and go to hell Ishida.'

"Such a shame. You would have looked nice in my custom made apron." The Quincy said, with an audible smirk in his voice as he sat back down, enjoying the shot of frustration from the Shinigami.

"Your turn." Ichigo said to his wife, who looked no less pleased, since given her background wouldn't know what to say that seemed normal…or polite for modern society.

"Fine." She muttered as she took a step forward and spoke louder to address the crowd "If you must know something about me, I too went to school alongside Ichigo here back in Inaba. Before you ask, I don't feel like sharing what school was like. I am also some-what of a vegetarian, as I don't like most meat, though fish is acceptable. Some of the things I like are reading novels, practicing and training-in martial arts, peace and quiet, and my 'family'." She recited mostly grumpily, though softening up near the ending, before reverting back to Tsun mode "May I take my seat now Sensei or is there something you wish to ask?"

The students sweat dropped at her unfriendly attitude, which even the teacher had to wonder what made her so snippy in her way of speaking "In a moment you need to answer a question or two, then I'll give you your assigned seats."

The displeased woman looked back over the crowd, her dislike in being in front of such an assembly easy to tell, but the students complied, at least to get the frowning woman out of their sight.

"So you called Ichigo-san by his first name," a white haired teen declared from the back "Does that mean you guys are close or somethin'?" he asked since he didn't know if that was a respect issue or not

The woman's mounting irritation from being forced to do this was wearing on her thin level of patience "I don't wish to answer such a question." She said roughly, not wishing to divulge such information and move the process along quicker. "Next?" she asked as her silver eyes left the peeved guy, for the next insipid question.

A devious thought flipped through Senna's mind and she lazily raised her arm into the air, a large grin on her face. The cold captain stared in wonder for a second, tempted to ignore her for someone else, but when no one else raised their hand, like she might have hoped, she pointed to the grinning girl "Go."

"Come on, loosen up. We won't tell anyone!" she exclaimed to put the woman on the spot, having used minute amounts of her spiritual power to keep all the other student's hands down.

The older woman bristled under the heckling, but returned just as snarky deciding to humor her "Hah, Kurosaki-san. Last I heard you were attending cram school, before you paid a visit. Truly, I'm shocked and amazed that you were able to avoid being held back you slacker." She replied as electricity seemed to shoot between the two of them, both knowing they were gonna have fun later on.

"You two know each other?" Makoto couldn't help but ask, which caused Senna to break away from the staring contest and give a shy look at her friend, not sure how to explain it.

Thankfully, the teacher decided to cut in; before, anything happen between the frowning girl and the majority of the class. "Well since you seem to know each other so much, Ichigo-san, Date-san, please take the chairs directly behind Kurosaki-san. Kurosaki-san, could you please go get two books from the bookshelf, and let them borrow it until they can get one from the library later on?"

"Yes, ma'am." Senna said as she got up to grab the literary pieces, as the two Shinigami took their seats behind the woman. After being handed the books, the teacher opened her book, and asked the students to crack up to first chapter, then dived head long into the lesson.

The woman kept reciting and reading, as the students copied down whatever notes were written on the blackboard, until a loud low chiming of the school bell announced to the students and teachers it was time for lunch break. "Alright everyone, close your books-"

She didn't get to finish as Senna grabbed Ichigo and Shaolin's hand before zooming out the door unto the roof, kicking up a large cloud of dust as she retreated into the distance. The teacher blinked dumbly as her hair was thrown to one side "L-lunch time." She stuttered out

(Roof)

The door to the rooftop was violently kicked open, as the panicked tennis player threw her charges unto the roof; before, turning around and locking the door, a precaution to make sure no one eavesdropped. "What are you guys doing here? Has something happened!?" she asked quickly, as the two got up from their crouched positions, recovering from the sudden throw and previous whip-lash from being plucked from their seats.

"What are we doing here?" Shaolin repeated as she dusted herself off beside her partner, "We're on a mission of course. One that pertains to our war against Sosuke Aizen."

Senna's eyes widened, then she nodded her head in understanding "I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary over here, just small fry hollow." She reported hoping to give them any helpful information

"Yeah, we know." said Ichigo as he dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a tablet-like device.

As Ichigo began to fiddle with it, Shaolin spoke up in his stead "The mission we're on is the safe evacuation of Karakura Town into Seireitei. As you know already we're going to fight Aizen, and we can't allow the other humans to be affected by it, lest more chance of human becoming more spiritual aware occur. Especially since he'll have legions of hollows at his side, the aware humans would just be open season for them."

"So how exactly are you going to be moving the entire town without anyone knowing?" Senna asked since, it would put a major hick up in the plan of stopping spiritual awareness if everyone was thrown into the spiritual rich world of Seireitei and then gained said awareness.

"It's not really our department, but it's been underway for a while, though you probably missed the memo being here in the human world. But I'll try to give you the gist of it. What was ultimately decided after the reconstruction efforts were completed was to send a couple of Shinigami to locate areas in the city with the highest concentration of spiritual power and prep them for us to use as anchor points to bring this area into our world. We're going to launch a pre-emptive strike against Aizen and his forces soon, and just in case he takes notice of us and tries something, we've got the guarantee for the next 48 hours we have the go ahead to use full force, at least until the limiter seals kick in again."

The man stopped for a second, as he glanced over some information that appeared on his device, before relaying forward with a few button presses. Once he was done, he continued his explanation. "By covering all our bases now, and making sure everything goes smoothly, when the time comes we'll be able to fight uninhibitedly either in Hueco Mundo, the world of the hollows, and in the material world."

"Ok, I think I understand, so last question then." Senna said patiently "If the reconstruction effort is done and Seireitei is back on its feet, then why don't you all simply mobilize most of your forces to attack Aizen while he's still in that Waco-something place, you know before he even gets the chance to reach the human world?"

"There are a lot of reasons but I'll keep it brief." He raised one finger "Reason 1, is that if we send all of our forces after Aizen, all Aizen needs to do to beat us is send maybe a single hollow into Seireitei; which would destroy our home and doom the afterlife, as all souls on that end will become that hollows meat snack. So by the time we get back, we might have a problem much bigger than Aizen ever was."

The man held up a second finger "Reason 2, is because we have an idea as to what Aizen wants. Urahara figured out what it is Aizen was looking for, which is a device called the O-ken or king's key. It pretty much will open the door between our world and the Shinigami king. Unfortunately, from what records can show, from both the library and restricted sections of the Central forty-six, the key can be made using a special process, which gets to the grisly part. In order to make this device, a lot of people from a spiritually enriched area are needed to be used as a sacrifice."

The girl frowned "How much is 'a lot of people' exactly?"

The man bit his cheek "Saaaay everyone inside the city limits of Karakura town and possibly a little ways outwards." He answered alarming the girl "Those sacrificed will be removed from the cycle of re-incarnation forever, allowing Aizen the chance to achieve his ambition by reaching the king and taking over his position, and all the power that comes with it. So by moving Karakura town into Soul Society we knock out reason one and two, because Aizen won't risk something happening to the city, at least not yet."

"Alright, I'm following now. So what can I do to help? I can only assume you're here at school because you wanted to speak to me about something else."

Shaolin nodded her head in agreement "Yes, not only were we selected for this mission because of our particular affinity for suppressing our power and catch enemies off guard, but because we know who you are and how to quickly locate you. That leaves the rendezvous portion of this mission completed." She then turned to Ichigo, "This next part of our task also concerns you too Ichigo," she said which made the man look at her "Urahara-baka wants to see the both of you for something. The Sou-taicho did not say for what when he gave me my orders, but it must be important, so we should get a move on."

"Ass-hat?" Senna piped in surprise, still not giving the guy any respect even if he was a genius "Why didn't he bring this up sooner, like in the last three weeks we've been back here?"

"He was working very closely with our various strategists, and helping to devise a sound battle plan to deal with Aizen. Though, I doubt you would have noticed him missing given the nature of your current livelihood."

Senna winced at his words "Yeah," she then looked back at her two escorts "So can we go now? I have my substitute badge you gave me."

Ichigo shook his head "We can go now, but Urahara requested that you come in your body. Probably because our cover might get blown if you flare up your energy."

"Your cover is going to get blown? I thought you had a plan in place?" Senna pointed out

The man nodded agreeably "We do, but we're not actively trying to get Aizen's attention here. We need to buy as much time as possible to maximize the success ratio of our future assault operation, and kept a back-up plan just in case. I'd certainly rather fight a few more hollows that Aizen may have recruited in the time being, over having to be careful of whether or not a Getsuga is gonna destroy a building full of civilians outside the expected combat zone barrier."

The girl scrunched her face up "Oh." She muttered seeing his point.

"That's why we're going to go down this way." Shaolin said as she walked to the edge of the building, an excited smirk on her face.

Senna walked over to the edge and peered at the roof top just a ways away after about a five foot gap. The woman backed up half a step in fear "A-are you guys sure? I mean, I know I can do a bunch of cool stuff outside of my body, and even a few things inside it like dia, but…that's going to hurt, a lot, if I fall from up here. And you two are in Gigais, which are supposed to limit your abilities, are you gonna be able to jump that?"

"Hah." The captain laughed as she turned around to face Senna only to back flip off the building and then land squarely on the other rooftop below. "Tell me you're not really scared of a little fall? Don't you want to live!?"

Senna's mouth dropped a bit before she hung her head, unable to hold back the smile that crept on her lips. "Yeah, I wanna live." She said as she picked herself back up and jumped off the roof after her mentor

Ichigo watched the action and mentally shook his head "If you really wanted to live, I don't think jumping off a roof is the best way to show it, but whatever." He deadpanned

After getting unto the next roof, the team went down the fire escape and hit the streets back to the Urahara Shoten. They arrived well within the hour to the eccentric genius humble abode, upon approaching within a couple of feet to the door, it slide open revealing the handsome blonde man as he leaned against the Shoji door, with a cool expression "Never thought I'd see you guys so soon."

"Didn't you want us to be here?" Ichigo asked

"Yeah, I did, but it could have waited till Senna was actually released from school." The owner said as he pushed himself off "Oh well, you're here now, come on in. We've got a lot to talk about." He said throwing his arm over his shoulder in a beckoning motion forward.

The team walked behind the man, ignoring the neon lights of the floor arrows, having gotten used to walking in and out of the shop as frequently as they did. Soifon however was a bit displeased with all this, "Not a single sentry or guard in position to intercept intruders, and you opt to broadcast your name at the top of the building. How in the word did no one in Soul Society find this place before Ichigo?"

"The reason is: I planted a device on the sign so the words written up above scramble themselves when it senses the spiritual power of a Shinigami and we also tend to wear a special device that prevents people from sensing us anyway, though i've already taken it down. However, in the interests in your question, one of the things I'm going to address will explain why Ichigo and Senna can read the sign as easily as Ururu." He said as he stopped and slid open the nearest door revealing the large table with a couple of chairs and a projector in the center.

Kisuke then asked everyone to take a seat while he prepped everything. After dimming the lights he turned the projector on which revealed a diagram with a silhouette of a male and female body side by side. "Alright, I'm glad you were able to come as quickly as you did. Now, I'm going to start things off by answering your question from back in the hallway." He said using the captain's question as a starting point for all of this "Now as I said, Shinigami who read the sign can't see my name because it get's scrambled up, like an anagram. So what that means for you two is that you aren't entirely Shinigami."

A resounding 'What?' was heard throughout the room, as they all looked incredulously at the scientist; who merely clicked to the next slide on the projector and pointed to the bodies, which had arrows and text beside it. "Believe it, you guys. You two aren't Shinigami, at least not fully. I wasn't able to figure it out until Ichigo had started training for Bankai when I saw his doppelganger. It was then that I pieced together that the creature was an inner hollow, which meant that the reason they could read it normally was because of the hollow parts inside them."

"Wait, wait, slow down for a second." Shaolin interrupted "So what you're trying to saying is that Ichigo and Senna are part Hollow AND Shinigami? Is that…even possible?"

"I'll do this one at a time. For the first part yeah. Ichigo and Senna have the ability to tap into hollow powers. I don't know how, since the only way I could logically think of someone able to tap into that power would need to use the Hogyoku, but they could very well do it. For the question of possibility, it's very possible. In fact, it's already been done before, which is why I called over a guest who should be here in a little bit."

"Hold up." requested Ichigo raising two fingers up to catch Kisuke's attention "If we're not entirely Shinigami then why is it that we didn't discover Senna until when we did. We should have felt something. Actually now that I think about why does Senna have a real body to begin with? I have to use a Gigai when I come here but she's always had her body."

"An excellent question Mr. Kurosaki, and to wit, I must admit it baffled me for a long time, that conundrum easily ranked right up there with my crossword puzzles. I simply could not create a single plausible theory to answer that question. That was _until_ I looked over the notes Tessai handed me in regards to her body." He informed as he pointed to the female body and it enlarged it.

"What Senna's body was in was a Gigai." He declared confidently "But this thing was way and I mean _waaaay_ more advanced then the shell I gave Rukia. A normal Gigai is only really suited to be used for several weeks, two or three months the latest, but from what I've found out after poking around, her Gigai has been in use for the past 15-16 years. Not only that, but, unlike most Gigai that just takes the shape of the user who put it on, this one is far more specific. This body becomes specifically geared towards that person, shedding all the rigidness of movement in Shinigami who inhabit it, making it feel like you're just wearing a thin layer of clothing. In addition, it also simulates the common bodily function of a normal person: a stomach that gurgles when you're hungry. Bladder urges when you drink too much liquid. Exhaustion sets in when the muscles gets used for extended lengths of time. The list goes on and on, but while it can mimic these human functions perfectly, what separates it from a normal body is simple: it won't ever die."

"It…won't die?" Shaolin asked confusedly

"Yeah, it's crazy. In the time that we were gone to Soul Society, Tessai had on multiple occasions tried to inject essential vitamins and minerals into the body, to keep you alive per normality; but instead, he found that not once did the body have an actual need for it while you were gone. It was like…it was in suspended animation, a death-like slumber if you would, but for untrained personnel it seemed like your bodily functions ceased their processes. In laymen terms you would appear to have died. As for the construction of the body itself I can only say I don't really know."

The man took his hat off and scratched his shaggy hair "I don't know what the ratio of materials used for was or what specific kinds of materials were used, never mind the melding process that needed to occur. That perfect Gigai is a ninety-five percent question mark to me, but on the bright side I have been able to deduce one important ingredient in the make-up of your body." The man exclaimed drawing his audience in as he prepared to announce his finding.

"Seki Seki rock. And it had to be in minute traces to prevent your body from breaking down in it's entirety, and do any of you what to guess where it is?" he asked rhetorically to them, as he touched the woman's head and the image of Senna filtered in "The irises of your eyes. The outer most area in between your sclera and pupil has a thin layer of Seki Seki encasing it, giving it that lovely amber hue we all see every day. I got to say it's pretty wild, whoever made this not only knew what the hell they were doing, but they needed to have a lot of time on his or her hands to be able to construct your Gigai body, like several centuries time. This is not something you pull off after thirty tries, kiddies."

"But my eyes are still amber even after I became a Shinigami."

"True, your eye color could just happen to be the same color but…" the man spoke in a more serious tone "Don't your eyes change colors when your inner hollow start to control your body?"

The question instantly floored both Ichigo and Senna, as both of them had been able to notice a changing in their eyes color whenever they were consciously or unconsciously using their hollows power alongside their own. Ichigo had merely assumed that it was just supposed to happen but recalled whenever he used it; he had relinquished temporary control to Hichigo. The orange haired man looked over and wondered what her situation was like.

Senna tilted her head "Urahara-san, I have a question."

"I'm sure you do, so shoot."

"Is it possible for our inner hollows to be connected with our Zanpaktou in anyway?" she asked, which Ichigo agreed with since both sides called themselves Zangetsu

The man brought a hand to cup his chin as he mulled it over "I suppose, but I might need more to go on."

"Well Mirokumaru has constantly said 'I am her and she is me', while that has been true and proving to be truer with each passing day, I still feel like me. But, I know I'm not the same person I was in the beginning of summer."

"In a way, I guess in your cases, you could akin your inner hollow to being like your inner ego; that's a direct opposite of your moral conscience. Now I'm just being hypothetical here, but given your and Ichigo's circumstances, let's say that these two inner hollows really are you. That would mean what you're fighting isn't only a self created monster and your dark side, but it's also a piece of your soul." The man then stroked his chin "But, for that to be true, they'd have needed to be inside you for a really long time."

"Like how long?"

"All these tough questions today." Kisuke huffed as glanced around the environment trying to come up with an answer for Ichigo "Ahhh, geez, I don't know a couple of years maybe. Hollowology isn't my field of expertise. You two would know better than me, their inside you."

"What's it matter?" another voice said from behind the crowd "They still need to be dealt with at the end of the day."

Turning to the source, they saw a blond man with a slack-jawed expression and brown cabbie cap on his head. He was wearing a rusted tan long sleeve shirt and black pants with a sword at his hip.

Shaolin looked curiously at the man while Kisuke spoke up "Ah, Shinji so glad you could make it. Things going well at the hideout?"

"Yeah, I guess things are great, or as good as it's gonna get." The man tilted his neck and scratched just below his chin leaving one eye to face back at them "So these are the two? The guy doesn't look like much…" he then walked up to Senna, ignoring the glare sent by Ichigo. The blond man clasped Senna's hand and dropped to one knee like a knight would. "Hello my lovely. I am Hirako Shinji." he then raised his head and stared into her amber eyes "Will you go out with me?"

Senna's face lit up at his word "H-huh?" the woman replied with a startle.

The gesture was short lived, as the man was promptly removed from Senna's grasp, courtesy of Ichigo kicking the man in the head knocking him clear over. "Stay away from her cabbie boy!" Ichigo yelled as he pointed at the fallen Vizard

Shinji picked his head up and looked to the guy and brought a finger underneath his chin observantly, then got up and dusted himself off, before turning around no longer facing them "(Sigh) my first love stolen away…Netorare (1) at it's worse." he whispered depressively as he started to make his way to the door.

'_Good lord another Kisuke/Ass-hat/Urahara-baka…'_ the trio concluded with a sweat drop as Kisuke convinced the man to come back and not write them off just yet.

"So," the blond man said as he pointed to Ichigo and Senna "You must be the ones with the hollow problem, am I right?" The two nodded their head, as Hirako looked back to Kisuke "You didn't tell me that they worked for Soul Society."

Kisuke closed his eyes and turned away slightly "We both know you would have been reluctant in coming. In fact, let's be perfectly honest, the only reason you listened to my request was because you'll get back at Aizen, and these two could possibly lead to a cure to reverse the process."

"Wait, we're going to be used like Guinea pigs?" Senna yelled as she looked sharply at the blond genius

"Now don't blow things out of proportion." He chided, "First off, if any experimenting is going to be done on your body. I'll be the one to do it. I don't trust certain researchers to look out for your safety." He alluded to Mayuri Kurotsuchi "Secondly, we don't have a lot of options. We need all the strength we can muster, and you two are the only ones outside of their group who can gain their power."

"That's a bit assumptious of whether we actually decide to let them in. Remember, I might be the self-appointed leader but there are other members who have a good say on things too." Shinji reminded as he cleaned his ear out. The man faced back to the door "anyway come along so I can slam the door in your face or welcome you into the fold."

The two women looked at Ichigo who glanced back to Kisuke who made a motion with his head telling them to follow the man. The trio took a step forward when Hirako stopped and pulled his sword out and pointed in the direction of Soifon "You. Stay." He commanded in a harsh tone "The two kids can come, but no way am I just gonna let any old reaper into our base."

"It's alright, Shinji." Kisuke cut in "Yoruichi trust her to keep quiet about the whole thing should this go down south. Besides, you should think of this as a token gesture of good faith in our alliance with Soul Society."

"Your damn favors are starting to wear on my patience." The other blond man replied briskly "As for good faith in Soul Society. I could give a rat's ass. Only reason I considered this was because, I wanted revenge and thought if there was a way to reverse the process for any takers I should take it, it's the only reason I bother to keep in contact with you aside from owning you my life."

The scientist wiped out his fan in front of him "Well, glad to see I'm not making any more enemies." He said jovially which didn't help dispel the tenseness of the situation "Either way, just do what you said and as for them, try not to kill them." The man turned back around "They're no good to us dead."

The man narrowed his eyes, and then shook his head dismissively seemingly giving up…for now. "Yeah, yeah." He then opened an eye at the trio "Come on. Let's go before Hiyori starts to make another ruckus about something else."

As the sound of footsteps began to patter against the floor, Kisuke looked back to the retreating forms of his guests. The man's gaze remained on them as he continued to analyze everything that he could before turning back to the projector showing Ichigo and Senna's silhouetted bodies _'If those two aren't able to gain control of those hollows our game plan is gonna go down the drain real fast.'_

(Outside the Shoten)

The three Shinigami followed the ex-Taicho of six outside, a little leery about him. The blonde man didn't particularly mind and beckoned them over to a small car. When all of them entered, they took off.

The car ride was silent as any chatter was effectively cut since the team didn't want to talk about Shinji within earshot at least just yet. As the two soul reapers in the back seat allowed their eyes to drift to the sights of Karakura, Senna kept her eyes on the street signs, trying to figure out where they were heading.

As Hirako made a left turn at the four-way, Senna got a glance at intersection _'Left at Oobi and Wabuku. That's in the direction of the marina.'_ The woman looked over her shoulder at the other passengers, and saw them to be a little _unnerved 'Maybe Hollows don't show up on that side of town. Meaning their lost.'_ She leaned back into her chair "Clever." She whispered, while Hirako grinned at the declaration, as she figured out why the reason for why they lived near there.

Sure enough when the car came to a halt outside what seemed to be a shipping yard, the two in the back were keeping a sharp eye on the nearby rooftops. "Everyone out." Hirako ordered as he killed the engine and stepped out of the car. The man in took a breath of fresh air savoring the moment of peace and quiet which would soon be ruined once he hit plot number 117.

Sticking his hands in his pocket he slandered off at a leisurely pace, his ears picking up the sounds of the three individuals following behind him, unaware of what they were thinking about this situation involving the Kurosaki's and Hirako's group.

Turning the corner around a warehouse, they arrived in front of a large blue warehouse with a metal door. The blonde tour guide turned around to the three reapers "Alright, now remember you can't say jack squat about this place to anyone got that?" he reminded looking squarely at Soifon "You go back on your word and we'll drop you like a fly." He then forcibly changed his serious face into an unnerving smile "as for you two, welcome to your worst nightmare." He bent over and put his hand against the latch "let's get you acquainted with your tormenters." and lifted it up.

With a loud rumble the large door swung backward on it's tracks, letting the sunlight into the dark warehouse. The silence was short lived as a female voice spoke up from inside the building "About frickin time you got back. What did blonde want? Sell us more junk?"

"Nah." he replied in a irritable tone, as he cast his gaze up to the metal grates hanging overhead. "Anyway, get your butt over here Hiyori while I go get the rest of the gang."

On the word, a small woman with blond hair jumped down from the metal holding landing on all fours. The girl was about Soifon's height with freckles on her face and her hair done in pigtails. She was wearing a red windbreaker and white shorts, and brown sandals on her feet. Slung over her shoulder was a blade the trio recognized as a Zanpaktou due to the reiatsu emanating from it.

The new arrival looked to the three, her face turning into a sour snarl, "Uh, can you be helped?" she asked grumpily, her eyes narrowing "If not get lost."

"Don't chase them off just yet." Shinji replied as he moved on by. He only got about two feet around Hiyori when she took her sandal off and clocked him in the back of his head "And you! What the fuck!? At least explain to me why you brought some spiritually aware human's here while you're still handy!"

The man let out a groan as he nursed his head wound "Ugh, geez, I just said watch them till I get everyone else up and attem. Can't you do that before you flip out!?" he yelled back

"No, you didn't! You just volunteered me for something and didn't bother to ask me!"

"Oh? Like you volunteered me to go clean up the barrels of oil that spilled all over the place because someone decided to play 'kick the can' while everyone else was busy doing something!"

"Oh, you mean that social outing you forgot to mention? The one everyone would be going out to shortly after you sent me to that moron Kisuke's to get your latest cabbie hat; because, you can't take care of your own shit! Fucking ace leader! You're really on top of things!" She snapped back with a mocking clap for his achievements

Surprisingly, Senna broke up the argument "You don't really seem to like Kisuke do you, uh Hiyori-san was it?" she interjected

The woman looked back at Senna with distrust, but answered all the same "Hmph! That guy is just a stupid fidgety moron in need of good hair cut." She barked as she crossed her arms in front of her, still not liking the man even though she had worked alongside him at one point.

Unbeknownst to Ichigo, Shinji and Hiyori, the dark haired duo looked at each other, in silent agreement, before both women walked forward and placed a hand unto each of Hiyori's shoulder. Then in total dead seriousness spoke in unisonance "If you hate Kisuke as much as we do, you should definitely join our K.A.T club."

"Cat club?" She stumbled out wearily, while Ichigo let out an exasperated sigh as Shaolin launched into her introduction.

"K.A.T. stands for Kisuke Annihilation Team. It's a special club created by us, whose goal is to find women who have been wronged by that lazy bastard, and acquire their assistance in destroying that vulgar man."

"Really?" Hiyori asked with a very large grin on her face "Why don't you tell me about your personal experiences? Let's shoot the breeze a little."

"Gladly." Senna replied with an amicable smile "I was sexually molested by that man. He touched me in inappropriate places and made me wear risqué garments all under the disguise of 'training'.

"Yeah, I could totally seem him doing that." Hiyori replied, with an understanding nod

"Ahhh…Senna, why are you saying that in such a misleading way? You told me he told you to do that, and that the clothing, while fake, was to protect you." Ichigo said aloud, though it fell on deaf ears as they ignored his outburst.

Now it was Shaolin's turn "That despicable man shirked off his duties, and I was forced to follow him and ensure he was doing his job."

He pointed out "No, he didn't; you volunteered…" again ignored…

"He then took my oldest friend, and brainwashed her into then causing massive amounts of public damage to her name, and now currently holds her against her will."

"That's really skewing the truth you know." Ichigo responded with a sideways glance, and true to form he was ignored for a third time.

"That bastard!" Hiyori yelled feeling extremely angered at what had happened to them do that ignoramus. "Fine, I'm in!"

Unsurprisingly Ichigo let out a battered sigh "A sucker born every minute."

It was now that Shaolin chose to stop ignoring him "Hey, this is proof enough that Kisuke Urahara is the number one enemy of all female kind. He must face his judgment for all his wrongs doings" She answered full of self-righteousness, while Ichigo only deadpanned

"And what about that twisted perception about Yoruichi?" he begged the question "Please explain that."

The captain huffed and looked away grumpily "Mind control. That's the only answer as to why Yoruichi would ever hang around that man. No, he doesn't even deserve to be called a man! That brute, that ape!" she grumbled angrily

Before things could carry on any further, Shinji walked back to the group, apparently having left when the whole thing started. "Hey Hiyori, where the hell is everyone?"

The woman looked back over her shoulder "They all said they had things to do, so they all went out. Don't know when they'll be back." She answered rather uncaringly

"What the fuck!" He muttered as his hand covered his eyes, "I tell them we got important guests coming and they decide to have a night off. Jeez…" he then removed his hand and gave them all an even look "Alright look. I don't want to risk tempting your hollows out. So we'll have to do this another day."

"Can't we just wait for them to return?" Shaolin asked the first sensible question on her mind

"Can't risk it." Shinji replied, "Some amongst us are easily excited, and if they see someone they don't know, they'll kill 'em without a second thought which we can't have." He then placed a hand against his chin contemplatively "and this is of course, not even throwing in telling them you bunch are from Soul Society."

The trio had a puzzled look on their face, not understanding the man's animosity for their home country, though Soifon had a nagging feeling about the two blond haired individuals. Before another question could be thrown out, the guy continued "But there is a way to avoid that stigma, and get them on your side." He said leading them unto the proposition he wanted, for their own safety.

"And that is?" Ichigo responded

"Leave Soul Society, and become fugitives." He proposed flatly, while the trio looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Why should they do such a thing!?" Shaolin yelled against his plan

"Gives us a damn good reason why we should consider that!?" Senna yelled just as hotly

Ichigo shot the man an incredulous look "What do you hope to gain from us doing that?" he asked probing for something to get an understanding of what this guy was about.

The blond man gave a bored look to all of them, and spoke with an undertone of irritation "Reason being, if you guys do that, you'll have nowhere to run and can't afford to rat us out. And if you do rat us out to that place, we'll let those hollows of your eat you from the inside out, and if by some miracle you get it under your control, a process you know nothing about, we won't interfere with your fight against Aizen, because that was problem borne and created of Soul Society."

"What's your problem with Soul Society?"

"My problem is none of your concern. I'm just looking out for my group." The blond man then turned around and beckoned for Hiyori to come with him, apparently finished speaking with them. He took a few step, before he stopped and looking over his shoulder, staring at them square in the eye. "If you really must know my problem is that they don't accept people different from them. They don't accept people who are radical in their ideas. And they don't accept people who could possibly be stronger than their establishment."

"I don't get it…" Senna replied with a small frown

Putting an end to his round-about way of speaking he cut to the point "Soul Society won't accept you two because what you carry can only be described as a taint. Hollow powers are consider taboo, a blatant insult to the ancient pride of the race. Not only that but due to its unstable nature on individuals, you two will be looked at as walking powder kegs ready to go off and slaughter every man, woman and child in the Soul Society.

"That's not true!" Senna shot back, missing the guilty look from Soifon

"They can and they will kiddo. If you don't believe me, let's ask." Came Hirako's rebuttal. He then turned to the local official "Tell me Captain, in a hypothetical scenario not involving the individuals present: Would you voluntarily let a possible volatile situation or individual go unchecked, which could very easily destroy everyone and everything you're trying to protect?"

A small pained grunt escaped from the woman's throat, she knew that she, or any captain for that matter, wouldn't allow it without some kind of assurance or personal experience with said individual. Turning her eyes away, she gave a silent but solemn 'no'

"Didn't think so." He mocked "For Soul Society, you two are nothing more than attack dogs. Once Aizen is killed, and the aftermath is dealt with, who do you think they're going to turn to next? It's simple. The ones who spear-headed the war and killed Aizen, the abominations with Hollow and Shinigami powers." He then walked on to the back of the building "Come back another time and let me know what you've decided to do. You know where to find us." The two then disappeared in a flash step, leaving the trio alone in the warehouse.

A dark silence fell over them at the man's accusations, his statements not completely unfounded, due to the Quincy extermination operations done a number of years ago, all for the 'greater good' of the afterlife as Soul society said.

Unable to let herself think on it anymore, Senna spoke up trying to lighten the mood "Hey…why don't we go back to my place. I don't think we should argue about what he said right now. We should rest up, so we can tackle it in the morning when we're thinking clearly."

The couple nodded their head silently, letting the matter drop. As they started to head out from the docks, Ichigo asked the all-important question "So…how are we going to get back exactly?" he asked curiously of Senna, who was walking at the front of the group

The girl heard him though she kept her eyes firmly towards the hill that led up to the street. "Some parts of Japan have strict motor vehicle gas emission laws, while others would simply be too crowded for everyone to own a car and drive. So most of the big cities have a public transit; like bullet trains and trams." She then looked back with an easy look "The shipyard is a busy place because of all the things coming and going, so there's probably a bus stop nearby for the workers."

"Rather efficient." Shaolin commented as they made their way up the paved hill "But Ichigo and I have these Gigai, and no human world currency on us. I doubt this 'bus' is a free ride for just anybody."

"Nope. Not in the least, BUT!" she then reached into her pocket and pulled out a small wallet "I have a student bus pass, which lets me get three free-rides a day. So we'll be able to get on just fine."

As they reached the top of the inclination, they spotted a glass enclosure with a bench in the middle. Senna informed them that that was the spot they were looking for. Crossing the street, they sat down and waited, until the loud echo of the transit bus could be heard. Coming from around the corner the large elongated machine pulled up beside the bus stop and parked lowering down to let it's new guest come in.

"Here's our ride." Senna said as she reached up to clasp the guardrail. Her friendly expression changed to puzzlement when she saw a rather wary looking Shaolin giving the bus a hesitant once over "Are you ok?"

The woman moved her eyes away "I…uh..think I'll walk." She muttered

"Walk?" the Kurosaki's quoted skeptically

A small mumble of 'Yeah' was heard.

"Are you nuts!?" Senna asked incredulously "Even if Karakura is small compared to a big city like Tokyo, you can't just walk from one side of the city to the other on foot!"

"You wouldn't know that if you tried Senna…"

Senna glanced away since she was right in having never walked it "Well…maybe so. But there's no benefit to it!"

"Exercise is always necessary to maintaining good health." The captain replied matter-of factly

"Why do you need exercise!?" she practically screamed at the martial artist

"This wouldn't benefit you in the slightest Lin-chan." Ichigo cut-in between the pair

The bluenette shot an ugly look at Ichigo "Shut UP Ichigo." She muttered before looking back to the rumbling behemoth behind him "That thing…is growling at us."

"Wha?/huh?"

The Kurosaki pair glanced at each other confusedly before looking back at Soifon with a scrutinizing gaze. The woman blinked and took a step back unused to such treatment before she watched them burst out into a fit of laughter.

"I can't believe this you're scared! Ahaha." Ichigo yipped

"Am not!" the woman shot back defiantly "i-it's just I don't like being confined in small crowded areas, and walking really is good for you."

"Whaaaateeeevvvver!" Senna shot down playfully "You looked ready to run after seeing it pull up!"

"I'm a captain! I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Except a bus." She quickly reminded

The driver having stopped for the past minute and a half looked over and said, "Look if you're not getting on then step away. I have plenty more stops to do."

"Alright. Alright." Ichigo hollered, before he looked back at Shaolin "I know this is a new thing for you, but it's not all that different from a car. It's just bigger."

"F-fine." She answered unsuredily putting aside her hesitation to board the large roaring steel beast. After climbing up the stair she wrapped both arms around Ichigo's arm, clinging rather tightly as he led her to the back while Senna paid the ride. When Senna walked to the back, she snickered to herself as she watched the shaking captain continue to hug unto her brother desperately. _'I got an idea.'_ She thought deviously as she pulled her cell-phone and powered up her camera feature for this once in a life opportunity to see the cold captain of squad two absolutely terrified over a common thing.

After taking the photo and mentally reminding herself to show it to Unohana later on, she proceeded to take her seat beside two of her favorite people. The bus's engine let out another loud roar much to Shaolin's displeasure and lumbered on forward to the next stop.

The clunky shuffling of the vehicle created a nauseating sensation for Soifon. Her highly trained skills in reaction time was offset by the much slower pace of speed at which she was traveling. The constant blurring and objects passing outside the window did little to alleviate her.

Sitting beside her, Ichigo wasn't fairing much better himself. It seemed that riding on top of the bus didn't translate very well when it came to riding inside of it, which left him with the same nauseating distance-motion effect, although, he did his best not to show it, with the scared woman who was numbing his right arm from cutting the circulation.

After about a half hour ride, the bus driver announced the stop that they were supposed to get off at. Stepping off the bus Senna watched in amusement at the two Shinigami sway back and forth like drunkards unsure of their footing. With a helping hand to steady them, she beckoned them to the side of the building where the stairs were.

As they clamored up the metallic staircase, Ichigo looked over the evening skyline for any signs of movement of either allies or enemies while Senna fiddled with the lock on the door. Once she got it open, the trio entered into the studio.

Closing the door behind him, Ichigo saw not much had changed on the inside. The brown couch was still sitting in front of the mid-sized television, the kitchen and table were on the left side of the space, the T-shaped intersection at the far end still led to the two bedrooms, and the bathroom was still in the halfway point between both doors.

"Seems like your still getting along well." Ichigo commented while Shaolin looked around curiously at the humble abode.

"Of course, Ichigo." The spunky girl replied "Shaolin-chan please make yourself at home. I'll get started on dinner."

As the teen proceeded to the kitchen, Ichigo beckoned his fiancé over to the small table, as she had finished her initial sweep of the apartment. "So this is a 'normal' human world home?" she asked slightly awed at the different style from Soul Society

"Sure is."

The woman seemed pensive as she continued to examine her surroundings "Tell me Ichigo how has Senna been able to provide for herself exactly? I certainly hope she isn't using her new found abilities to steal." She asked quietly so the girl wouldn't hear, since she was under the impression that Senna wouldn't have the financial ability to provide food for herself.

"I requested my paycheck to come in the currency of yen and have been sending her my money every time I get paid. That's the reason I asked you about that raise a while back." The man then shrugged "It's not like I need the money, since my food and place to stay are paid for already. I was also lucky enough to get Urahara to supplement the money I've been sending."

The captain let out a low understanding hum, as she now understood. "I wish you had explained that to me. I have a veritable fortune that's just collecting dust."

"It's alright. I wanted to do it. I've got to take care of both of you." He waved off with a smile "So with that out of the way, what do you think of a 21st century house? Any different from 19th and 20th century homes?" he asked

"Verily, the average home in Russia couldn't compare. Judging by the proportions the home itself is certainly more spacious than my office and living quarters, but much more personal than the Fon family compound." A light smile graced her lips. "I'd say for a house in a city, it has a good mix of feeling both cozy and secluded."

Ichigo chuckled softly as he looked at Senna through the open airway in the wall "Ya hear that? Lin-chan might just move in with you."

"I would never be so rude!" The embarrassed woman quickly objected

"Ha-ha, that's fine by me. My house is your house!" The young miss replied, as she grabbed a skillet and began to pull out some ingredients from the cabinets, prepping them for the fire. "I hope you two are hungry! It's been forever since I've had guests over."

"Sure am. So what are you making?" Ichigo asked

The girl's smile grew a little more "Shrimp and Chicken Takoyaka." Senna answered happily, as she started to cook the food. Her smile then diminished when it finally occurred to her. "Oh, I'm so sorry Shaolin. I totally forgot you don't like meat. I'll fix it don't worry."

To her surprise, the Chinese woman held up her hand, "No, that's ok. In fact, I've recently started to find myself eating a bit more red meat and poultry, plus with this being the first time in nearly a century that I've been back in the human world, I'd kinda like to see what sort of you foods you make, and this 'Takoyaka' of yours sound absolutely delicious."

"Really? Great!" Senna beamed, which Ichigo mimicked, happy that the girl was willing to broaden her horizons. "I'll make this the best human world dinner ever! You definitively won't be forgetting it anytime soon!"

A warm atmosphere began to fill the small home as they continued to chat amongst themselves. Ichigo sitting back and answering all the curious questions Shaolin had of the modern world with Senna occasionally chiming in from the kitchen. When the young teen walked to the table with the food, she felt way more cheery, having wanted company instead of being in the house alone.

"And dinner is served." The chef chirped as she placed the food on the table. Once it was down, she put the plates down beside it and served her guests a portion. Once that was out of the way, she handed them their cups and gently poured some tea, before returning back to her seat. She then closed her eyes and with a kind smile said, "I hope you enjoy."

And with that Senna heard the desperate clanking of chopsticks, forks, bowls, and cups as the two individuals began to wolf down her food. In less than twenty seconds, the pair held their bowl towards Senna with a hearty cry of 'more please'. "ah umm…help…your…self?" came the amazed and horrified whisper which caused the Shinigami's to turn away and quickly grab some more food.

Senna's jaw continued to drop by the second as she saw the large bowl of food diminish faster and faster. Tearing her eyes away from the horror, she looked down to see her still untouched plate and full cup of tea. Trying to drown out the noise of the other two, Senna brought her chopsticks down and pulled up some food, only to set it back down, frowning at the sudden loss in appetite. This cruel cycle continued for several more minutes with the Shinigami pigging out on the food and Senna struggling to eat only to give up after several feeble attempts. Finally, with the large bowl of food gone, Ichigo and Soifon leaned back in their chairs contented while Senna miraculously managed to finish her first and very last bowl of food.

"Ahhhh! That was awesome Senna! Five star material there!" Ichigo said with a cheery smile wiping away any mess around his mouth with his wrist

Shaolin nodded in agreement, as she cleaned her mouth with a nearby napkin "Absolutely. That meal was simply divine."

'_I think I'm gonna hurl…'_ The teen thought to herself as her stomach contracted inside of her with a queasy groan. "N-no prob…"

Getting as far away from the gorging zone, she collected the dishes, and headed towards the kitchen to ease herself. As she entered into the kitchen, she cast a small look back at her very dear friends. Seeing their relaxed faces felt like a euphoria to the young adult, since she knew that it was her food that helped made their day just a little less stressful.

With a proud smile on her face, the young adult started to slide each dish into the dishwasher, and once it was full started it up. Looking up at the nearby clock she saw that it was much later than she had anticipated, turning her gaze away, she decided to offer residency. "Hey guys, it's getting kind of late, why don't you stay here for the night."

"You sure Senna? We don't wanna intrude." Ichigo asked since they had intended to leave their gigai's here and camp out in a nearby building

"No. It's fine," she replied quickly, but after thinking it over for a moment she decided to amend "but Shaolin-chan has to sleep in my room. Ichigo you get dad's room same as last time."

Captain Soifon raised an eyebrow at the strange sleeping arrangements "Why are you making me sleep with you?" she took her glove off and showed her wedding band "We're practically married."

Senna stuck her head where the opening in the wall was, letting her see the table "BECAUSE I need my sleep, and I don't want to have it deprived because SOME PEOPLE feel like getting RELIEVING THEMSELVES in the middle of the night!" she replied all to happily

The obvious implication was clear as day to the commander "I'll kill you for that you little brat!" Shaolin exclaimed with visible redness as Ichigo chuckled heartily at the cheek of his sister.

As his laughter died down, he pushed himself out of his chair "Alright, settle down you two. Senna, why don't you get Shaolin settled in, Lin I'm gonna go up to the roof and confirm if we're all green." He informed as he dusted himself off to head out.

"All green?" Senna asked in obvious confusion as the man headed for the front door

"It's military code for 'everything is ok'" Lin replied as she got up "Alright Senna. Let's see where I'm staying."

Nodding her head, the teen made a motion with her hand, beckoning her to follow.

(Ichigo)

As he climbed the last of the fire escape stairs, the Shinigami pulled out a small radio from his pocket and began to tune it in to a specific frequency. Once he got it to the station, he pressed the talk button "Toshiro, come in, it's me Ichigo, providing a status update. Captain Soifon and I are currently at Senna's house and are going to spend the night here. We have noticed no enemy activity in our AO. Calling in to establish code green across the board do you copy my report, over?" he asked as he released the talk button

Not a moment later did the radio flare to life "FOR THE LAST TIME! IT IS HITSUGUAYA-TAICHO! **TAI**! **CHO**! DO YOU COPY, OVER!?" the voice of the young genius blared forcing the Shinigami to move it away from his head.

Once silence had returned, the man waited a moment with devious grin on his face, before finally hitting the talk button again. "No, I do not copy sir. Please repeat again, over." The smirking man radioed back

"I hate you, Fukutaicho Kurosaki." Toshiro replied his attitude alone painting a picture of how frustrated he must be "Forget it. I copy your code green. I've already talked with our towers and they too are reporting code green. No unusual activity thus far, over."

"Have the humans noticed the towers, over?" he asked getting serious again

"Negative. The spiritual field around it is holding up."

"What about our spiritual fields? Will we still be able to fight at full power?

"I doubled checked earlier, they are still holding up. Which is good news. Hopefully once more towers are at full operating capacity, they'll be able to maintain it for a longer period of time."

"Got it. How about Hollows? Any recent sightings?"

"That is an affirmative, but the encountered hollows are of expected strength for this area, so it's unlikely that they are with Aizen and were acting independently. They've already been dispatched. Believe me, I heard those squad eleven idiots complained about it for the last two hours on speaker, over."

Ichigo sweat dropped "U-understood. Alright I'm getting off the horn. Tell Rangiku I said hi. Later buddy, over and out."

"Gotcha Ichigo. Over and out."

As the radio crackled dead, the man placed it back into his pocket and walked over to the rail. He spied one of the white towers as it contrasted with the dark city skyline. The man let out a small wheeze as he looked over the place that was being fought over and would be the deciding ground between them and Aizen.

As he stared over the building, he took note of the nearly silent step beside him "Odd seeing you out and about. Something on your mind?" he said to his guest

Said 'guest' let out a snort before turning and throwing all of his weight against the guardrail, his normal black vicious eyes holding apathy and pensiveness. **"Could say that king, but it'd be more accurate to say what's already on your mind, am I right?"**

A smirk worked unto the carrot top's face "So now you know what I'm thinking? Did the old man teach you that or were you just so bored with killing things that you decided to try something else?

"**Hahaha! You're the one cracking jokes now while I get to play the level headed one. If that ain't irony I don't know what is!"**

Ichigo scoffed playfully "Tell me about it." he then turned back to the open peaceful city air "I was just remembering my first time here. My first battle defending the material world with Hanataro and Giant Devil, when we worked together to take down that serial Hollow: Screamer." His eyes drew colder "Those were peaceful days. Better days. Hard to believe that this same city is where they die at…this place has caused a lot of trouble."

The specter nodded **"True, but then we both know that if you could have done it over again, you wouldn't change a thing."**

"What could I do?" he asked with a questioning glance "The past is the past, even if I were to go back and warn myself about what exactly I was really going to be getting into when I became a reaper; I'd never believe myself." He let out a soft chuckle "I'd probably try and kick my own ass for going back on my Shinigami vows just because of the in between stuff."

The spirit beside him let out a hitched breath as if realizing something **"Ah, right. Forgot about those things. To protect and serve right?"**

"To protect and guide all innocent souls who are to cross the thresholds of both life and death, no matter what time, distance or status they once held or were regarded. To punish the wicked who would commit heinous crimes during and against the cycle of life. And to ensure a better future to the souls who remain ignorant of our works, by any and all means necessary." He quoted "That was the vow that I took when I became a Shinigami."

"**Yeah, right…that protect and serve bullshit I pretty much just said."** the monster said disinterestedly, when he sensed the disdainful glare of Ichigo he decided to change the subject **"So what do you plan on doing?"**

"Kill Aizen what else?"

"**No, seriously, I'm all for fighting Aizen as much as the next blood thirsty individual, buuuut what happens after that exactly? We just gonna end up going back to the dull humdrum of life?"**

"Were you expecting a medal or something?" Ichigo snarked

The man beside him scoffed loudly** "Shiiit! It'd be nice! Considering all the things that have suddenly made it their life mission to kill you!"** when Ichigo failed to respond the phantom shook it's head **"You are a tough bastard to hold a conversation with you know?"**

"It's because you don't really say too many things that are actually worth addressing." He replied with a self-satisfied smirk, while the hollow nodded his head in mock approval

"**Alright, then smartass; what about your little love triangle? Is that noteworthy?"**

The smile on Ichigo's face fell a bit "…what's your point?" he asked sardonically

"**My point is you have a very happy ninja wife AND you've got a little sugar on the side, which I will take this moment to let you know how much I greatly approve of your reign as the rightful king! Really didn't think you had it in you without my help, so well done for proving me wrong, brother! Getting back on topic, the reason it's important is that I've come to the reasonable conclusion that you've already made a decision in keeping that sweet sweet girl at your side. Again which I approve of!"**

"Oh my…how do you figure that!?" he asked in pure astonishment as to the mad logic required to reach such a conclusion.

"**Simple."** The hollow replied confidently **"I am a pervert."** With that, Ichigo rolled his eyes in exasperation, while Hichigo pointed at him with his finger, still undeterred **"and since I am you, you are a pervert. Hence you would choose the pervert option."** He explained, letting out a high laugh at his infallible logic.

The carrot top hung his head and whispered "Gods kill him…"

"**Not gonna happen."** The cheeky devil replied, **"But if you really want to know how I figured it's that: A) you think she pretty damn cute. B) She finds you –well…ME- smoking hot, which I can't blame her for. I have that effect on women, just ask Queen Shaolin. C) You had sex with her: and since I sure as hell didn't feel an ounce of regret, you didn't either. Hence that means you enjoyed it, and hey last I checked she did too. A lot! D) That Ninja bride I mentioned earlier actually doesn't seem to mind her presence, which frankly is a hard task to pull off with women and these kinds of relationship, though to my credit, I quote the same reason for, I am irresistible to women. Lastly, to put the final nail in the coffin, you've had almost two WHOLE months to tell her off which you haven't. Trust me when I say: there ain't a guy **_**ALIVE**_** who'd keep a girl like that around for shits and giggles. So ixofacto you two are attracted to each other. But don't worry king; I wholeheartedly support you; especially, in the 'Night life' department."**

From where Ichigo stood, he cradled his head trying to stave off the oncoming headache this idiot was providing. He would admit to some level of truth to what he said but certainly not in the way that he had presented it.

Straightening his back out to stand at full height, he was going to make a retort when he felt a spike in spiritual pressure in the apartment beneath him, and high pitch scream of Shaolin yelling out Senna's name, obviously in anger.

Seizing the moment Hichigo took the moment to add one last snark before returning to his master, **"Talk about living la vida loca! Go on young gigolo. Your madam's await you."**

Ichigo only narrowed his eyes in the direction of the fading creature before uttering a small string of curse words. Ensuring he had his gear on tight, he ran to the edge of the building, and jumped down to the metal walkway and proceeded through the door. With an unobstructed path, the young Shinigami quickly opened the door to Senna's room and saw a tense looking Senna smiling sheepishly at an irate Shaolin who was holding something in her shaking fist.

Sparing a small glance to his left, he saw that the young adult's closet was wide open and a small pile of books, clothing, and other trinkets had spewed out onto the floor nearby. Turning his eyes back to the scene, he asked the only question that came to mind "What happened?"

"N-nothing!" Senna lied with impressive zeal, which Ichigo would have believed…if he were an idiot.

"Yes." The Chinese captain sarcastically agreed, "It was only a nothing called 'Nayamashi Quartet' volumes 1, 2 AND 3!"

Senna's sheepish smile turned into an even more plastic one. "Wow, I didn't know you read that series too! I never would have figured you even liked that ummm _genre_. In fact I'm even more impressed you found the time, Miss super Taicho, ahaha."

The other woman's mood only soured "I can clearly read the Japanese printed across the breasts of the **naked woman**, you damnable pervert!" this declaration caused the other two to go flush in the face "Now I'll ask again, WHY. DO. **YOU**. HAVE IT!?"

"I…don't suppose you'd believe me if I said I was holding it for a friend?" she replied quickly as Mirokumaru silently applauded her for sticking to lying to the bitter end.

Going down in flames was the ONLY acceptable option at this point.

Seeing the need to intervene, and ignoring the hollow practically dying of laughing in his head, Ichigo took a step forward and began to defuse the situation. "Look Senna. I…ah…I'm sure you must be going through a…unique time, especially since you're going to be helping us defend the afterlife." Ichigo then shook his head disappointedly "But that doesn't mean that you should just leave your…'hobby books' in places where other people can easily find them. You can't blame Shaolin for blowing up on you about that especially since you're on a budget."

Senna's smile fell as she directed her gaze to the floor, her shame quite apparent. Soifon, who was feeling quite triumphant, was going to leave to dispose of the book when Ichigo called her name. "Shaolin." He said sternly, catching her smirk as she passed by "What have we talked about in being tolerant of others."

"Ugh…this discussion again?" She muttered distastefully already knowing where this was gonna go.

"Yeah, again." He said crushingly "From what I can tell you were the one who went through her stuff. So you can't be mad about what you find; because, she made the effort to be discrete about it and she's eighteen so she is legally allowed to have it. Remember Lin: Not everybody is gonna have your standards and-"

"-and wasn't raised the same way I was. Yeah, yeah. I know." The short woman finished

The carrot top nodded his head "That's right. And don't forget that this is Senna's house and her room. Despite our…relationship, were still her guests and must be respectful at all times."

As Ichigo finished speaking, Shaolin too found her gaze turned away from the other girl, her arm that was carrying the book falling down to her side. After a tense silence the bluenette gently set the book down on a nearby dresser "I hate to admit it, but you're right." She whispered quietly; righteous fury finally depleted "My life is mine and yours is yours, Senna." She then bowed to Senna "I apologize for going through your things like that and overreacting."

The young woman forced a smile as she twisted her foot embarrassed "Thanks. Umm…I'm sorry too. I'll be sure to do something about that later. And I'm also sorry for lying to you Shaolin."

Seeing that the two women were getting past the situation, the young man let out a mental sigh of relief, averting a catastrophe. Bending down he started to pick up the various objects on the floor and put it back into the closet, it wasn't long before the two girls joined him in putting everything back.

Once the floor was clear again, Ichigo spotted a pure white book lying nearby and picked it up. His eyes immediately jumped to the title of the book "Bleach?" he said aloud with obvious confusion, since he tended to associate the word with a cleaning product, not a book's title.

Placing the shirt in her hand on the hangar, the eighteen year old turned to her brother expecting an oddly placed bottle and instead saw a book. She stared at it for a moment before her brain fired up a response "Oh, that! It's actually the hot new series by the mangaka Tite Kubo-san."

"So what's it about?" Shaolin asked before her gaze hardened "Does it have more educational value than those other trashy novel?"

A small chuckle escaped the guilty girl "Probably not, but it's nothing anywhere near as explicit. It's actually a fantasy story about a hero called Strawberry Blackcape who has super powers and leads a team consisting of a healer called Onihime, a muscular foreigner called Takeda 'Juan' Tohru, and a super archer who moonlights as a doctor called Richtofen!" she said enthusiastically.

The young girl kept going on and on about the series, catching them up on everything that had occurred so far. When she finished her re-cap, she awaited for the two Shinigami to comment on the situation. Shaolin and Ichigo exchanged a wary glance before both shook their heads despondently.

"Truly humanity has fallen far…"

"Well at least it's creative…"

Senna let out a loud outcry as the two Shinigami chuckled to themselves at their similar opinions. The merry mood slowly returning back to the Kurosaki homestead.

They never even noticed the small spark of spiritual pressure that heralded a new threat.

* * *

End fic banter

D. Miroku: It's called euphemism!

Blackout2010 (raises eyebrow): euphemism?

D. Miroku: Yes. Like how a guy will say 'check out these guns' and then flex his arms. Lots of people do it.

Blackout2010: Well…[stops] hey do hear that?

D. Miroku: Let's check it out.

(Elsewhere)

Blackout2010: Shinjiro's yelling something at Subaru.

D. Miroku: Let's listen.

Shinjiro (distance): I just need to stick my sword in him and watch the liquids come out. It'll take like…two seconds! Tops!

Blackout2010: (Is he going to kill someone?)

D. Mirokumaru: (Is that a euphemism?...Sword means…penis doesn't it? Oh my god he's going to stick his penis in a guy! That's hot!)

Subaru (distance): I understand your frustration…

Blackout2010: (Situation's pacifier)

D. Miroku: (She allows it!? One new fetish discovered!)

Shinjiro (distance): I'm glad to hear it but…[sigh]…as a MAN I NEED to do this!

Blackout2010: (sounds like it's going downhill)

D. Miroku: (Shinjiro is coming out of the closet!? How will the wife react!?)

Subaru (distance): Oh…really? [colder] Are you saying that I can't do it? I assure you that I CAN.

Blackout2010: (Wrong words shin…)

D. Miroku: (SHE HAS A PENIS TOO!? PLOT TWIST! THE SAMURAI COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET AND THE SPY REVEALS HER FUTANARI STATUS! HE FOLLOWS THE GAY CLAUSE OF BUSHIDO AND SHE PROBES OTHER FOR INFORMATION!)

Shinjiro (distance): Not what I meant!...ahem…What I mean to say is…it could get…very mess. I think it would be best if I just go over to his place, and release this built up frustration.

Subaru (distance): [Sigh]…look if your reeaallly going to go through with it, then let me help too. At the very least do it at our place, I can help clean up the mess of the after effects.

Blackout2010: (Plotted murder of Co-workers is a no-no. Better stop them)

D. Miroku: (She wants to watch her husband ejaculate inside another man! _in their apartment_, with her nearby too! She'll even clean up. I wonder what she'll use…her mouth? Ohohoh dirty dirty goodness!)

Shinjiro turns and notices the others

Shinjiro: Oh…hey guys…you didn't just…

Blackout2010: I understand you and everyone else may have disagreements and frustration towards others…but what you're doing cannot be condone.

D. Miroku: WHAT!?

All stare at her silently

Blackout2010: Riiight…anyway, I think you two and whoever you have the problem, with should come together and work out your differences.

D. Miroku: Cum…[red face] together… (You're diabolical author-kun! I love it!)

Subaru/Shinjiro: I guess it wouldn't do to go with what I/Shin had in mind.

Blackout2010: Exactly.

D. Miroku: (All this euphemism)

Blackout2010: Now I want you to do what I asked. And do it where everyone can see you. A busy public area preferably with children nearby. We don't want to make the situation escalate too much and proximity of minors will reinforce a united civility on both sides.

D. Miroku: OH MY GOD THAT FUCKING AWESOME!

Shinjiro (off put):…

Subaru (off put):…

Blackout2010 (off put):…

Blackout2010/Shinjiro/Subaru:…what…?

D. Miroku (red faced): Nothing! NOTHING! Just…Euphemism…and er…TENTACLES! TENTACLE HAPPINESS! LIKE A CHEERY OCTUPUS IN THE SEA!

Blackout2010/Shinjiro/Subaru:…what…?

(Distance)

Ichigo: (turns to Senna) You need to do something…

Senna: Yes…brother

Soifon: Till next time? Wait. This isn't going to happen a 'next time' right?…right?

* * *

Blackout2010: As I was writing this, I just had to let loose some good old-fashioned comedy. The best way to describe my mood at having some light heartedness: I was like ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!

Blackout2010: Anyway just wanted to wish you all a happy halloween, and if I don't update in time, a merry christmas!

D. Mirokumaru: HAVE A VERY SEXY WINTER!

* * *

Guide post explaination

1. Netorare:  
Literally means 'cuckolding'. It is a sub-genre of hentai, in which the protagonist (male) get's his female love-interest (or wife or girlfriend), stolen away from him (usually through sexual acts), and is meant to generate feeling of jealousy and outrage for the audience. Naturally, it's just used as a joke here, with shiniji being the hero, Sen as the love interest and Ichigo as the stealer. The opposite of this would be called Netori, where a girl loses her guy to another girl.


	28. Versus

Authors announcement:

Greetings everyone out there Blackout2010 here with an important announcement. In the following chapter and maybe spread throughout the rest of the fic, there may be gratuitous usage of Spanish concerning the Arrancars and this writing. Now the reason I point this out, is because as a person who's been around bilingual/culture, I understand that people talk their native language when either talking amongst themselves or wanting to keep others out of their conversations. So, as per my whole OCD on trying to bring it a bit closer to earth there will be Spanish. But first to make a point:

**UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL IMPORTANT INFORMATION BE WRITTEN IN SPANISH.**

Reason being, that despite wanting to bring things closer, I don't want to be an ass. This is supposed to be English damn it, so it should be (well that and I can't read or write Spanish naturally, hence, why it took a long time, OCD on nailing accuracy.)

So yeah, that's about it. Unto the Prefic banter!

* * *

Pre fic:

Hichigo: Hollow Zangetsu here thanking you all for your patronage. I would also like to make an announcement to all those who don't read this story, your negligence in not reading, will ultimately prevent this story from going into anime/manga/DVD format. Which means that _everyone_ will lose out on the chance to hear _me_ being the voice over commentator who points out all the stupid things that characters do and why they would die if this was a slasher movie.

{Shows Shinjiro getting lost in Seireitei}

Hichigo: Like this dumbass, I'm surprised he gets to work on time. He's probably the first to go.

(Shows Ichigo talking to Aizen near the Sotaichō's office)

Hichigo: The only reason he survived this encounter is because he's the hero. If this had happened near the climax, I'm pretty sure we know how this would have gone down.

(Shows Omeada sleeping while Soifon slowly opens the office door.}

Hichigo: Okay I take it back. THIS guy would be the first to go. Blatant stupidity is far worse than being directionless. Now back to the commentary features: You'll get to hear my lovely voice snark at ridiculous bullshit: like Aizen's plan for godhood.

{Shows a distraught Aizen in the background}

Hichigo (waves off): Bitch please! Everyone knows I did that already. There IS a reason I'm called the Stallion. And last, but certainly not least my all around ability to just trolling everyone on screen who isn't me. So don't be a douche-bag, OR a bag of douche be a…non-douche-bag…yeah…

Hichigo: Just support the story now, damn it!

* * *

Chapter 28: Hueco Espada frente a Shinigami Zanpaktou (1)

Deep in the Hollow fortress known as Las Noche, the dull rhythmic sound of shoes tapping against the floor, echoed through the central corridor. From out of the darkness, a sharp-eyed muscular man with a head full of electric blue locks continued in his stride, hand resting on the sword at his hip, and a dark jagged smirk on his face. His intentions in stark contrast to the white Hakama he wore.

Coming to the end of the hallway, he stopped in front of the door and looked back the way he came. His eyes shifted back and forth quickly, piercing the darkness to see individuals who were skulking not far behind.

Normally, he wouldn't take too well to their attempts at incessantly following him around, especially when they tried to hide it from him, an act hampered by their palpable excitement, but just this once he couldn't blame them. Since he himself was just as worked up.

He _needed_ to spill some blood.

Letting out a low pitched whistle, he turned away from the now visible eyes. Pushing past the first set of double doors, he came to stare into the large oaken door which would lead into a room, more specifically to a chair, which someday he might be able to claim as his own, as a king of carnage.

From his throne, the current ruler of Hueco Mundo, Sosuke Aizen, watched as the doors leading into his sacred hall got blasted open; courtesy of his panther Espada once again introducing it to his size eleven shoes. Striding in arrogantly the man came in a couple of steps before giving a shit-eating grin "You rang?"

"Ahh, Grimmjow. I am quite pleased to see that you could come on such short notice." The cool voice of Aizen resonated throughout the hallway. The man got up from his throne and walked down the steps "I have received a report from one of your fellow Espada that spoke of Shinigami appearing in the human realm."

Grimmjow's eyes narrowed, they both knew of whom the ruler of Hueco Mundo was speaking of, the super creepy, ever stoic, eye-crushing, pale freak known as Ulquiorra.

Letting his contempt for the emotionless Espada leave him, he remained silent as the other continued. "I know of your restlessness and need for action, so I felt it was time to reward that vice with a mission." The man smiled coolly as the Espada's smirk grew wider

"What do you want done exactly?" Grimmjow asked as he tried quite hard to control the feeling of excitement that was coursing through his body. _'Finally time for some action.'_

Aizen's smile disappeared "From the report, the Shinigami seemed to be concentrated in several key areas of the city known as Karakura town. I have an idea as to what they are doing, but predictions only go so far. To formulate a solid strategy, so that we can efficiently wage war on them, I need eyes on the ground." He settled a firm look at the battle hungry man "I want you to go and personally find out what it is they are doing, as you gather information your fraccion will engage any Shinigami that might try to disturb you."

Grimmjow's face contorted into a scowl at what he was hearing so far, but before he could speak Aizen addressed it. "Fear not. I would not simply ask you to go and not enjoy yourself. I merely wish to ensure that the data we need to ensure our victory isn't left in the hands of foot soldiers. Once you have it feel free to engage the enemy. So long as you aren't dead, the mission will be considered a success."

Appeased with what he said, the Espada opted to ask a question "So why didn't you just have Ulquiorra check it out the first time around? He was there."

"Because I gave him strict orders to not engage the Shinigami. He was the only one with enough control over a...certain characteristic that would allow him to remain undetected to provide precious _reliable_ information on the goings in that world," a cold, spiritually enforced, look caused the Espada to buckle just a bit, "precious information, Grimmjow, that I trust you looked over before your arrival." the pressure ebbed away granting reprieve. "Now that he has returned, I have a different set of orders to give him; so effectively, he will be unavailable for quite some time, making you the only united team available, since the other Espada are busy with other matters."

The brunette shrugged uncaringly, despite his words, "Besides, I had intended to send a small force to gauge the approximate strength of my Arrancars, a criteria he does not meet, and this just gave me an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone." The man turned around and began to walk back to his throne "You have your orders, Mr. Jaggerjack: Investigate into their activities and report the findings back to me. Dismissed."

Giving a curt nod, the blue haired Espada turned on his heels and exited through the door. Once Aizen was sure that Grimmjow was gone, he sat back down upon his throne and looked to his left, revealing a new arrival bowed submissively at the knee.

"My dearest Una, if you would be so kind as to send Ulquiorra to watch over them, I fear that Grimmjow will overextend himself and his team, which if left unchecked will cost me valuable resources...again."

The white burqa wearing figure nodded before getting up "It will take some time. Master Ulquiorra is holding up in his room right now. I sensed he was drained of a considerable amount of his spiritual energy, when I advised him to allow me or one of the remaining nurses to dress his condition; he assured me that it was nothing worthy of concern. He just needed a moment to 'collect himself'." The Espada explained

Sosuke's eyes narrowed at what the person beside him just said, _'I thought he seemed more fatigued than he was letting on when he was giving me his debriefing. It seems he still doesn't quite have Segundo estapa under his complete control, which must be true for young siete as well. Hmmm, at least he knows his limit unlike his fellow, so I'm sure he will recover quickly enough.'_ The man shifted in his chair, his hand covering his mouth as he thought. He sat there for a few seconds until he said, "That is acceptable. Once the assault team has departed, please wait a little bit to grant him the reprieve he asked, before informing him what I want done. Under-" the man paused suddenly, as his brown eyes gazed into the depths of his top Espada's blue ones, seeing the hint doubt behind the veil. The pit of Aizen's stomach clenched as he felt worried, he knew he was playing with fire whenever he made a gamble, calculated or not, but this one could potentially affect the outcome of his war.

"Is there something you wish to bring to my attention?"

The person nodded albeit much more slowly "Yes…it is about…that man."

The ruler of Las Noche let out a hum, understanding whom was being spoken of. "Would you kindly clarify?" the man furrowed his brow "Will I need to exchange words with him?"

The person's head shook to signal a negative. "No, nothing so drastic need occur. I would like to request that he keep his distance from me. First, he eyes me with suspicion upon initially meeting me after I gained my new form and clothing. Next, he gets within my personal space and lifted my veil, _without_ my consent. Then he takes to staring at me in thinly veiled discomfort, and finally he's taken it upon himself to keep me in his line of sight…always, sometimes he even goes so far as to follow me back to my tower when I'm done with my duties. I appreciate camaraderie and concern of your fellows, and I would hate to have to destroy him over a misunderstanding, but these stalker-like actions are very disconcerting."

The person bowed their head, "And recently…I've found myself getting a headache from the experience, almost…almost like a part of me tries to return to the surface. It's vexing. Every time I get close to remembering, the pain flares up and stops me, perhaps I require a stronger stimuli to break through."

'_Why now? I thought suppression was guaranteed? Perhaps it would be in my interest to grant the request immediately. I need no further problems.'_ Aizen thought with a frown.

It seemed once again the spirit king plagued with problem, though he could do little without instigating it, so he went back to his leader persona. "Perhaps…there was more damage sustained to your body during the battle then I initially believed and the latter transformation process had an unexpected side effect of creating a crippling pain when you try to recall your identity. How unfortunate, but it was certainly out of the scope of what projected." He stated, hoping that a weakness had not manifested itself in his very precious soldier _'Still…it could be worse, from the gamble I made between the trio, I got everything I wanted and more; though, the question now becomes, will it be enough?'_

The white cloaked Espada looked up at the troubled ruler. "Do not worry; no matter what, my loyalty is still to you, the Hero of Hueco Mundo and Grand Commander of the Barragan unification army."

The Hollow stopped when the master of the new campaign began to chuckle, "hehehe. 'Hero of Hueco Mundo'? What a lofty title. Barragan would just call me Chico and be done with it. Besides, I am no hero."

The person bowed their head "I am sorry, if I offended you, Nanashi (2). I was merely recounting your exploits in the war and addressing you properly."

"No, that's quite alright." he responded calmly, rather amused in the sincerity behind the Espada's words. "From a nameless orphan, who the world never looked twice at, to the man I am today. I've certainly made many name for myself over the years, even now over three hundred years later, I still find myself unused to recognition. It certainly takes me back to the day I first killed a man."

"Sosuke."

"Yes, it marked my first step unto the path of power. From that day to the day that Barragan and I met, even to the days back in the Soul Society, I have simply followed through with what I originally set out to do. To live to my full potential and all that entails, no matter how I have to do it." the man chuckled softly in his chair, before lazily waving with his hand "But that is enough reminiscing, please continue your report."

"There is not much more to worry about; I am still 100 percent battle capable, and ready to follow your commands, a self-induced headache will not impede me in the slightest when I must fight."

That seemed to ease Aizen initial worries, "That's good to hear. I will need you at your best for when this world is besieged. For now go get some medication from Szayelaporro Granz. You have your objectives. You are dismissed, now go."

The white cloaked figure nodded and turned in the direction of the infirmary/science department but before the Espada could head off the would-be god spoke up "Oh, there's just one more thing."

The woman looked back signaling she was listening "It slipped my mind earlier, but would you be so kind and tell that berserker girl to stop killing the lesser Hollows. We have a need for allies and please-"

"Do it with a smile." The other person replied as the veil was briefly lifted showing a well-practiced smile at the man. The Primera Espada bowed towards the ruler of Las Noche gently "As you wish, Nanashi."

(Grimmjow)

With pep in his step, the panther king exploded down the hallway and to the nearest open air balcony. Without a second thought, he jumped out of it towards the wasteland of sand below. As he fell, he let out a hearty shout of 'vamos'.

In the blink of an eye, several figures fell from several of the windows around where the man leapt from, each streaking towards their Espada one by one. It was something that always reminded him that he was the one in control of things; that when he spoke people listened. Tearing his eyes away from the fast approaching figures, the man flipped his body over and slammed into the sand creating an enormous dust cloud.

It was only when the dust around him settled did he hear the sound of many more individuals land beside him. Not bothering to wait, he started walking to the central plaza area, the hub of which the majority of cross plane travel was allowed since anywhere else could be back traced and reveal their position in the Hollow world.

When the leader got about halfway across the 'courtyard', that Aizen owned his team caught up to him. "¿Por lo tanto, supongo que nos dieron el trabajo, jefe?" a large man with a half-Mohawk asked to his Espada

"¡Qué pregunta más estúpida!" the woman beside a smooth blond looking fellow barked. Her irritated expression loosened into a coy smirk as she draped an arm over Grimmjow's shoulder "Grim-chan no se habría molestado en llamarnos si no lo consiguiéramos, pendejo."

To the woman's displeasure Grimmjow shrugged her arm of his shoulder "¡Ya te dije que mantuviera las manos de encima, ramera!" he barked while she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Shawlong!" he bellowed. Less than a second later a thin man with a strange bony helmet appeared on the opposite side of the ill-tempered Espada "Nos dirigiremos a cabo inmediatamente. Te voy a dar todos los detalles de la asignación en el sitio."

Shawlong nodded courteously "Sí, señor. Voy a pasar la información a los demás, Grimmjow-sama." He said respectfully as he slowed down and turned to the white haired Di Roy.

Grimmjow tuned out the chatter of his followers as he kept himself psyched with the prospect of battle. He knew perfectly well that Sosuke Aizen didn't particularly care how they accomplished their mission so long as two rules were followed: one it was done efficiently and two their wasn't too much collateral damage for high profile locations. He cast a small glance back at his group, and didn't feel that they'd go too crazy; especially, since their enemy was probably some shit level Shinigami doing guard duty for the main force to arrive.

The man was brought from his thoughts when he saw an individual leaning arms crossed against the wall leading to the hub. The man he spied was wearing a similar outfit to him but instead of a short-sleeved shirt, he wore a jerkin with a black star on his right shoulder. The other person took notice of the approaching group and turned to them, his short black hair bobbing slightly "Grimmjow-san." He said politely

"Well, well, if it isn't our good buddy Boy Scout." The Espada replied sarcastically, getting some chuckles from his fraccion "I'd love to shoot the shit with ya, but it turns out that I'm on the clock, so get the hell out of my way."

'Boy Scout' didn't look intimidated in the slightest, even though there was a significant gap between their respective strengths; though, whether he believed it was because of crossing the boundary of power, and not because of the Espada's skill was left to speculation. "I understand Grimmjow-san. That is why I would like to request if you'd let me accompany you on your journey to the human world."

"How do you know about that?" the leader replied with genuine wonder as he doubted many knew about it so quickly.

"Comes with the benefits of being monitored by Espada." The young man replied grimly "and Nnoitra was complaining very loudly to Tessai about them being passed up."

"What a loud mouth." The female of the group voiced

Grimmjow shrugged uncaringly because while that was true, it had nothing to do with him. Only time he ever been around boy scout was when they were first introduced, both could tell the other was not on the same wave length and just silently agreed to stay the hell away from the other unless it could be helped. This brought Grimmjow to his next question 'why', "Got some business, Boy Scout? I don't like dick-less tagalongs." He pressed aggressively

"I don't plan on getting in your way." He admitted calmly "I just plan on seeing something other than sand and Hollows for a couple of minutes."

From beside Grimmjow, Shawlong interjected "I would advise against it sir. He's probably going to warn the Shinigami of our presence, making our job that much harder." The strategist's eyes narrowed on the Shinigami traitor "Isn't that correct?"

The man back stepped, honestly surprised by what the man was saying, "You…were going to be on a stealth based mission? Forgive me; I was under the impression that you were going to go on a stereotypical wholesale slaughter Hollow rampage, which would give me the opportunity to momentarily see the human world again…" The man bowed his head apologetically "I apologize for my assumptions on your personal integrity, clearly there is hope for you yet."

Despite the insult Grimmjow merely laughed, though they might not see eye-to-eye, at least they were both very straight forward in their thought processing, so with a humoring of his own he decided to play tit-for-tat.

"Well, you do got a point there punk. We are going to kick ass it's what we do." He boasted as he flexed his arm, a dark chuckle escaped his crew "As for your request, why the fuck should I stick my neck out for you? Aizen won't be happy to know that one of his little playthings went out without his permission."

"Fuck. Aizen. He can go straight to hell for all I care. The only reason I confer respect is because Bushido demands it, if I had the power and ability I'd kill him in his sleep." The man responded immediately, garnering some raised eyebrows from Grimmjow's companions, and a few whispers of heresy, because while they may have their own opinion about Aizen they would never say such a thing where others could report to the Shinigami.

This statement though had the opposite effect on Grimmjow, who was now roaring in laughter about this uptight individual. Apparently, there was callous rebel in him. Despite his seemingly orderly and polite persona, he was not a glorified ass-kisser.

Without a second glance, the Espada walked by the man, as he hurried to their waiting gargantuan "Do whatever you want, Boy Scout. Just stay out of my way." The smirking killer dismissed

"I intend to." He replied with a smile as he tagged along the ensemble of killers.

As the group passed through the gargantuan they felt their bodies elongating and shrinking at the same time as they crossed planes from Hueco Mundo to the realm of humans.

(Karakura town)

In the cool night air of Karakura, a large black crack appeared and ripped apart, as several individuals stepped out into the starry sky. The leader of the group took several steps before jumping towards a nearby building, within a matter of moments he was surrounded by his fraccion and his extra guest. With a quick order the group lowered the spiritual reading to as close to zero as possible while the blue haired man scanned the area with his Pesquisa.

The fraccion remained silent as their leader continued his scanning. Finally, after a few minutes the man turned back to them "Infiltration complete. No enemies alerted." He then took a few steps towards them and pointed to the east "Listen up, coños. Your objective is simple: find Shinigami and beat their asses, they might also be in that Gigai crap in which case kill them if you sense spiritual energy from them. As for me, I need to go do something real fast." He then raised his power just enough to press against his companions without alerting anyone "If any of you assholes get even close to that spiritual pressure over there, well let's just say, the Shinigami will be the least of your problems, comprende?"

A unanimous 'yes' was uttered by the fraccion who looked on awaiting further orders. "Good. If you get things done meet back here otherwise get lost." He shouted before turning away from the group "Long, Luppi. You're in charge."

"Understood, sir." Shawlong replied with a graceful bow as his master turned away from them

"Later sexy!" the curvy hipped woman catcalled, before sauntering off in her own direction, leaving whatever orders he might have to the thinker Shawlong.

Once again dumped with the responsibility, Shawlong reminded the others of standard procedure. Keep aware of your surroundings, and don't take on too many at once, because under the right circumstances even ants can kill dragons. As the other fraccion dispersed, the strategist noticed that their young guest had long since vanished. The man narrowed his eyes recalling his early warning about taking the tagalong but dismissed it.

It was irrelevant at this point; he had his orders and a job to do. He just had to make sure that their presence from here out struck terror and despair for future Shinigami.

(Grimmjow)

Rapidly jumping between the roofs towards the tower in the distance, he was quite pleased to see that his fraccion hadn't ignored his orders. _'Glad to see they still know I'm in charge.'_ He thought smugly.

As he neared closer, he slowed his speed, stopped a few blocks down, and examined the large tower. To him it just seemed like large white obelisk standing in the middle of the open park, more than likely invisible to the normal eyes of humans, but not his.

Stalking closer he checked the surrounding area. He knew the basics of hunting and survival. The element of surprise was key IF you were fighting a strong opponent and that when you need something protected you make sure that it has some kind of defense. So while Grimmjow's instincts were telling him that he was probably dealing with shit Shinigami as were his fraccion, he knew that this pillar probably wasn't as inconspicuous as it seemed.

Crossing the nearby gap to the next rooftop, he sat upon his hunches as he peered over the roof and spotted his prey. A group of Shinigami.

They all seemed to be blissfully unaware of their stalker and were just sitting around the area chatting with each other. Knowing that he'd lose the element of surprise the moment one of his subordinates engaged an enemy, the self-proclaimed king wasted little time in running to the end of the building and then sprinting off it, spring boarding himself into the unaware camp.

The force that Grimmjow slammed into the ground threw some of the Shinigami in the air while the rest were knocked completely off Balance. Not wasting a moment the man Sonidoed over to the closest Shinigami and jabbed his hand threw his chest killing him almost instantaneously. Quickly glancing back, he pointed his finger and fired off a Bala into a woman's head, blowing it apart and causing her blood to fly on some of her soon to be deceased allies.

One of the Shinigami quickly gathered himself, pulled out his Zanpaktou, and jumped into the air to slice the man. However, before he could cut him, the Espada quickly shuffled his body to the side and elbowed the man in the stomach. Not a second after jerking his elbow away did the Espada slam his foot into the person launching him into the steel railing of the park.

The man was about to turn away when he saw the piece of shit reach into shirt and pull out a small device more than likely to try and radio in for help. Grimmjow couldn't fight back the roaring urge to laugh; these people actually thought they might be able to stop him with reinforcements. Raising his finger back up he charged up a Cero, if they wanted to send a message that clearly said 'we need help' he knew just the way to send.

The poor fool didn't even get much of a chance to scream before being erased. Turning away from his handy work he saw that the other Shinigami had taken a defensive position while another one had that he hadn't noticed before got off a device similar to the one the guy he just obliterated tried to use. The man smirked to himself at least he was gonna have a small workout before he went to go after his real prey.

The Shinigami watched as their assailant calmly placed his hands in his pockets and casually strolled over to them like nobody's business. One of the leaders swallowed the lump in his throat.

Sure, they could sense the spiritual pressure of this guy, which meant he had to be with Aizen, but even he couldn't afford to be so confident! He'd just called in back up and there was several middleweight seated officers and two captains in the AO. He couldn't possibly take them all on and survive.

The man then found his eyes drifting to his arm and seeing it shake in fear. Looking back up, he noticed that behind his enemy was a black aura of death, as the man continued his slow proud gait towards them, smirk growing ever so slight as he could practically taste the fear on them. In the blink of an eye, the man in white was right in front of him with his arm sticking straight through his chest.

Then all at once the dying Shinigami thought that just maybe, maybe this guy didn't only think he'd survive, he damn well didn't care.

The panther Espada threw the corpse off to the side and let out a dark exhalation. He'd sensed that this guy was the strongest here, and had hoped at the very least get a decent warm up, but this just killed that notion when he slaughtered him just as easily as the last two. He was about to whip around and finish off the stragglers but the little voice of Aizen rang out in his head reminding him of his mission. So with a little flexing of his spiritual power he floored all the so-called death gods and walked over to the strange white tower in the middle of the park.

The murderer flicked his hand against the side of the building, the resulting thud reverberating in the air. While he was pleasantly surprised to find that he didn't disintegrate on the spot, he was still ass out as to any idea what this tower was doing.

So he decided to consult the local experts.

Turning back around, he opened his mouth and said, "Buenos noches, Shinigami. I seem to be having trouble figuring out what you motherfuckers are doing in my world." He then pointed his thumb at the tower "and building shit without my permission." His eyes then flitted around the remaining Shinigami; scanning to see who'd be the closest to cracking, and when he saw her, his eyes let her know how fucked she was. "Tell me what you were doing here Señorita." He said as he walked over to her and picked her up by the collar "Tell me or else…"

To his left one of the Shinigami shouted, "Don't tell him any-"he was then promptly shut up by Grimmjow slamming his foot into the man's skull

"I wasn't talking to you pendejo!" he shouted as he jerked the woman up "I was talking to her, but…if that's the way you want to play it." he then threw the girl on the ground and brought his foot down on her stomach.

The poor woman coughed up blood from the sheer force and tried in vain to break-free from her captor "Now let make it real easy for you. If you tell me what that tower does and what you're doing here, I can go along my merry way."

"Do…do you promise to let us go." The woman wheezed out trying to get her team out alive. The man seemed to consider what she was saying before scowling

"Deal. This mission is keeping me from what I want to be doing anyway." He then bended over and stared directly at her "Frankly, it's pissing me off, so tell me and get lost."

"We've been assigned by Soul Society to guard this tower!"

"Mina!" one of the other Shinigami yelled, but was quickly silenced by a glare from the Espada. Grimmjow looked back at Mina and clenched his fist a little tighter "I figured that out already, so if you're not gonna tell me anything useful-"

"W-wait." She wheezed "This tower…it…it's meant to conceal this town from Aizen forces. I swear!"

'_Conceal from us?'_ Grimmjow thought to himself. It was certainly odd since Aizen already knew where this place was; in fact, he seemed fixated on it. "What for exactly?"

"We…were gonna have Shinigami stationed here…ughh and if Aizen shows up we'll have first response!"

Now Grimmjow was both perplexed and pissed. The more this person gave him convoluted answers that made absolutely no sense meant the more time he'd have to spend in trying to get out something he could actually tell Aizen. So he decided to let his answer show through to the woman "Alright listen up. Give me a straight fucking answer that doesn't sound like horse-shit or I'm ending you all right now."

"I swear it's what they told me!" she screamed "It's supposed to make Aizen think nobodies here, so that when he shows up in the human world we'll have a Forward operating base, which is supposed to give us an advantage over him."

Finally, he heard something that sounded reasonably useful "You don't say?" He said with a cool smirk as he let the woman go and stood back up to his full height "Very interesting. So then, how many of these things do you have in the world? Couple dozen?"

The woman shivered at the only answer that she could give that would only piss him off "I…I don't know. It's above my rank…"

The man eyed her carefully before turning his eye to the tower, a thoughtful expression "I see. Yo comprendo" He then walked over towards her partner stroking his chin "What about you? Know anything?" he asked as the woman managed to keep fearing yet defiant stare at her captor. He then turned away dismissively, his smirk returning to his face "Nah. You look even lower rank than her." He then placed one hand in his pocket and let the other dangle by his side "Well mucho gracias, Señoritas. You've been an excellent help."

Mina could only watch in horror as the man's arm shot up and broke the neck of her friend, who fell limply to the floor. The woman tried to push her body away from the man, going inch by inch but it was all in vain as the man closed the distances with his uninjured footsteps. When he was about three feet, away he held his arm out and a red energy began to gather in it. An energy the woman recognized as a Cero "Y-you you said you'd let us go!" she whimpered out

The confident look the man had changed into slight confusion at her words. He eased his stance as he brought his Cero charged hand back down "You're right I did, didn't I?" his momentary pause was short lived as his sadistic smirk graced his lips again. This time he raised both hands each holding a Cero "Too bad for you, tragona, I'm a liar."

The ringing explosion of his Cero was a joyful sound to his ears as he turned away from the crater in front of him to the illusionary tower less than 20 feet from him. He eyed it carefully while he did believe that woman he also knew that it probably wasn't the whole story, several meeting with the smug bastard Aizen told him that much. Still he smiled to himself, not much reason to say he didn't know if he still destroyed it anyway.

With a powerful jump, the man flew over the tower and with a frontal flip axe kicked the center of the tower. The loud cracking of Grimmjow's impact sounded through the air yet the structure miraculously remained standing. "Hmph. Well at least those fuckers know how to build shit." He muttered before he flipped backward and kicked the side of the tower and then spun in the air and fired a high-powered Cero at point blank.

The resulting blast caused a massive explosion and slammed the Espada unto his back giving him a great front row seat to the tower going up in flames against the night sky. The man slowly got up and started to laugh to himself. Damn now, he felt invigorated after that little sight. "Get ready ass-hat." He said to his distant prey, "The hunt is on."

(Nakeem)

Landing upon the rooftop, the large Arrancar paused as he kept his eye on the busty woman who was busy talking over an ear piece. It had been nearly fifteen minutes since they arrived, and only now had he found someone. It seems the town being spiritually enriched wasn't an exaggeration, as it was affecting his Pesquisa.

Nakeem glanced beyond her and saw Shawlong engaging a smaller boy with a blue dragon. The fraccion scoffed distastefully. He followed Shawlong hoping to get a worthy kill but got a boy too young to shave and a woman who'd pass as a supermodel instead of a soldier.

"Tengo mala suerte." He cursed, as he prepared himself to kill the woman, so he could find someone better to fight.

"That's right. Requesting immediate back-up, one of the towers has come under attack and we've lost communication with the other teams." The woman paused as she felt another small tug on her spiritual body, her muscles tightening just a bit more than the first time, but she powered through it to continue the report "U-unknown number of casualties or hostile, requesting immediate assistance."

"Negative, Matsumoto-Fukutaichō. We are busy trying to stabilize and maintain the barrier. We cannot- what, request for military burial for Ikkakku Madarame? Belay that order! If we've got time to fill those requests, then we've got time to fix things! Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot you were on the line Lieutenant, (ahem) sorry but we cannot grant immediate relief. We're trying our best on our side, please understand."

"Damn it." She cursed as she glanced over to her battling captain. "I copy. Tha-" she immediately felt something approaching and jumped away.

From where she had previously been standing a large man with a black hair and a skull like mask, had his fist buried into the graphite of the roof. As he stood up, he shook his fist, getting the broken materials off.

"You have a mask too." Rangiku stated to the towering man "I take it you're a comrade of that other one."

"Si. Shawlong es mi amigo, Shinigami." The large Arrancar answered as he placed his hand on his sword and smirked "If your friend is fighting him, he's as good as dead. Shawlong is the third strongest amongst our numbers." The man pulled out his sword "But fear not. You will join him soon."

The orange haired lieutenant put her hand on her hilt, while her enemy raised his sword over his head "Carnicero ella: arrasa minotauro (Butcher her: Rampaging Ox)."

A condensed layer of spiritual energy emanated around the man's body briefly, before his muscle started to spasm and grow in size. His height didn't seem to grow in proportion to the increase to his arms as his body started to lumber over, his knuckles supporting his weight, while his skull mask disappeared, replaced by a pair of bull horns and nose ring. The monster let out a loud piercing snort as the lieutenant backed up, taking in the disturbing sight of her adversary.

"So I'm fighting a cow? This sounds like a bad joke." Rangiku taunted as she eyed her enemy over.

"Gahaha! A cow? I suppose I should introduce myself if only to avoid such an accolade from mi amigos. Mi llamo Nakeem Grindina." A cruel smirk formed on his face, before he disappeared and slammed his shoulder into the woman's body, sending her into a nearby water tower with incredible force. "As for you, no presentarse, it will be over soon."

Rangiku let out a groan as she got back up to his feet, her hand combing the side of the metal. "That was pretty fast for a big guy. How did you do it?"

"Sonido, similar to your flash step. Aizen-sama was kind enough to teach us the basics."

"I see." She gritted as she pulled out her sword "Then you should know a Zanpaktou is the go to weapon for any Shinigami worth their salt. Growl, Haineko!"

Nakeem tensed himself expecting a dramatic change, but he was soon filled with a sense of disappointment when then woman's sword evaporated before his eyes. The Minotaur sniffed the air as he kept his eyes firmly on the woman who straightened her stance, when he felt nothing odd, he sniffed again before letting out a dark chuckle.

"What's so funny?" the soldier of ten asked

"I was informed that a Shinigami's Zanpaktou is a part of their soul." He stated, his teeth flashing hungrily "I smell the fear of death on your body, and after seeing that your sword abandon you, I knew you must be a coward at heart." The man lumbered forward to the helpless woman, who glared back at him "Don't be afraid, chica, será rápida."

"You shouldn't underestimate me." She replied, "Now Haineko!" she cried as she swung her sword

The confused Arrancar was just about to raise his guard, when he felt cuts across his cheek, arms and legs. He let out a loud painful cry as he doubled over in pain, his head just raised enough to look at the offending woman. "How did?"

"You're right about one thing. A Shinigami's Zanpaktou does reflect them. But you overlooked two things. One: under the right circumstances, a person can change. Two: I am not a coward, I'm clever." She then smiled "My Zanpaktou turns into ash that's hard to spot but reacts whenever I swing my swords hilt. By increasing the size of your body, you gave me a much bigger target to hit. Shame, you could have had me if you didn't underestimate Shinigami, hollow."

Nakeem's eyes widened at the implication, when she raised her sword above her head "No, n-no!"

"Just. Like. This." She then brought her arm down and in response the dust reacted and cut up the Arrancar, who started to dissolve into spiritual particles.

Taking a moment, she sheathed her sword and looked over in the direction of her captain who had stabbed his enemy in the back. The person was quickly encased in ice before shattering. _'The captain had to use his Bankai.'_ Matsumoto thought to herself, _'It seems these Arrancar aren't to be trifled with.'_

She looked over in the direction where two powerful spiritual pressures were fighting. It took her a moment to realize that it was Ichigo, and that the enemy he was facing was far stronger than the one, she or her captain had fought. She was about to go to his aid, when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Looking back she saw, a wounded but still fiercely determined, Hitsugaya. "No, stay." He commanded

"But captain. Ichigo is in trouble."

"I know but can't you feel it. The spiritual barrier is on the verge of collapsing." He commented "Soul Society is diverting energy from the strongest fighters the hardest to maintain the Balance. I myself felt my energy being sapped throughout the fight. I could barely end it at half strength."

He turned and spat out some blood from his mouth, "If you want to help here's what I want you to do. Lower your spiritual energy output to a minimum, these monsters obviously sabotaged the barrier and with less stress it can hold for a bit longer before fully collapsing. In meantime I'm going over there, you radio in to make sure the rest of the towers are safe."

The woman nodded her head, as the man sealed his Bankai back up. "Good luck." She muttered as the boy started running in the direction of the massive conflict.

(Luppi)

The female Arrancar skipped merrily through the air taking in the view of the human world. While she knew, she was on the clock it wouldn't hurt to take in the sights while she was here. Placing her hands behind her head she spotted what seemed to be two figures in black moving towards the direction of the river. "Fortune favors the wicked. I get to take the scenic route and blow off some steam by the river." Her face fell into a small pout, as her sleeved hand waved back and forth beside her hip, "Too bad we couldn't get deployed to a beach on a bright sunny day. I would have loved to see Grim-chan slaughtering los Shinigami in a speedo, while we built a sand castle worthy of his kingship, but I suppose once the new world created it could happen." A bored sigh escaped her lips, as she remembered they had a long way to go. "Que sera sera."

(Riverside)

"Been a long time since I've been back ta a city. Reminds me of Sydney (3)." The Shinigami with a brown safari hat reminisced, pulling the toothpick out of his mouth. "(Sigh) Damn I miss me home town, ma would bake me her famous choccy after a hard days job." The sun-tanned man looked at his darker near shirtless companion "What about yoos Turok (4)? Ever get home sick?

The man was kindly greeted with a stiff glare "My name is Etzli Zolin, white man. Not Turok." The stoic man uttered, crossing his arms over his cultural war breastplate.

"Geez, learn ta take a joke mate…" 'White man' replied in a bored tone, dryly blowing a piece of his brown hair.

"A warrior must remain on guard at all times, white man." He answered sagely

"Ah, fer fuck sake, the name's Canna Lachlan! Not white dude or whatever…" the man shot back hotly only to receive the cold shrug of indifference from his ally. "Ah forget it. I'm not gonna argue with a guy who can't even wear a shirt proper." He said rudely hand drifting in Etzli direction "I mean seriously cap'n Kuchiki busts me chops if I have me tooth pick in me laughin' gear during assembly, and somehow yoos get away with missin' half ya damn uniform. It's malarkey!"

"Captain Komamura is very respectful of other people's cultures." The Mestizo answered back; feeling protective of his chieftain's honor; something that the vagabond obviously knew nothing about "I suggest you learn from his actions."

"Whatever…" the Australian dropped the subject as he searched his pockets for a cigarette and his lighter. He could not have been sent out on a more inane side-mission, with a more stoic individual, even if he tried, "Shit! Left me light back at camp." He cursed before turning to the Indian "Hey mate got a spare fire?"

"No." he answered as he turned around feeling a disturbance "But it does appear we have company."

Peeling the brim of his hat back, the Aussie looked behind him as well, and saw the figure in white slowly descending. From what Canna could make out the person seemed to be a woman if the long eyelashes and pink tattoo were any indication. The girl's pure white clothing that showed off her hip was the real stunner for him, since apparently everyone got away with everything except him. "What company you belong to lass?" he asked, less than pleased "Same as Geronimo?"

The woman looked over at 'Geronimo' "Nah." She pouted childishly "If I was I'd be on my hands and knee begging mi jefe to stay as sharply undressed as sus amigo."

"So, who are you then?" he asked as his hand went down to his blade "Friend or Foe?" The sly look that he received told him more than enough as he pulled out his sword alongside his compatriot. "I doubt it would do any good, but me ma and pa would stomp me guts out if I didn't ask…would you kindly surrender miss and avoid the unpleasantness?"

Luppi smirked confidently "Nope, but points para sus intención."

As she touched the ground, the girl flared her spiritual pressure a bit, forcibly flinching the two Shinigami "Oh, still standing? Muy bien! I was desperate to have some fun." She commented as she rolled up a sleeve and adjusted her sword on her side "Me llama Luppi Antenor de la Arrancar, Señor Shinigami." The girl said as she gave a curtsey.

"Of the Arrancar?" Zolin repeated with confusion _'Aizen's forces aren't limited to Hollows?'_

The girl smiled darkly before reappearing between the two of them and striking them in the side. Canna slid across the ground before he rolled to his feet, while his partner was launched down a nearby alleyway. "Crickey! Little girl packs a wallop!" he wheezed out as he nursed his side "Better get serious then." The man quickly got up, raised his blade to shoulder height, and grasped the blade's edge with his free hand "Dig yer fangs in, Savage Jackal!"

The man's blade shinned with a bright light before transforming into a brown M1 carbine with a round clear scope, running down the end of a barrel was a serrated knife acting as a bayonet. On the side of the stock, there was a picture of a growling jackal.

"Time to hunt, darlin'!" the man yelled as he quickly brought the weapon around and fired.

Unsure of what his weapon did, the Arrancar quickly side stepped just as the bullet left the barrel. Immediately the bullet expanded into a conical drill. The bullet whizzed past her head and smashed through a brick into a nearby building, drilling into it before disappearing.

"Ah, come on! Yer not supposed to dodge Sheila." The sharpshooter griped as he readjusted his sight.

"I prefer not to be filled with holes, señor." The woman taunted

"Then how about this!" a voice from above her called "Soar, Quetzalcoatl (feathered serpent)!"

Turning around she saw the other Shinigami descending on her his blade turning into a sharp tomahawk while a spiked wooden shield formed on his other arm. Cartwheeling to the side, she narrowly dodged the strike as the ax let out a fiery blaze on impact. She was about to attack, but was forced to dodge, as the other Shinigami's weapon rang out some more shots.

After three more volleys, she heard the beautiful sound of an empty clip. "Ahaha! Que sin Balas, vaquero?" she mocked while the panicked man raised his weapon to activate it's reload feature.

Not waiting, Luppi quickly dashed over to his position and slammed her leg into the man's chest. The man flew over the hillside and landed into the river way below.

Now that one was done, she went back to facing the other warrior, who steeled himself as he raised his shield up. The woman back flipped high into the sky and when she started to come back down a small teal light was radiating off her finger "Aqui van: Bala." She said as the orb flew towards the defender.

The man couldn't even move before it shattered his shield, burning his side. He barely raised his arm up by the time the girl landed, her shoe planting into his face, flinging him into crushing a nearby street lamp.

From the river, she heard the other Shinigami let out a gasp as he broke the water's surface. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the man grab his soaked hat before sloshing towards shore. The woman narrowed her eyes testily, before Sonidoing over to the down Shinigami and grabbing his leg.

Turning her body, she threw over the ax man into the water beside the other one and launched a quickly charged Cero. The energy ball collided against the waters surface, shooting up a huge geyser into the air.

Once the explosion died down, she saw that there was no one left in the water. Luppi smirked "Too easy." She muttered

The girl turned away and was about to walk on, when she found she couldn't move her feet. Looking down she saw ice encasing her up to her ankles. _'When did…?'_ she thought to herself, perplexed since they weren't anywhere near her.

"I think you need to be taught a lesson." A woman's voice said. Looking to her right she saw a diminutive woman with dark hair and a white sword in hand.

Rukia saw the enemy growl at her and raise her hand up, but with a quickly flip of her wrist, she froze the woman solid. She waited a second before walking around the statue towards the grassy knoll.

When she reached it, she saw two Shinigami by the shore. One half dressed, a small hatchet in his hand, bent over and offering a hand to the other Shinigami, who was still in the water wringing his hat out.

Walking down, the two Shinigami took notice of their ally. "Are you two okay?" she asked

The Aussie raised his hand placatingly "Never better governor."

"We will…mmhm…endure." His partner confirmed as he fished out Canna.

"That's good to hear." Rukia replied as she checked the area to make sure it was clear "I sensed you two were in trouble, do you know who that was?"

"Aye. Loopy or something of Arrancar." The man from down under answered, "Tough bird, that one. She get whacked?"

Rukia shook her head "No. I incapacitated her. I'll unfreeze her face so we can get some answers." She jutted her head towards the hill "Come on."

The trio marched up the hill and when they came to the street, all they saw was a pile of broken ice, its occupant long gone.

"Ah, fuck me sideways." The sharpshooter groaned as he pulled the brim of his hat over his eyes.

Rukia raised her sword "On your guard, she might still be around."

"No, 'might' about it, Señorita." The voice of Luppi called from above them. "I 'am' right here."

The Arrancar descended from the sky and landed where she had once been frozen; carefully examining the frozen water particles "You really caught me off guard. Mi casa es muy caliente, we hardly ever see ice." A coy smile graced her face "I can check that off my bucket list."

"Yoose a real pain in the arse! Can yoo just die already!?" the accented man yelled as he raised savage jackal up.

Before either party could act, a loud explosion roared through the city. The Shinigami looked around and saw the dissipating blast coming from the south side of the city, while the Arrancar had a look of glee when she sensed the energy of who was there.

Turning back to the woman, Etzli glared at her "Your doing, correct?"

"Mia?" the woman pointed at herself childishly "Nope. I've been here this whole time, idiota ciego." The woman then laughed as she rolled up her sleeves "Still that means I don't need to stay under the radar now that he's fighting."

The woman's spiritual pressure flared out, pressing itself against the three Shinigami telling them that she was much stronger than she was initially letting on. "Try not to die too quickly." She said before disappearing from sight.

The Shinigami were surprised by her speed as she appeared right in front of Rukia fist cocked back. The blow collided with the girl's head sending her tumbling down the hill, while the Arrancar jumped up and split kicked both the men in the side.

Following up Luppi dashed over to Canna who gripped his gun fiercely. Once she was within two steps, the man lunged forward with his bayonet to skewer her.

The woman shoved the weapon aside from the barrel, and brought her other arm around and clocked the man in the face, though she did have to dodge immediately, as the man fired off a few rounds as he was reeling backwards.

As he reoriented himself, Canna jumped back a step and fired off some more rounds, to which the damn witch flash stepped out of the way and drew closer. When he saw the woman, bringing her hand around he raised his weapon to shield himself, but then felt a searing pain around his stomach.

Looking down he saw the in the woman's other hand was her Zanpaktou, cloaked in his blood. He tried to move back but Luppi just smirked and thrusted her other hand into his chest.

Canna groaned and shook slightly "s...shit…" he muttered as he dropped his head down and closed his eyes for the last time.

"CANNA!"

The killer looked back to see the infuriated Shinigami Etzli. The man's fist were pulsing red from how he was gripping his tomahawk. "You'll pay." The man reared his arm back while his weapon burst into a flames "Botetsu hit!"

Luppi's eyebrows rose slightly when the man swung, a flying flaming battleax flew out of that little hatchet of his, towards her. Still, the energy coming off it was nowhere near enough to warrant actually dodging it. Although, she did want to remain presentable to Grimmjow later, and using the hand that was still buried in the body, brought the other Shinigami's body to take the hit for her.

The blast engulfed most of the body, but Luppi didn't feel a thing. Once the strike subsided, she then started to direct energy into her arm "Mi turno." She taunted and fired off a Bala that struck into the unsuspecting warrior, sprawling him across the road.

No longer seeing a purpose in keeping it, the woman pushed Canna's body off her arm and then casually stroll on over to her next victim. Her eyes danced with delight as she saw the man's body struggle, trying to get it to do what his body commanded, but it refused to listen.

By the time she got next to him, she almost felt a twinge of remorse. A large hole was blown through his pectoral muscle, and seemly disintegrated one of his lungs, yup; he was a goner in her books. "You poor bebé." She kneeled over and stroked his hair playfully. "Does it hurt?" she then stood back up "I'll end it for you."

She then raised her sandaled foot up and brought it down on the man's head, breaking his nose and knocking out a few teeth. But the malicious woman wasn't done as she pulled her foot back up and continued to stomp on him several more times until the man face became an unrecognizable mush.

The girl removed her blood stained foot from the goop and scraped it across the floor several times. She had only managed to get about half of it off when she heard a groan from behind her.

Turning around, she was very surprised to see that the woman was still alive, albeit bleeding from the head, and a little wobbly, but still very much alive. "Ay dios mio! You're still alive!? I thought I took your head off!" the woman nodded her head approvingly "Usted es una mujer muy afortunada!"

Rukia wheezed out a breath, she nearly died and this person still seemed to be holding back. She brought Shirayuki up to defend herself. She needed some kind of opening.

The Arrancar was about to move when she suddenly stopped and looked up into the air as if sensing something _'Now!'_ Rukia quickly flipped her weapon downward "Some no mai!" she then quickly dashed forward and swung "Tsukishiro!"

Luppi's eyes quickly returned to her enemy, silently cursing the others for distracting her. Utilizing her Sonido, she quickly backpedaled away from the slice and was shocked to see a huge pillar of ice where she would have been.

The ice quickly shattered, revealing Rukia panting having used a considerable amount of power behind the attack. "That wasn't nice. Attacking me when those other cabróns decided to die. Still you look-"

She suddenly stopped when she felt someone else struggling more vividly now that the others were gone. "Grimmjow." She muttered worriedly. _'Someone is beating him?'_

Biting back her growl, she looked back to Rukia and weighed the options. A moment passed before she allowed a playful look to grace her face. "Que suerte! You escape death not once but twice! I've got to go, so consider this your lucky day." The woman then pushed her body off the ground and disappeared into the air.

Rukia wheezed trying to catch her breath before collapsing to her knees. Reaching into her shirt, she pulled out a radio and hit the call button "Come in. This is Rukia Kuchiki, I'm hurt, and requesting immediate medical assistance. I have two others with me; we're near the river with a bridge not too far away from us. I repeat requesting immediate medical assistance, over."

The woman waited for a little bit before she got a 'copy that' from someone. A wave of relief washed over her as she gave a 'roger', before going to go check on the other two. At least she survived this night.

(Earlier: Senna's home)

"So…" the young land lady asked awkwardly "tell me again why you're cursing me about my bust size, something I have no control over?"

The pleasant evening the trio had been having so far had taken a turn for the strange when Senna mentioned that it would soon be getting chiller around town and expressed a hope that they brought clothing for the weather.

This news didn't sit all that well with Soifon, who muttered something about a need for more insulation in order to stay warm, which lead her to press her hands against her chest and curse Senna for her ample bust.

"Very well. I shall explain again." The captain said as she continued to eye the other woman's breast much to the other's chagrin. "I always seem to come down with either fever, cold or some other illness during the change between summer to fall and fall to winter. This year has been no different."

"Yeah, she was throwing up every now and again back in Soul Society. I made her easy to digest food and measured her temperature, but it said no fever." Ichigo informed before turning an annoyed glare toward the woman, "Still, despite my concern, little miss independent here refused to go get medical attention. She said she's power through it using willpower and Nyquil like always." Ichigo explained, as he tried his best to take care of her, despite her resistance.

Senna smiled "The unfriendly, cold-blooded, captain of squad two, who likes giving people the cold shoulder, can't stand the cold herself. Haha, talk about Irony."

"Shut up you." The woman barked, as she crossed her arms, cheeks slightly flushed in embarrassment. "My methods have proven successful time and again. I choose to rely on what works." she argued

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Yeeeeah, but you seem to conveniently forget that you got worse before you improved." He pointed out while the woman looked skittish. "Anyway, Sis, she's conned herself into thinking that it must be because she lacks theee…ahh 'assets' that you and other ladies possess." He glanced back at the commander "Thankfully it's toned down a bit." His gaze hardened "…right…?"

The woman kept up her cool façade under his words "I appreciate you, and everything you've done for me during that trial," she sincerely complimented "but, I think that since you are a man, you should respectfully exclude yourself from this particular conversation, Wǒ de ài (5)." The captain shot back

"Àirén (6) that's-well Ahh…" The man turned his gaze towards the ground and sweat dropped, reminded how out of place he was in this conversation.

Seeing that Ichigo really didn't want to try and argue the matter further, Senna quickly decided to return to the original point of the conversation, to find a conclusion that will hopefully never allow this to be brought up again. "So could you please tell me how my breasts fall into all of this? It's really embarrassing to see you…scrutinizing them like they've done something to you."

"It's the only reasonable conclusion!" The Chinese captain argued fervently, "Think about it! Remember the pictures I showed you of Yoruichi, when she was the leader of Onimitsukido? She wore this exact same style of outfit as me and not _once_ during her entire tenure did she ever so much as get a common cold! The only difference between us aside from height, lineage, and her absolutely magnificent perfect dreamy-"

"(Ahem)" Both red faced Kurosaki's coughed to get her out of her tangent

"Err…complexion." The woman coughed to regain her composure "I've always been a size B, therefore the only difference between us is about three sizes of…chest padding!"

"Well…I guess…but it's not like Yoruichi is entirely normal! I mean neither of us can change into an animal, you know. Maybe she's got some kind of special cat immunity."

"Senna does have a point, Lin." said the carrot top "You did say it wasn't until you took over Onimitsukido, and changed out of the full-bodied operative clothing into what you have on now, that you started to get sick regularly."

"Perhaps, but I had Senna wear this outfit when she was in Soul Society; she didn't seem the least bit affected by the weather!" she proclaimed

Said girl scratched her hair in thought as she recalled the time. "That's true." She admitted. "But it was summer, there were no elements to be exposed to except for heat! And besides I'm a C borderline D, it's not that much of a difference between us, so there goes your theory."

"Well what about Matsumoto-san? Or Kotetsu-Fukutaichō! Even Unohana-Taichō!" the woman wildly accused, uncomfortably pointing an accusing finger in the direction of Senna's boobs, who covered them as she shirked to the side. "They all have even bigger breasts than you, Senna, and I have never once seen them suffer as much as I have! Are you going to tell me they have special immunity too!? Or will you just admit that your, your," she was so angry she just couldn't bring to say the word "Mammarys are the cause of all this!"

"I…" Senna sweat dropped "Shaolin, I say this lovingly, but I think your problem is more finesse related then say…ummm substance related?" she tried to say with a warm smile.

Ichigo glanced back at Senna before thinking over how he could resolve the problem. The man snapped his fingers when an idea hit him "Well, why don't you just layer up?" He asked, "I don't think the Sotaichō would mind all that much."

"I would if I could!" Shaolin shouted despondently wishing there was a readymade solution. "Unfortunately, he wants us to maintain our" she stopped and dropped her voice a bit "'Dignified Taichō appearance at all times'," she mocked before returning her voice to normal and continued "so I can't just change out clothing, and besides even after perfecting my Shunko into Fūjin, I would blow away any clothing on the areas I try to cover up. I don't want my cold problem to become a nudity scandal." She sweat dropped "Rrrgh, damn it. If I had those orbs of excess fat, I could just grab them and huddle close to myself and keep warm. Grr…I never thought I'd say this, but perhaps I should have listened to my mother and eaten more meat as a child…if only to overcome this…gap!"

Ichigo let out a nervous chuckle, as he scratched the base of his neck, amused at the fact that the petite girl would complain about such a thing, yet trying not to draw attention to himself since it would probably end very badly.

Before the festive nature could continue, a loud blare from the radio Ichigo was carrying echoed throughout the room grabbing everyone's attention. Quickly pulling the device out and hitting the talk, Ichigo and the girls were met with a loud horrifying shriek pain and an intense laughter.

Then the line went dead.

Not wasting a moment, he changed into Shinigami state as he pulled off his marital ring; Soifon seeing what he did mimicked his actions and placed her ring on the table beside him. The two of them shared a small glance at each other, silent worry evident in their eyes, before turning back around to see the Shinigamified Senna, who exhaled, awaiting their orders.

"Follow me." He commanded, as they followed him out the door. As the trio reached the roof top they were shocked to see a large smoke cloud coming from the distance, what Senna didn't know was that in that direction was one of the towers that would protect Karakura town should the fighting spill over into the human world.

"What's going on?" Senna asked as she looked across the rooftops hoping to spot someone, anyone who might know why there was an explosion.

Behind her Ichigo was flipping through radio channels trying to hale anyone down, finally after a minute it clicked in "(static)…he…llo. Hitsugaya-taichō, reporting in! Is anyone out there!?"

"Toshiro, its Ichigo. I read you. What's going on!?" he relayed back

"Ichigo! Are you and Captain Soifon near Senna? Is Senna safe!?" The tenth captain asked over the radio, the voice of his lieutenant echoing on the background who was probably contacting another team.

"Affirmative. What's going on in sector four!?" he demanded

"Contact with the area has been lost. We are assuming a hostile force has attacked. Unknown number of combatants!" Toshiro yelled over the radio quickly "As leading officer for the defense team I'm ordering you and captain Soifon to remain near Senna and make sure nothing happens to her. We'll move to intercept as soon as we can but don't let your guard down."

With a sense of uneasy, the lieutenant muttered an 'alright' before hanging up the line. As he put the communicator back into his coat he brought Zangetsu around to his side, while Shaolin released her Zanpaktou and bid Senna to get behind her, who complied but released her Zanpaktou just in case.

The team waited in anticipation of the foe ahead, unsure if it was just some lucky wandering Hollow, or if it was Aizen himself, spearheading a bold attack against Soul Society. They didn't know and for Ichigo, this was the first time since the hospital incident, he felt more like the hunted instead of the hunter.

As the minutes ticked away, he finally saw it: A white figure sprinting across the sky towards them. "We've got one." Ichigo hollered as the two girls brought their attention to the forefront now spotting the approaching enemy.

The team couldn't make out anything distinctive about the enemy, except it wasn't some large abomination, it was humanoid in appearance, and if not for the white garb, the individual could have passed for a human…or a Shinigami.

A chill ran down the young man's spine as he realized that perhaps Aizen had made a move already, and was well on his way to creating his army.

The being stopped roughly fifty feet away from them standing in the black sky almost in hesitation. One of its arms raised itself and passed through its hair before coming down to its hips followed by it shaking its head in a final attempt to steel itself, then without warning the creature disappeared from its skyward box and appeared on the opposite end of the rooftop guardrail.

With Zangetsu, Mirokumaru and Suzumebachi pressed against his throat.

The only sound that was heard was the gasp of shock from Senna, who recognized the individual. The girl against her battle-honed instincts took her eyes off her 'enemy' and saw that Ichigo's and Soifon's expression were marred with feigned indifference, subtle shock and intense desire to keep themselves from making a costly move.

The standoff held for several seconds as the enemy's sorrowful gaze fell to each individual threatening him. The man in white let out a tired sigh as if expecting this reaction yet still holding unto the hope that things could be better if he convinced himself. Slowly he placed his hands against the back ends of Zangetsu and Suzumebachi and slowly pulled them away from his throat, before taking a step back to pull away from Mirokumaru. "Well…that was a close shave. It would have been really ironic to have died by your hands you three, especially since I've wronged you."

"Funny you should say that," Ichigo's eyes hardened by the second as he looked at the guarded expression of the other man "Shinjiro."

The samurai let out a despondent sigh at the animosity behind the man's words though he knew in his heart of hearts that Ichigo was simply being honest with the situation from his perspective. "It's good to know that you're still alive Ichigo. I'm glad things worked out."

"Really now? Could have fooled me."

"Ichigo." The man's fiancé chided before giving an even look to the samurai that betrayed them "What are you doing here alone?"

Rocking his head back and forth as if trying to find a way to navigate things he uttered, "Well, I'm not alone." He answered truthfully

"I see." The woman accepted before gazing around her surroundings "So Subaru is here as well? Hiding in the shadows?" she walked away and yelled out over the building "IF YOU'RE LISTENING SUBARU COME OUT AND MEET ME FACE TO FACE! NO MORE HIDING IN THE DARK!"

Her challenging declaration rang throughout the rooftops and reverberated over the distance, but still no other sound aside from the breathing of her compatriots answered her. The woman placed her hands unto the railing and gripped harder and harder in anticipation for when the spy would come out.

Surprisingly, the one who broke the silence was Senna "I don't sense her, Soifon, I don't think she's here." The girl reported quietly

The woman kept her gaze firmly over the city skyline unconvinced until Shinjiro spoke up, "You don't sense her because she's not here. She's back at Aizen's base of operations in Hueco Mundo."

Ichigo watched as Soifon body slowly rose and fell with each breath until finally she turned her attention away from the empty sky back to their guest. "So if she's not here and you aren't alone then am I to assume that you're with the hostile group?"

"I only traveled with them to see the human world again. I'm not assisting them in their mission nor do I know what their true objective is, I didn't even know they would be coming here to Karakura." Shinjiro testified, "I can only assume that they're here because you guys are here." He added

Ichigo looked from Soifon back to Shinjiro and after judging his worried expression decided to believe he was telling the truth, "So what are we facing exactly? A couple of Aizen throw away soldiers?"

"Worse than that. A couple of his 'throwaway' soldiers could probably defeat a number of low ranking seated officers. What you're dealing with is a legitimate threat."

"I don't understand. Are you telling me there's an enemy here who can match a captain in combat?" he asked the all-important question

"I've never crossed swords with him personally, but I wouldn't rule it out of the realm of probability." Shinjiro replied, "Aizen forces are set up in a hierarchal manner unlike the squad base of Soul Society. Your overall power, skill set, and innate ability give you a position in this hierarchy. The lower the number the better off you are." He explained as he crossed his arms and nudged his head over to the captain.

"For instance, Shaolin here is one of thirteen captains, if she was say the fourth strongest of the captains that would mean she would be ranked number four in the army, and could order anyone from the fifth position onward to do whatever she wanted."

"Oh, I get it. Might makes right; instead, of being equals in charge of different areas." Senna clarified

"So we're dealing with squad eleven idiots with Zaraki level power. Wonderful." Soifon huffed to herself, "Tell me, Shinjiro, what exactly is your angle?"

The man furrowed his brow "I beg your pardon? 'My angle'?"

The pained discomfort of Soifon clearly showed through when she spoke "Why do all this? Betray Soul Society, turn your back on me, almost kill Ichigo. You've done all these and many more horrible crimes and I'm left here standing in the dark!" Her gaze wandered to her shoes "Shinjiro…you and Subaru are high priority target…same as Aizen."

Before Senna could ask what exactly that entailed Ichigo turned to the woman with no shortage of shock "When was this decided!? You do know what that means right? I thought you wanted them to be taken ALIVE."

"I do, but I've been given orders, which I couldn't tell anyone about, especially you!" She insisted,

"Why did you keep this a secret from me!?" he yelled

"BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE!" she shot back even louder, "If I didn't accept the mission then it would have been passed unto another, who'd be far less inclined to exercise flexibility of judgment."

Ichigo cursed the Sotaichō as he removed his heated glare from his wife. "So what did he order you to do?" he asked keeping his temper under control to get some answers.

"You know I can't tell you that Ichigo." She replied tiredly. When he didn't back down she let out a sigh, before continuing. "The only part of my orders I can get away with telling you would be the one based on public knowledge: I was instructed to assassinate any high priority targets should the opportunity arise."

The woman closed her eyes dejectedly, "In the interest of safety, for both you two and the Soul Society, I had to inform General Yamamoto about the extent of their Shikai and other known abilities. Aizen's forces presumably have extensive knowledge on how we Shinigami fight, as well as the abilities of the captains, including our Bankais." She explained before pointing offhandedly to the traitor

"I want both of you to consider for a moment. What if Shinjiro was an active participant in Aizen's scheme? His Masamune alone could cripple every non-direct, non-physical, form of fighting, making most Zanpaktou and their abilities, my and Yoruichi's Shunko technique, and every practitioner of Kido including the kido corps, _useless_. Yamamoto-Sotaichō doesn't want the enemy to have any more advantage then they already have." She paused momentarily, but when she continued speaking her sub-seated anger and disgust at her own powerlessness was become noticeable.

"The only reason that he didn't preclude me from such knowledge was because he didn't know that I helped you, when you came storming into Soul Society, Ichigo. He believed that I was loyal to him and that I put my personal feelings aside in the interests of justice. If he had even so much as a hint to what really happened between us, to what we are to each other, I wouldn't have even been allowed on this mission, deemed too close to make the 'right' choice!"

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group at the truth in her words. Ichigo and the others had been lucky that she had chosen to believe in Ichigo and Masaki, giving precious aid when they desperately needed it most, even if they didn't know of her true allegiance at the time.

"Kill on sight, huh?" the samurai mused quietly to himself, trying not to seem too shaken at the proposition. "Well, I guess I can understand having to make a tough call, duress doesn't excuse some of our crimes, and it's not like we knew each other on a personal level." He shrugged "'Sides, when you've got a captain torn between her duty and her desire, it's a no brainer to not tell you these kinds of orders, unless you prove your loyalty."

Soifon turned away silently as Ichigo pressed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He then turned to meet Shinjiro's gaze "You didn't answer her question, Shinjiro. What are you really doing here? It's certainly not because Aizen is manipulating you; otherwise, you wouldn't be acting the way you are."

"I'm here…" the man started before looking away with an almost tearful expression. Quietly swallowing whatever was holding him back. "I was here in Karakura to get away from it all, for just a minute, but when I sensed your spiritual pressure, I had to make a decision of hiding away or confronting you. The reason why I'm in front of you now…it's because you're my friends." He chanced a glance at the trio, "I want you all to survive this at any cost."

"I don't get it, if that's what you're trying to do, then why go about it in such a round-a-bout way?" Senna asked just as confused the others from all the mixed messages.

The samurai let out an exasperated sigh, as he ran a hand threw his hair. Not sure if now would be a great time to explain, what with the Arrancar in the city. Before he could decline, he saw Shaolin looking at him with a pleading in her eyes "Shinjiro. I'm going to find out eventually." She stated quietly "I loved you two unconditionally. Don't I deserve to know the truth now from your lips, rather than someone else after the fact?" she asked with heartrending disappointment.

The man closed his mouth and looked up into the starry nighttime sky longingly, thinking back on himself and when days were better. Finally the man turned away and started to walk towards the railing on the building's edge "Yeah, you're right, you do deserve the truth." He said as he leaned back against the guardrail, arms crossed.

"But, before I go into my long explanation and re-telling of events, I'll tell you the conclusion, in case we get interrupted. That way you know what happened, instead of having to guess why." He nudged his head towards Ichigo, who was listening intently like the others. "Back at the Sokyoku hill top, I'm sure you remember when Subaru and I stabbed you in front of Aizen after he got the Hogyoku."

The Shinigami nodded "Yeah, we remember."

"The reason we attacked you was so that we could incapacitate you; that way Aizen, Ichimaru, or Tosen wouldn't actually kill you back on the hill top. Once Aizen had extracted the Hogyoku, you became a loose end to be tied up. Considering the venue and timing of things, I think Aizen planned for you to be up there after faking his death as a bit of extra assurance. In the off chance that Kuchiki-Taichō could kill you when he was fighting serious, one of us, including Aizen, would get the job done before leaving. Subaru and I made a bee line towards the stairwell, we arrived at the top of the execution grounds, before Gin and Kaname, but after Renji apparently snuck back up with Rukia, if he ever left. When we sensed the other traitors approaching we acted first, attacking you, causing them to strike Abarai-Fukutaichō, who was unfortunately at the wrong place, at the wrong time, giving us the chance for a clean get away."

"So then you knew about the plan to take over Soul Society the entire time? If that's the case then why did you attack me back in Rukongai _before_ we invaded Soul Society?"

The samurai winced "That's complicated to answer, especially on its own. So I'll start from the beginning and work my way forward." He then closed his eyes and began to recollect, "It all started about a year after Yoruichi's betrayal…that's when things changed."

* * *

Blackout2010 (thinking):….

(Flash back: 6 years ago: High school)

Blackout2010: But teacher seriously, when the hell am I gonna use Spanish!? Outside of this class, I speak English 99 percent of the time. The only exception is when I go to taco bell or another Spanish restaurant.

Teacher: You say that now, but one day, you'll find yourself in a situation where you'll have to use it.

Blackout2010: (Pffft. Yeah right)

(Flash back end)

Blackout2010:….

Ichigo: Hey [whistles] you okay?

Blackout2010:…fuck!

Ichigo: ?

Blackout2010: {sigh} let's get this show on the road.

Ichigo: Okay…

Blackout2010: Esto es una mierda!

Ichigo: (What's his problem?)

Rukia: Thank-you come again!

* * *

Guidepost of the soul!

1. Spanish Translation: Hollow sword versus Shinigami Zanpaktou

2. Japanese Translation: Nameless. Kanji: 名無し

3. Canna Lachlan, speaks with an Australian accent because he's an aussie. I tried my best to create the best authentic speech and vocal translation. Again, no expert here. For Zolin, sorry Mexican-Indians descendants, never met one of ya, no choice but to go stereotypical stoic indian.

4. Turok the Dinosaur hunter reference.

5. Chinese Translation: Wo de ai: my love: Hanzi used: 我的爱

6. Chinese Translation: Àirén: beloved: Hanzi used: 爱人

* * *

From all of us (well...me) here at the Blackout2010 account and Ocasio industries, I want to wish you all a merry Christmas, happy holidays, and amazing new years. Keep your heads up everyone and smile!


	29. Temperance and the Hanged man

(Author's note: Overriding, prefic-banter)

So we've come a rather lengthy way into the story. Which brings me to this make or break part in the story. Namely this chapter. Originally, I was going to ask you all for a little trust in getting through this part…but trust is earned not given. So, I won't ask for it; instead, I'll ask you all to read on and then make the decision of whether you wish to stay or not. This chapter will explain why I said this would be kinda A/U and A/T back in my first announcement, in chapter one, 3 years ago.

Now you may wonder why I'm bringing this up and the reason is: I personally felt this chapter is going to push suspension of disbelief both on context-stand point within the story and because at the time of writing this story, I was unaware of later events in Canon Bleach (books are expensive and I didn't always have internet access.) and I'm the methodical plan sort of guy, so I just plan to stick to…what I had planned, that is.

Which brings me back to the first point I made about trust. I cannot…well 'unable' is a better word, to know how much trust I have earned from the small crowd of viewers I've gotten over the years. I know I've got some good standing with some like Mako-hero, Grinja, xXxmidnightoverturexXx, Zathol, Cittyno2, I-am-cmpunk, batman, prayzius the king of rejects, batla, flair the dragon king, the man of many faces (aka unknown reviewer: the man), and many others who I can name off the top of my head and have been around since the beginning in contrast with the latest fifty to one-hundred people who've favorite/followed the story recently.

Anyway, despite how I portray myself here, I'm quite different, and I wanted to get down this epiphany, before it kind of fleeted away to be forgotten. I think I also said it back in chapter one, but I do want to be honest to you all, whenever I can be; hence, this little spiel about earning trust ,and how this being maybe a breaker chapter for some. So...yeah, don't want to eat up any more time, so please read on and enjoy.

Sincerely,

Jeanluc Ocasio, aka Blackout2010

PS: This chapter is the longest one yet, at nearly 50K. So, if I recall correctly, someone once told me that chapter 16 took them nearly 1.5 hours to finish. Yeah...Sooo, kinda be ready for the long haul. One last thing, there are mention for previous events in the fic, so for your convenience, if you find one you're curious about, just open up another a tab and jump to the chapter mentioned, you'll find it eventually.

Okay, for-realsies, you can ignore me now and go on.

* * *

Chapter 29: Temperance and the Hanged man (1)

(Shino Academy: 50 years ago, two years after Yoruichi's betrayal)

"Man, I can't wait for tomorrow." Said a not noticeably younger Shinjiro, as he walked down the hallways of Shino academy, his arms stretched out behind him in excitement at the prospect of gaining his Zanpaktou Shikai. "We'll be one step closer to joining the ranks of the Shinigami Corps and assist in bringing much needed peace to our fellow man in Rukongai and on Earth.

"Too true, we've had to do another three years, but were finally here. I'm glad it's over; because, now were one step closer in assisting Shaolin-sama in finding much needed peace of mind after what happened to her." Subaru agreed, as she kept pace with her husband, also very eager to gain her Zanpaktou and join the Gotei 13 army, specifically squad 2 and her captain.

"Oh, by the way Shin-kun, do you know whose going to be your Shikai example, before the awakening ceremony begins?"

"I got the great captain of the seventh division: Sajin Komamura-san." He informed with a thoughtful smile, "From what I hear, he's a little odd for always wearing that strange helmet of his, but his dedication and loyalty is undeniable." The man looked to his wife with the same inquiry. "So what about you? Who did you get Su-chan?"

"I got Unohana-san of the fourth division." She replied with a smile, "Although…" she brought a hand to her lip. "I do wish I had gotten Aizen-san."

The samurai nodded understandingly. "I hear he's popular, once taught here too."

"He did, and even after leaving for the Gotei 13, he's _still_ extremely popular..." a dreamy eyed expression crept unto her face. "And he's really cool, and really smart, and very helpful, and very inspiring, and extremely eloquent, and very handsome-"

"AHEM!" Shinjiro coughed, interrupting her schoolgirl fantasy. "_SORRY_ for not measuring up to his virtues." he loudly complained, earning an apologetic look from the girl.

"I-I was only kidding, ahaha…" she tried to play off as a joke; although, it was sorely lacking in the persuasion department. "You've got your good points too…you know…"

The man crossed his arms skeptically, "Like?" he asked.

"L-like?" the woman stumbled, not expecting that. "O-Oh, ahaha, of-of course. I mean _OF COURSE_ I know your good points. You're…umm well…you're like ahh, ehehe, y-you know what I mean, s-shin-kun."

"Mmmhmm…" Shinjiro glanced away unamused, as his beloved sweat dropped. "I wonder if this is how it feels to fight for someone's affection?" He asked himself.

"Maybe, Shinjiro." She then wrapped her arms around his and leaned against his shoulder. "But you'll never have to fight for mine."

"I guess that's fine then. As long as you still love me at the end of the day; I can deal with not being perfect like Aizen-Taichō or having to fight the man to win your favor." The man grumbled, garnering a wry smile as they returned to their dorms for the evening.

"Guess I'm one lucky girl then." The woman half-heartedly considered, as they came up to the fork that separated the male and female dormitories. "Well, here's where we part ways again. Shin, I know you've been diligent in trying to contact your spirit, so I hope you're able to get a Shikai tomorrow. It'll help with placement in the captain's sortie next month."

The smiling man shook his head in disagreement. "Don't worry, I'm gonna be fine, Shikai or not. Wherever I'm placed, I'll be able to do some good for humanity. You're the one who needs the luck since you're trying to get into the Special Forces unit. Shaolin won't pull any punches in assessing you even if she does like you."

The woman chuckled to herself at the truth in his words "Very true. She's the epitome of meritocracy. So, let's just hope that the both of us do as best we can tomorrow."

"Of course, milady." The samurai replied as he leaned in and kissed her goodbye. The only token of luck that the other needed.

(Next day: Subaru)

After the student's watched their example, Retsu Unohana, release her Shikai, they were all in awe at it's beautiful verdant color, strange shape, and most importantly the increase in the captain's spiritual pressure; even the ones who held an aversion to possible being placed in the rumored 'weak' fourth division couldn't help but feel excited at maybe getting placed under her guiding hand.

Seeing that she'd done her job, the serene woman then returned Minazuki back into its' scabbard and wished everyone well, congratulating them for coming so far in their studies, and promised that Shikai or not, she would consider every student equally into her division on the merit of their dedication to humanity; a trait any good Shinigami needed.

When the 'Smiling Angel' departed the room, the teacher of the class returned to the front of the room and began to call the names of students.

Once the roll call had started, the room regained the feeling of nervousness that was prevalent prior to Unohana's arrival. The students who were called grabbed their Asauchi, and went into the monitored safety room in the back, to try to awaken their Shikai state.

In the meantime, the rest of the students were either sizing up the competition and who they thought would pass or were quietly chatting with nearby desk mates for last minute pointers; but no matter how meek, confident, prepared, or worried, the general thought on everyone's mind was: how best to achieve the coveted status of attaining Shikai.

Everyone wanted to go into the backroom with an Asauchi and come out with a Shikai, but as the names of individuals were called, and one by one entered in, it seemed that for every five to ten students who tried, only one or two came back with their confidence intact and exotic weapon in hand.

Near the back of the room, Subaru was casually glancing outside the window wondering to herself what she had to do in order to succeed where most had failed. It had been close to two hours since the ceremony started and she still felt no closer to a promising result, since this wasn't a task where the correct answer could be located in a textbook. Like the many Senior Shinigami who came and visited the school attested, the only concrete things that she could take in knowing wouldn't change was:

One: That each person's trial to awakening Shikai was as unique as the spirits themselves. Ranging from simply asking, to jumping through hoops to even humiliating oneself.

Two: That by constantly trying to communicate with their respective spirit and gain not only their favor, but also an understanding of their character and how they thought, would serve to better prepare oneself.

Sadly, from the results Subaru was seeing, that advice only really went so far, as a trial by fire conjured up by a particularly whimsical spirit could throw off anyone's preparation.

The girl grimaced at the thought. She wanted to get into the second division's Onimitsukido, and needed to make the best impression possible for that to happen, but since she had never met her spirit face to face, only ever hearing it's voice echoing back in her inner world, she knew that her chances weren't looking very good and would need either a particularly merciful or compatible spirit.

She glanced around the room to take in the people who had returned from the trial victorious and tried to recall their nature; perhaps, it would help provide a clue for her. As she scanned the room, trying to find her answer, she saw the guy two seats in front of her shaking terribly, for some reason her eyes darted downward and found a puddle of water underneath his chair.

A disgusted groan left her lips at the display. That kind of fear was something that shouldn't be expressed about this trial. This was as if meeting someone you'd spoken to on the phone, but never met, not a fight to the death…well…probably.

Even then, it wasn't as if the instructor was in the next room to save a student's life if things went that far south.

'_That's it!'_ she mentally exclaimed at the realization _'I should just treat my Zanpaktou like a person and not be afraid of meeting it or it's challenges.'_ she then leaned back confidently in her chair, giving quiet thanks to the cowering guy in front of her for giving her some resolution. _'I wonder how Shinjiro did…'_ she wondered to herself as she went back to look out the window awaiting her turn.

After another hour of waiting, Subaru stood up from her desk at the annunciation of her name. She walked to the door and after receiving a fond 'good luck' by the teacher was allowed into the backroom like the previous fifty occupants.

Upon entering the room, a powerful kido barrier sprung up trapping the girl inside the room. Ignoring the barrier, and doing her absolute best in suppressing her excitement, she made her way to the center of the room.

Setting down upon her knees, she placed her sword in the Jinzai commutative fashion, and began to meditate, to reach into the depths of her inner world. After sitting in silence for a few moments, she opened her eyes to see a slab of wood in front of her face. Uncrossing both her legs, she let her feet touch back against the floor, before pushing the chair she was sitting away from the wooden desk that rested in the epicenter of her inner world.

As she got up to look around the central circle, she was surprised to see the once empty library, or at least that what she had assumed the world took the shape of, since even after climbing the bookcases it stretched out as far as the eye could see, was now stock full of books on the shelves, but upon closer inspections, all of the books didn't so much as have a title on the spine.

Turning her eyes away from the new items, she walked back to the desk in the 'study' "Alright, this is new, so now what?" she scratched the back of her head, since she knew this was going to be a much different experience than normal for her. So, deciding to play it cool, she re-took her chair, awaiting the arrival of her guardian spirit to start things.

After two minutes of silence, Subaru pressed her hands together and started to twiddle her thumbs as she took note of the decorum of the library. After three more minutes, she started to quietly sing the lyrics of one of the songs from one of plays she did. Five more minutes ticked by with nothing, she decided to try to see if the new addition to her soul scape would produce a result.

Walking over to the bookshelf, she grabbed a colorfully designed book and examined the cover before looking at the back. Despite her hoping against hope that it might contain a clue, or preferably some kind of Zanpaktou summoning chant in it, she open it up and found it to be as blank as the outer shell. Still undeterred she started to flip through the pages rapidly, trying to spot any page with some kind of distinct marking, no luck unfortunately.

The woman furrowed her brow as she thought on what to do. There was simply no way she was going to be able to check through all of these books, trying to find some kind of hint as to what to she was supposed to do. Even if time flowed differently from the outside world in comparison to here, she'd be in here for months, years, decades even, before making some kind of headway with this approach.

"Just my luck." She muttered, and was about to close the book and put it back when she stopped herself, and took a moment to view her circumstances from another angle.

The act of trying to awaken Shikai –an upgrade for a weapon forged from your very soul- was by most definitions an 'unusual event'…maybe this required an 'unusual' solution.

So throwing away all common sense and cool logic, she decided perhaps the best solution was simple. Ask and you shall receive.

"Hello, book…ah san. I'm Subaru Kujo, thee ahh 'owner' of this library. Can you ummm tell me what to do?" she asked, before and epiphany occurred to her "Actually let me clarify: 'I'd like to know what it is you want me to do to advance' this…ahhh 'trial' not that 'I want to do whatever you tell me to do'…just…you know…for your information." Her voice started to weaken near the end, as she felt completely stupid for asking an inanimate object what to do, even if she was desperate for a sign.

"It's ok. I won't bite. Just tell me what I should do. However…if you don't want to talk…that's okay. Since you're a…blank book." The woman clenched her teeth, "Perhaps, you could put all those…blank…pages to work…I guess and just have the instructions…ummm…will themselves unto the page?"

The girl started to hang her head; even she knew this was getting ridiculous. "Or if that's too much trouble, you could just magically fall out of my hand in the direction I need to go in." Once again, the book remained silent as ever while Subaru became more flustered "P-please do something? I…uhh…I'll-I'll be your best friend?" _'Gods kill me…Shaolin you better appreciate what I'm going through for you!'_

Once again, the girl didn't get a response, and was actually thankful nobody was around to watch her 'conversation'. Placing the book back to its spot on the shelf, the girl sought another avenue to move ahead; sure enough, out to her leftward peripheral was a movable shelf-ladder used to reach the higher placed books. Deciding to call out from the top of the bookcase, she began to climb up.

When she reached the top of the thick shelves, she was met with the same expansive view of the library that she'd seen several times before. "Please, god, don't make me have to go in there and find my Zanpaktou." She earnestly prayed before she cupped her hands around her mouth. "Excuse me? Hello? Anyone out there?"

She continued to call out for several minutes, each attempt ending in failure and only serving to frustrate her more. She seriously could not fathom what in the hell she was supposed to do and took it out on the trial "GOD DAMNIT IF YOU'RE OUT THERE GIVE ME A DAMN SIGN!" She yelled again this time stamping her feet in anger as her patience started to hit the breaking point. "IT'S NOT LIKE I CAN LEAVE WITHOUT SEEING YOU!"

"If you wish for us to arrive in a timelier manner, we suggest you start by saying please." A dull monotone like voice called out from the floor level. Its owner appearing a moment later from behind one of the entrances that led into the labyrinth of an archive.

The creature that spoke was some kind of floating clock statue-thing. In the center of the creature was the body of a clock with black background and white numbers and arrows, but a crack was going through the glass, and around the edge of the golden clock were statues of three identical women. One was laying horizontally on top while the other two were clinging on the bottom as if holding it up.

The student hung her head in shame at her loss of composure, "I'm sorry about that. I'm not used to such fruitless endeavors especially on important tasks." She said as she started down the ladder to speak with the creature. "I do apologize for my manners, but I hope you can understand my frustration."

Once she was down to the ground floor, she bowed respectfully to try and not only appease the construct-like creature but return to a level of civility. "My name is Subaru Kujo. It's a pleasure to meet you formally."

The three statue's mouths all spoke together as they addressed the girl "We know this already as well your attempt to make amends and while we forgive you, we ask that you do not try to deceive us to win our favor. Knowledge is power and we know everything about you. There's nothing you can hide from us, simply remain true to yourself; that is all we ask. "

Now Subaru was both interested and confused by what the creature was saying, "Umm…what exactly do yo-"

The statue barely blinked as it cut her off "Waste not your time upon it curious Kujo. You will not comprehend now, but in time, you shall. Therefore, let us refocus on the topic at hand: this meeting. We know why you are here; however, we would like to hear it from your lips: as to why you are here, what it is you seek."

The woman nodded her head, her curiosity satiated, at knowing that at least she wasn't going to be in the dark forever, so she continued with the purpose as to why she was here, instead of personal pursuits. "Yes, you are correct. Assuming that you are my Zanpaktou spirit that I've spoken with…I was hoping that today you would tell me your name and allow me to use you whenever the need should arise."

The faces of the statues remained impassive as it eyed the girl "You have been adequately diligent in contacting us, so even if we have never bothered to show up, perhaps you might hear our name."

'_Talk about unconcerned…'_ The girl thought flatly "Before we begin may I ask why you haven't shown up till now?" Subaru asked the floating creature who merely turned to the nearby bookshelves

"We have our duties to this library: from categorizing and alphabetizing the books to sweeping, moping, and any other actions to keep everything in working condition. This area is our home we must take care of it with the same care that you take care of your physical body from deterioration and harm." They explained, "Now let us see if you are worthy to wield us."

"I am Clotho. The beginning." Said the head on bottom right

"I am Lachesis. The middle." Replied the woman on the top end

"I am Atrophos. The end." The final statue opposite of Clotho stated

"And together we are collectively known as your Zanpaktou: Norn."

As the words left the creatures mouth, a small rumbling echoed throughout the library. Mercifully, it wasn't the sound of the bookcases falling over; otherwise, it would no doubt be the end of all of them. Once the rumbling stopped, Norn spoke again, "It seems that you are worthy; however, judging by your expression you have questions. We have your answers, so speak."

Barely able to keep up with the seemingly detached nature that Norn had, it took nearly a moment to realize the creature was talking to her and not musing over the rumbling. "Do you know what that was?"

"The books." The golden clock answered, "We will speak more of it at a later time. No need to overload you."

"Okay." She said silently noting that at least she was not the only one with a secretive nature "I guess I'll just ask the obvious question. Since you all called yourselves different names am I to assume that you're three different Zanpaktou?"

"You are strange curious Kujo. You ask a question that you already know the answer to."

"So no." she admitted flatly, as she glanced away feeling stupid for even considering the conclusion.

"One person with one Zanpaktou is almost natural, to have a dual command is uncommon, to gain a pair of blades is a rare sight, to wield two separate ones is an extraordinary gift, but to obtain three or more is an event found only in the realms of fiction. No such thing will ever happen outside of that fact…we would know." The creature stated in it's emotionless tone.

The creature closed their eyes patiently and clarified "However, we understand the nature of your question, and what you are trying to say. We shall clarify with a metaphor. We are known as Norn, a collective; it would not be so different as to call us an organization. Clotho, Lachesis, and Atrophos our individual names would be akin as to call us workers in the organization known as 'Norn'. So while it would be accurate to call anyone of us 'Norn' it would not be to call the collective 'Clotho', 'Lachesis' or 'Atrophos' when addressing us."

"I see. So you make a consensus as one, but each has individuality within the whole of my Zanpaktou." She asserted based on the facts told to her _'Explains the "we" if I am right.'_

The three heads of the statue nodded as one "Correct. We are as a one as we are as many. Just as you would be powerless without our spiritual energy, and us, so to would we become impotent if your life were to end. One of us is an intricate part to the success of all of us. Any further inquiries?"

The woman thought on the matter and upon seeing the broken glass of the clock and the hands moving in opposite directions from each other she decided on what to ask next, "The shape you take is of a clock, but why are you broken? Is there some kind of significance?"

Norn's eyes turned to the center of its mass, lifeless and sad "Yes. There are many reason but we will give you the one that pertains specifically to you. We are a manifestation of your power and heart however…" the creature stopped as if to consider what to say, "However…you have led a hollow existence for a long while."

"What do you mean by that!?" Subaru said defensively

"You lived an empty hollow life when you were alive up until the day you met Shinjiro. The days when you sought no more than your own end still live on inside you. Just because the negative emotions you felt did not turn you into a Hollow upon your death, does not mean that the momentary happiness you had attained washed away how you had lived."

"So it's a reminder how I used to be? But how could that have made it so dysfunctional now?

"This void has been further supplemented by all the things you've done on this side that went against your conscience: All the lies you've told, all the cheating and back-stabbing you've committed, all the things you've stolen from others, and all the actions that have led to the misery of the undeserving. Every single thing you've stopped to wonder 'if it was right or not' has cracked the glass of my center as I'm sure that it has done to you." The trio spoke truthfully seemingly uncaring that it was darkening their mistress's mood

"Is there any way to fix that?" the woman asked somberly, quietly yearning to find a way to erase any reminders of all her crimes she'd done to get to this point.

"We believe it may heal on its own eventually. After all, people have been known to forgive and be forgiven of the things they feel they should be punished for. The most you can do is to continue to move forward with your life: Relishing the good situations and make the best of the bad."

"I…see." The woman responded absent-mindedly not at all comforted by her words.

"Very well, that is enough questions from you." The creature turned its back around to head back off further into the library "I will contact you tonight, there is something we wish to show-nay, something we wish to hear your verdict upon."

Subaru was caught off guard by how swiftly the creature was going to kick her out, and didn't so much as get her mouth open, before being forced back into the real world.

Returned to reality, she was laying on her back staring into the bright lights that hung from the ceiling of the room. Shielding her eyes, she blinked rapidly to readjust herself before she pushed herself off the floor, glancing around dazedly, unsure of how long she'd been out. The small clatter of something hitting the floor brought her attention to her side where a small hand held knife with a curved black hilt laid.

Picking it up with her hand, she couldn't help but frown. "This is my Shikai?" she said examining the dagger carefully "My Asauchi was bigger by at least five fold. I know I didn't want anything flashy to hurt my chances with Shaolin and the Special Forces, but this is just…" Shaking her head of the negative thoughts, she tried to think positive about the situation.

She was light on her feet and quick; maybe not goddess of flash fast, but still pretty fast and she knew her way around a knife thanks to her thieving days; so at least it was something she could use and didn't turn into a weapon she wasn't skilled in; especially long range weapons like bows or javelins.

She had already proven to be a horrendous shot with long-range weapon with the exception of throwing knives and kido. "Well could be worse." She then got up to her feet and started towards the door, the barrier having already lowered since she was finished with her task.

Stepping back into the classroom, she walked back to her desk and sat down. It was only after she sat down did it seem that the teacher actually start in trying to congratulate her, even though he was facing the door that she just walked in from while she was already in her desk. She glanced out the window no longer interested in things, but when her fellow desk mate poked her in the shoulder she turned to him.

"Hey, put your Zanpaktou away. You don't want to get in trouble." The brown haired man whispered seeing the teacher's mouth move and the words poured out in a slow tone as if he was trying to talk to a person who didn't understand Japanese.

Still catching his point, the girl lazily put her weapon back into its sheath. As she did the teacher in the front finished speaking "-Done. Hmm?" he quizzically looked around for the girl who emerged from the special room. One second she was there and the next gone.

Moving his eyes around the room, he saw that the violet haired girl was already back in her seat. The man assumed the woman had flash stepped back to her seat out of frustration that the ceremony didn't go her way, like so many others.

"I would ask Kujo-san that if you are not pleased with your results that you do not take your frustration out on others." He said not seeing the confused look on her face "Never the less, I wish you the best of luck with your new partner. (Ahem) Now, number 47, Arisu Reiji please proceed-"

Tilting her head oddly at the display, she shrugged it off not a moment later. She was going to be seeing Norn tonight anyway; she could just ask what happened.

After several hours, the class dismissed, allowing the students to enjoy their evening. Subaru was thankful, since she was one of the people called today, she wouldn't have to go back and wait in the pool to be drawn again for a chance to awaken her power. The sun in the sky was sinking slowly overhead, creating a calming red and purple horizon.

As she started to contemplate what it is she should do before curfew, a swift movement caught her eye. She darted her head around trying to spot the object, but the sun's glare made it hard for her. Bringing her hand up to shield her eyes, she went rigid when she felt something pressed against neck.

"I take it that something must have happened, if you dropped you guard so easily, Subaru." The voice behind her teased; when the thing pressed against her neck was lifted away; the woman quickly turned around and saw Shaolin looking rather bemused, the scabbard of her sword clenched in her hand.

An elated smile graced her lips "Shaolin-sama." She muttered warmly at her friend

The commander's eyes drifted down to the girl's side "So, I take it that you've gained your Shikai?"

"Yes. I was really worried, but I managed." She then tilted her head curiously "What are you doing here exactly?"

"Wow, someone obviously doesn't want me around." She said with a sarcastic shrug

"No, I didn't mean it like that. It's just you must be so busy with reforming Onimitsukido and the work load as acting Captain of the second division."

Soifon smiled quietly "You're right. I am very busy, but I figure that it can wait one night. You and Shinjiro are very important to me and today is a very important day for the both of you. The two of you have just made a very big step forward into becoming fully-fledged Shinigami. I think that warrants a little celebration, don't you think?"

Subaru was very flustered at what she was saying; because, while it was a very endearing gesture, she also didn't want her to get in trouble too. Sparing another glance at her, she started to lean towards accepting the invitation, since it had been quite a while since she last saw her. "You're right. Let's go get Shin and forget about things for a while."

The captain laughed, "You're a little behind on that Subaru. He was done with his Shikai exam way before you. He's actually waiting for us at the ramen stall."

At the mentioning of the ramen stall, Subaru's eye brows furrowed "We're going out for ramen? Geez, I thought this was supposed to be a celebration! You know, fun activities, beautiful music, good food, why so stingy, Princess Fon?" she joked airily

The captain gave a playful scowl "Watch it, Vassal."

She held her hands up defensively "Okay, okay, but seriously, why there?"

"Well, I could get away with us eating at a ramen stand together, but if I were to take you guys out to some fancier place, I'd certainly hear about it later on in the gossip columns. I don't want the school to think you had help in your scholastic examination and hold you back." She explained stoutly

The student fell silent as she nodded her head in understanding. While it didn't have any underhanded intent, it would certainly raise questions if word got out that a captain was buying dinner for graduating students at some big name restaurant. A simple ramen dinner with friends would be less conspicuous since a good portion of students would be doing a similar thing with friendlier reapers the next couple of days. "So when do we leave?"

Soifon smiled before vanishing in front of her eyes. Quickly scanning the area, Subaru saw the woman on top of a nearby corridor. "Right now, I hope your flash steps are up to par!"

With that, the woman vanished, leaving the other to play catch-up. For Subaru, it was a welcome change to forget all about stress and the tests involved in student life and just enjoy herself. The two raced across Soul Society, while staying under the spiritual radar, the chase continued for another five more minutes, before they came across a small little shack.

The delicious smell of ramen filled the air and it seemed that one of the patrons, who was probably Shinjiro judging by the sound of his voice, was talking with the owner. Pushing aside the tarp, the conversation came to a halt. Shinjiro, who was looking over his shoulder, turned out of his chair and gave a warm hug to his wife. "Hey Su glad to see that you could join us!"

"Hey Shin." She returned lovingly before she took a glance at the near empty stall "Where is everyone? I thought people would be out celebrating."

Shinjiro laughed as Soifon took a seat beside him "I may not look it, Subaru, but when I need to find something, or somewhere, I'm pretty tenacious."

"Must've come from all those months running around Rukongai. You couldn't find your way around three street corners before getting lost." Subaru joked

"I wasn't lost! I just…needed extra time to reorient myself!" the samurai declared hotly "I'm a guy who learns thing by hands-on repetition: A kinesthetic learner!"

"Kinesthetic learner?" Subaru repeated appraisingly "That's a new one."

Shinjiro crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow "Hey, you're not the only person who can use big words at the drop of a hat." he defended

"Oh?"

The man smiled brightly "That's right, I can I also use words of hefty; words belonging to a _finer_ class of individual. (2)"

The woman crossed her arms "Such as?" Now she was curious

"Longitudinal."

"Longi…tudinal?" The woman repeated a small smile cracking unto her face

"Yes, the abdominal muscles are a group of muscles that stretch in a longitudinal fashion from the pelvis up to around the lower end of thoracic cavity." The man phrased

"…" the woman looked pensive _'Okay that was pretty good.'_

"Or another word: Dynamism."

"Dynamism…?" that one threw her for a loop, was it anything like dynamic?

The man nodded his head and continued, "The dynamism and strength of an economy will determine whether or not a recession or economic boom will occur within a predictive future."

"…" the woman merely raised her eyebrows at that one. Despite his calm outward demeanor, she could practically hear the underlying smirk, and in her opinion, it was well earned.

"I got another one. It's called: TRANS-DIVERSIFICATION!" He declared proudly, a winning grin on his face.

"Trans-diversification…" She was barely able to hold in her laughter _'Hehe…What…the hell does that even mean? Ahahaha…'_

"Mmhmm. I'm capable of using these and many other archaic words to great effect." He replied forcing the girl to stifle her laughter.

"What would I do without you and the joy you give me?" the woman asked herself quietly, as she tried to put back on her game face, which kept getting ruined by her mirth. "O-hh hahaha, o-okay, so then Shinjiro 'Know-it-all' Taiga, would you care to inform your lowly wife, why you don't bother to use your 'words of a finer class' more often?" Subaru challenged, her opinion of her husband once again soaring by his occasional unpredictability.

"Because: If I were to talk like that every day, people would have trouble communicating with me. Sometimes it's best to just get to the point." He offered, "Sides it's a lot less to remember."

The man's wife immediately broke into a fit of laughter. That was typical Shinjiro right there, very brief moments of sophistication smothered in casual pragmatism with a side of human compassion and sympathy. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry." She apologized as she wiped away a tear of joy from her eye. "I don't give you nearly enough credit, my love. You still astound me." The grinning woman conceded as she held her hands up in defeat, while the man winked cheekily.

Soifon chuckled to herself as she had overheard them. Turning to the owner, she asked, "Tell me do you by chance sell alcohol at this establishment?"

The rough looking man smirked confidently "Only during this time of the year. What's your pleasure?"

The captain glanced to her left and right, seeing the two arguing playfully, she answered with, "Your best."

"Not a problem." He chuckled as he turned away and began to mix some drinks while the noodles cooked.

The merry atmosphere at the stand went on for hours, all of them joking about stupid things that other students or co-workers did, venting about how there was a clear lack of capable people, and their future aspirations once the current power vacuum stabilized more.

This continued until Soifon decided to ask about the one thing that brought this night together. "So, since we're all here, do you want to show off your Zanpaktous?" she asked, as she took another swig from her sake.

"Umm…I…" Subaru glanced down at her sword, embarrassed to show it off. "I don't think it's a good idea…" she whispered

"COWARD!" a drunken Shinjiro roared, from the far left side of the food stall, freaking the girls out. His enraptured conversation with his food about the meaning of life abruptly ended when the good captain brought up swordsmanship. "A REAL MAN NEVER TURNS DOWN A CHALLENGE! EVEN CHALLENGES INVOLVING FIGHTS TO THE DEATH!"

"F-fights to the death?" A bewildered Subaru asked, _'Wait…did he just call me a man!?'_

"Yes! Especially fights to the death!" the drunken man reinforced much to everyone's confusion. He then swiveled around before hopping off his chair and walking out of the stall into the flat gravelly road outside.

"Samurai-san, what are you doing!?" Subaru couldn't help but ask, slightly trying to distance herself from him.

"How dareith you speak as if you know me! I am not just ANY Samurai!" the man declared proudly as he brought his foot back and hand towards the other side of his scabbard "I am the nephew of naval commander Ichiro Ogami! I AM THE SHINJIRO TAIGA!" he yelled, as he drew his blade and did a few ferocious swings, before bringing the blade back to shoulder height "THE GODS FEAR MY NAME! MY SWORD PLAY IS PEERLESS! (3)"

From inside the stall Soifon quietly leaned into Subaru's ear "You never told me Shinjiro got this hot blooded when drunk…"

The mortified woman sank further into her chair, quietly wondering if she was being set up by the two of them, using the sake to get her to loosen up. "I didn't know that either. He doesn't drink at all." she responded before sulking her head "…and after this he never will." She quietly promised

"You know. Just for this little display. You can consider this on the house." The stall manager said, as he leaned over the counter to see the drunken swordsman making all kinds of slashing motions with his blade accompanied by oral sound effects.

"Where are you going?" the captain asked the quiet girl, as she got up from her chair

"To bring him back to planet earth." She then paused "Or to die a quick, embarrassment free, death on his sword…I'm hoping the latter."

As she stepped outside, where her husband was having a life and death struggle against an invisible opponent, the girl quietly looked back at the two stall occupants, who just smiled and waved, reinforcing that she was in reality and needed to put a stop to this. "S-Shinjiro." She muttered weakly, half hoping he would violet turn around and end her embarrassment.

"Ah! Subaru-koibito you've come!" the elated man lit up, his ability to now recognize her more clearly coming from an obvious increase in lucidity, as opposed to his initial drunken high.

"I am most glad to see you've worked up the heart to reveal your Zanpaktou to us all. I exalt your efforts, so in return I will show you this Vassal's weapon that will rend worlds!" He then jutted out his free hand, which held…a belt?

"Behold! The Elysium Sky Dragon of Invincibility (4)! To know its name is to know true power Su-chan!"

"…" The woman's eyes cautiously moved from the man's beaming face to his belt before pointing at it. "That Shinjiro…is a belt." She then leaned in to get a closer look "Actually, now that I get a good look at it, that's the belt I bought you a while ago."

The man turned away from his sword hand and examined the object in his other hand "Are you sure?" the man furrowed his brow "It does look like the something-something of…something."

The woman closed her eyes painfully for a moment "How about we take a seat, dear?" she offered as the man nodded his head complaining of a slight headache.

Upon returning to the stall, the duo received a loud round of applause from the thoroughly amused patrons.

"Way to stop the savage swordsman, Miss. We can all sleep easy tonight."

"I concur. Your actions today are the stuff of legend."

"I hate you both." Subaru shot back as she helped Shinjiro into the chair.

"Ugghh…" the man groaned before shaking his head quickly "My head kinda hurts…what happened?"

'_He sobered up already!?'_ "You got drunk, Shinjiro." Soifon informed quite surprised by his sudden lucidity "Are you…alright?"

"I think so…"

"Damn." The owner whistled as he cleaned a bowl "Never knew a guy who could drink that much and flush it outta him like you kid. You'd make a killing at a drinking competition."

Shinjiro glanced curiously at the man before turning to the two girls who nodded in confirmation to the owners' story. "Weird. Last thing I remember was us talking about the Shikai trial…"

"Yeah. Soifon was wondering how the two of us did and…well…"

"(Snort) 'Elysium Sky dragon', hmhmhmhm." the captain muttered

"I'm sorry?" the samurai asked unsure of what she meant

"Nothing Shin-kun." Subaru interjected with a smile, while Shinjiro was feeling even more locked out of the loop.

"So I never did get an answer to that question." Soifon reminded the duo "How did you do?" she leaned against the counter "Care to show me?"

Subaru felt the crushing weight of expectancy fall on her again. So doing what she would have deemed stupid, considering what had just happened, she turned to Shinjiro. "Since you're sober now, why don't you go first, honey?" She muttered, hoping that maybe if his was kinda lame too, she wouldn't feel so bad about hers.

"Okay." He said as he slid out of the chair. Drawing his sword, he cried, "Show them their humanity, Masamune!"

The onlookers watched, as the blade…didn't do anything.

Seeing that the people behind him were waiting on him, the man started jiggling his sword in his hand "Hey! Wake up! Come on, don't do this to me now!" he jiggled it again "Show them their humanity, Masamune! Come on. Go, go now! Do it."

The man sweat dropped when still nothing happened. "I swear it was working earlier!" he cried over his shoulders.

"Did you reseal your Zanpaktou back to Asauchi state after sheathing it?" Soifon asked, the embarrassed samurai

"Agghh…" the man lowered his head defeatedly "How…do you do that again…?"

Soifon let out a sigh, "Who would have thought that Shinjiro would be one of the few who doesn't know how to turn off their Zanpaktou." She muttered more to herself than the others "Shinjiro, starting tomorrow, you need to get in contact with your Zanpaktou spirit. He or She will tell you the proper way to reseal your Shikai into Asauchi state. From what I can tell, you've had your Shikai out this entire time, which is not a good thing for a prospective Shinigami. The other Taichō's might assume that you lack discipline or don't pay attention to important details, which isn't true."

"Yes, ma'am." The samurai muttered, as he quickly returned to his seat and desperately wanted to disappear.

"Alright. Your turn." The woman said, as she looked at the other graduating student.

"Huh? Uhh sure." She replied, before jumping out of her seat. She slowly slid her short sword out of its sheath in front of her audience and gripped the blade tightly. She closed her eyes tightly, praying for it to work, before opening her mouth to speak.

It was then that she drew the ultimate blank.

Unlike Shinjiro, who could at least make an attempt, Subaru realized she had no idea what the heck her Zanpaktou release phrase was. "I…ahh…" she floundered

'_Lament your fate and change the outcome, Norn.'_ A voice said from inside her

'_Is that you Norn?'_

'_Yes, it is us. We happened to hear of your predicament and we apologize. We were so caught up we had forgotten to tell you this.'_

"We're waiting." The captain said as she folded her arms, while the other two wished her luck.

"R-right! Ahh…" she tried to stall

'_Since my medium is out of the sheath, hold it over your heart and say the words.'_

Quickly following the advice, Subaru held the weapon over her heart, blade pointing down. "Lament your fate and…umm change the outcome." She recited quickly. When nothing happened the woman quickly added the name of her Zanpaktou.

The gathered watched the blade curiously; but when nothing changed, the younger woman's eyes went down to her feet, underneath the gaze of her peers. _'Why aren't you working!?'_ she screamed inwardly, trying not to make the same display Shinjiro just had.

'_There is no 'umm' in our incantation, Kujo. If you must blame someone for the failure, blame yourself. We were explicit in our instruction.'_ Came the cool rebuttal

"Ugghh…" the woman groaned, as she brought a hand over her face. This was going to be a very looong partnership. "Okay. I know what I did wrong. Give me a second." She informed them "Lament your fate and change the outcome, Norn."

This time around, the blade responded and the edge shrank down considerably; while the hilt gained a slight curve, bending into the young students' hand. When the weapon had finished changing; instead of the beaming pride at knowing she had gotten Shikai, she was burning in shame at seeing how lame her weapon must look.

Even comparing to Shinjiro's and Soifon's, the other two at least had length, if nothing else. Her's was a glorified butter knife compared to a gauntlet and katana. "T-tada…h-here it is." She said weakly, just waiting for the ridicule to come hurling her way.

"Why are you talking so fast?" Shinjiro asked as he just barely caught what she said.

"Probably just nerves." The captain answered before sitting up in her chair "It seems to be quite small."

Stab. Kujo felt the words dig into her.

"That's one way to put it missy." The owner commented, scratching his head at the sight.

Stab. The woman lowered her head dejectedly.

The man jutted his thumb over his shoulder "Hey kid! If you want I got a spare butcher knife in the back."

Stab. She flinched slightly, while Shinjiro shot a dirty look at the man

The perpetual cloud of negativity hanging over the girl darkened considerably with that little comment. Subaru had never felt more like a failure than this very moment. After so many years of struggling in Rukongai and then finally succeeding in an academy, that would give her the opportunity to turn her life around, all she had to show for was being the ass of a joke.

Seeing the obviously disheartened girl, Shinjiro walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder "Su. It's okay. It happens to all of us."

"I wouldn't care, if it wasn't important Shin." She argued her voice growing distraught. "This was my one chance to actually do some good over on this end and I just… (Sniff)…"

The man gazed sadly into her eyes before embracing her "Stop being so hard on yourself. No matter what happens I'm always going to be by your side."

"But Shin this is-"

"Just the first step." He chided, "Look, we're not even graduated yet, much less have a chance to prove ourselves when it counts, so there's no sense going doom and gloom over one underwhelming result."

"…"

"Look on the bright side. How many other students tried to get Shikai today and failed?" the man asked rhetorically "Way too many to count. You did something that most people don't get on the first try."

Subaru grunted demurely, since she could see what he was trying to say. Shinjiro stepped to the side and poked his thumb at Soifon. "She certainly doesn't care that your Zanpaktou looks lame, besides it probably takes a little practice before you learn what it can do. So cheer up."

Glancing back from her husband, the woman saw that Soifon had a friendly expression on her face, definitely not the scrutinizing image she had in her head. "Thanks Shinjiro." She muttered, as she felt the pressure in her mind begin to ease.

With a confident smile, Shinjiro stepped away and called out to Soifon "Hey! How about we pack it in for the night?"

"Really? You're tired already?" the captain asked mildly surprised

Subaru quickly turned to Shinjiro "No, it's okay. I'm fine." She said reassuring him that she was feeling better now "Soifon, how about you tell us how your Shikai exam went."

Instead of a look that seemed to consider the idea, Subaru and Shinjiro only saw a look of pure confusion on her face. Slowly, she turned to the stall owner "Did you understand what she just said?"

The owner shook his head "Nope. All I got was blahblurghblah. Does that girl normally get so fast at speaking?"

"What?" the married couple asked the other, gazing curiously since they understood what she said.

Being the specialist in speed, Soifon's discerning eye quickly went to Kujo's knife Shikai, which was still out. "I wonder." She whispered "Shinjiro." She called while the man looked at her "Kindly step away from Subaru." She then pulled out her Anken "I wish to see something."

Trusting her completely, the samurai took several more steps away from his wife, as she looked at Soifon quizzically. "Subaru, see these Anken." She raised her hand slightly "I'm going to toss them at you. I want you to focus only on these and catch them."

"Ohhhkaaay." Subaru answered unsure of where this was going.

Thus, it started with a single light toss that Subaru easy grabbed. She looked at Soifon who told her to drop it, and so she did. A few more seconds passed before Subaru jumped up and caught the next one. And the next one. And the next one. And the next one.

Soifon kept her eye on Subaru's form, calculating that she was starting to get into a routine and was ready for the next. _'Now.'_ She thought as she raised her last Anken up and threw it barely a foot in front of her.

To the surprise of everyone, minus Soifon, Subaru appeared on her knees in front of the woman, Anken firmly in her grasp barely an inch off the ground.

"Wow, that was really good Subaru." Shinjiro praised, while the owner clapped his hands at the accomplishment, missing the bigger picture like the others.

Subaru looked up at Soifon "Why did you throw it there!?"

A cocky smile started forming unto the captain's face "I think the question is: How did you catch that?" she said which got a confused look "I measured the distance. There's no way you should have been able to catch this before it hit the ground."

Now Subaru's eyes widened. She was right. She remembered seeing the blade fall downward and that she tried to race over and dive for it, which she had. In all actuality, the blade should have hit the ground long before she got to it, using a flash step to try to cross the distance hadn't even entered her mind. "You're right."

"I think. You do have a Shikai with an ability that belies its appearance." She informed as she reached down and took the throwing knife "I do believe that it augments your speed, which would also explain why you talk so fast, because you can't control it and it's affecting the way you talk, hear, everything about you really." She stood up and looked over at Shinjiro, who was collecting the knives near him. "Although, it seems I can understand you, if I'm at extreme proximity to you. Perhaps, a side effect from your lack of mastery?"

"So…I do have a Shikai?" Subaru asked barely containing her excitement _'A not lame one…?'_

The captain was momentarily confused, "I never said you didn't." She answered "but yes." Her voice warmed up "You have a Shikai from what I can tell."

"I have one." She muttered to herself "A not lame one?" A quivering smile started to form "A possibly useful one…?" She then quickly turned around and started skipping. "Yes. YES! YES, YES, YES!" she squealed in delight, as she ran over and glomped Shinjiro from behind. "Oh my god! Yes! Taiga Shinjiro, I love you so much!" she exclaimed, rapidly planting kisses all over his cheeks and lips, not caring in the slightest who saw her.

The startled man soon turned to mush under the woman's passion; basking blissfully, in the delight of his otherwise taciturn wife's now liberal abuse of her public display of affection privileges. Quickly wrapping his arm around his very special lady's hips; he shot Soifon and the ramen stand owner a huge thumbs up with his free hand that clearly said: 'Operation Wingman: Success. Thank-you for whatever booze you allowed her.'

Soifon sweat dropped at the waterfall crying man, while the bar owner flashed him a solid thumbs up back. Turning her back, the second division leader sat back in her chair. "Intimacy between two people of varying ranks is heavily frowned upon you two. So, you might want to consider cutting your habit of public display of affection, post-graduation."

"But we're married!" they pouted at the girl, who smiled knowingly.

"You are." She acknowledged serenely, before her devilish smirk widened "But I still don't need to see that."

Subaru scowled, before turning back to her lover. "Just ignore her Shin. She's just jealous." The man's wife stated playfully.

"What was that?" she asked dangerously, her reiatsu rising slightly at her joke.

"Subaru was just saying that as long as I'm here you won't have to accept the marriage proposal between you and Omaeda-san."

"Ugghh, way to kill my appetite, Taiga." The woman groaned from the reminded of her Fukutaichō's latest attempt to win her favor.

The woman would admit: The large nobleman was at least polite when meeting her and her father, and he was admirably persistent in his pursuit for courtship with her, but she just wished that he showed the same level of commitment at work; instead of blowing his duties, or getting crumbs in her hair. If he lost a little weight, actually got serious about work, and maybe slightly improved on his general attitude, he would certainly make a very good suitor to anyone in her opinion.

Contrary to popular belief, she really was not a hard woman to please; albeit, admittedly, apathetic and clueless to genuine romance. It also wasn't as if people lined up outside her front door, waiting for a chance to 'sweep her off her feet' as her friends put it; presumably, unlike the beautiful and caring Doctor Unohana, or the glamorous and friendly Lieutenant of squad ten, who people might hand and feet for.

Still, if prince tubby, or any other would be suitors, weren't capable of getting the hint that she wasn't gonna go along with them, she could rest easy knowing that Shinjiro Taiga was the best guard dog a girl could ask for. "Come on, you two. Don't leave a girl to drink her sorrows away by herself."

And so the two did. Rejoining the captain, having a few more booze, and sharing some more laughs. The good evening seemed to be cut all too short when the owner informed them that he had to close up shop, since it was nearly 23:48. So, with a slight wobble in the trio's step, they said their goodbyes and parted ways, Shinjiro making sure that Subaru got to her room all right, before lights out and then soldiering off in…hopefully the correct direction to his dorm.

(That Night: Subaru)

After what felt like several hours of undisturbed sleep, Subaru started to hear a noise; it was distant and faint at first, but with each passing second, it gradually began to grow, it sounded like numerous crisp pieces of paper being crumpled up into a ball, one sheet at a time.

The student did her best to try to ignore the noise that seemed to crinkle in her ear. First: by tossing and turning on her sides to put distance from it. When that didn't work: her arm reached up from behind her head and wrapped the pillow around. Again, to no avail.

Finally, she turned on her stomach and brought the pillow over her head, brought her arms over the top to keep pressed down, and nuzzled her forehead into her forearm.

The result was less than satisfactory, as the noise continued to prevail, and was now accompanied by a sudden almost unbearable swell in temperature.

'_Ugghhh…it's like an oven in here.'_ The tired woman thought to herself, as she cracked open an eye under her pillow. "God, please don't tell me the Air Conditioning is out again…not now with a humid summer approaching…" the woman let out a tired groan, quickly coming to the conclusion that complaining wasn't going to fix the temperature problem, and begrudgingly got out of bed to open the window for a breeze.

Removing the pillow from above her head, she was surprised to find the area around her covered in a dim, flickering, orange light. That was certainly odd; she didn't own a hand lamp and the bathroom and room light were too bright to create this effect.

It was then that a moment of clarity came to her, as she looked down at the now illuminated area. Her bed was not an earth brown.

As she moved her arm against the dusty surface, she concluded that the substance was earthy brown because it was dirt. _'What the? Where's my bed?'_ she thought to herself, as she laid the pillow down beside her and pushed herself off the floor.

As she got up, the girl looked to her side and froze. Not even five feet from her was some large debris that was on fire.

Acting on instinct, the girl quickly rolled away from it. "Is the dorm on fire!?" she whispered to herself, as she looked around her and saw crumbled walls and lots of small bonfires. She was about to rise up and make a run for it, before she remembered that smoke rose upward and could be even more harmful than the fire around her.

Taking note of that, the girl started to crawl away in the direction that her door would be. After getting about fifteen feet, she looked back and saw that the blaze was making no effort in spreading. Glancing upward to check the ceiling to avoid any falling objects, she was surprised to find that the ceiling was gone, only the starry night sky remained.

'_How is that possible?'_ she wondered to herself. She lived on the second floor of the dorm; if the sky was visible, then something must have happened to floors three through five and that didn't take into account where the other dorms were. The mystery just seemed to deepen as she stood up; no longer fearing smoke inhalation.

"Heeeellllooo? Is anyone out there? Shinjiro-kuuuuun? Shaolin-saaaamaaa?...anyone?" she called out, her voice getting fainter with each name. She felt really uneasy, when the silence was the answer to her calls. Diverting her attention away from the failure, she decided to get a feel for her surroundings. "Where am I?" she whispered breathlessly.

Large walls with faded white paint surrounded her, some of it broken revealing paths on the other side, while others had smoldering flames on the rafters above it. Looking ahead of her, the path seemed to come to some kind of four-way intersection, in the distance was a crumbled tower.

Though she could not put her finger on it, all of this seemed rather familiar to her.

Look back at where she started; she saw that aside from her pillow there was nothing else of hers. "Great." She whispered, as she shifted her body weight to one side, clutching her exposed shoulders defensively.

No tools to help her, or protection against the fire, or what caused them, no idea where she was or what was going on. She didn't even have socks or sandals to cover her bare feet; she had nothing, except for the flimsy, thin, sweat-damp and dusty, one-piece nightgown currently covering her body. "Juuust great."

Wiping the cold sweat off her face, she clenched her hands into a clammy fist and cautiously hugged the wall to get over to the intersection, where she could maybe find a safe haven. As she reached the end of the wall, she gazed down the path closest to her and saw a trail of blood that disappeared into an impenetrable darkness _'Not going that way.'_ She thought to herself, as she carefully started moving away from that road.

Stepping off the earthy dirt, her entire body shivered upon making contact with the cracked ice-cold tile floor. Once she was over her reaction, she looked at the tower in the distant path in front of her. It looked harmless enough, but a sense of dread was pulling in her gut and she felt inclined to listen for now.

Turning her eyes at the third choice, she could see that the path was filled with pockets of burning debris, small enough where it was certainly passable and numerous enough to illuminate her way. So without any more considering she went down the path, mindful of her step to avoid the fires, or any sharp broken materials like glass.

As she made her way through the warmer passage, a loud maniacal laughter exploded in the night air, the sound seemingly coming from all sides. What truly unnerved her was shortly after the laugh died down, the loud unmistakable roars of Hollows filled the night.

Automatically, her hand flung to her side and she once again came back to the reality that she was unarmed, and now, in hostile territory. "Oh, shit." She muttered to herself, as she raised her fists back up to her chest.

A feeble attempt to fight off her rising terror.

Looking ahead to her destination, she picked up her pace, while trying to keep the noise of her feet against the tile down, lest it give away her position. This was the ultimate test in finding the perfect balance between stealth and speed.

Once again, the loud laughter from before echoed into the night; however, this time, from a distance behind her, an explosion, probably from a now collapsed wall, reverberated through the corridor.

That sound was soon drowned by the loud booming roar that followed; even though there was perceptible distance, the sheer force and intensity was not only strong enough to make Subaru's hair and her thigh length sleeping gown flutter in front of her, but also blew out the rest of the patches of fire on her path.

Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Subaru automatically looked back in the direction she came, only to see all the once lit bonfires that dotted the corridor extinguished, and the sounds of lumbering footsteps coming her way; each step rocking the woman's body and nearby rubble just a little bit more than the last step.

Although she couldn't see it, she knew this was no ordinary hollow.

This was a gigantic monster-killing predator.

Despite her mind telling her not to, she threw caution to the wind and sprinted as fast as she could down the alleyway. Within a matter of moments, she came across another four-way intersection.

Her terror-consumed mind barely gave her a chance to gander at her options, all she could think about was the footsteps drawing closer to her. Another loud roar from behind her suggested that the monster seemed to have noticed the scent of prey as the sound of its steps turned into a rough four-legged charge.

Picking the nearest one, she continued her escape, not willing to wait around to give whatever was behind her a chance to catch her. She followed it all the way down and quickly turned the corner, pressing herself against the wall, desperately catching her breath in the shroud of darkness.

A loud crunching noise emanated above her as a white gigantic claw dug into the wall above, easily tearing into the material, grinding it into dust. The woman was shaking in terror. She couldn't understand how it had caught up to her so quickly or why she didn't hear it coming down the hallway. The even-paced rumbling of its approaching footstep brought Subaru back to the situation at hand.

Looking to her left, she saw a small corridor just a few feet away from her, quietly she sidled over to the escape. The large hand came down where she had been, crushing the tile flat before moving up to the rafters.

Subaru glanced back to see a large dinosaur-like set of jaws coming around the corner. As she slipped around the other corner, the beast finally got a view of the corridor it was sure it's quarry had fled down. Its golden eyes pierced the darkness as the beasts mouth let out a loud predatorial roar.

Subaru sank to her knees as her entire body shook upon just hearing the monster's thunderous shout from such close range. She clutched her hands over her mouth and pressed hard lest the sound of chattering teeth give away her position to her monstrous stalker.

She heard the creature take a few steps closer down the hallway, its large jaws now in her view. Triangular teeth the size of small televisions attached to a humongous white reptilian jaw.

She could tell that despite the darkness obscuring the finer points of this hollow, that judging it just by the things she had seen so far and inferring upon it being a correct proportional size, she could confidently say: The rest of the creature was easily large enough to rip her in half with a single bite.

Subaru sat against the wall in the fetal position, tears running down her face. Her soul consumed with despair that she might be trapped in this hell-scape, powerlessness in that she had no control of the situation or the means to gain a sense of security, and fear at the proximity between her and the Hollow and the prospect of a horribly painful and gruesome death just moments, a slight noise, away.

Her stalker waited patiently with a resonating guttural growl, no doubt trying to scare her enough to give away her position, like most of its previous meals, but after a few minutes of inaction the large monster's jaws retreated back around the corridor; it's owner turning around and returning the way it came for different prey.

As the sound of giant steps began to dwindle in the distance, Subaru forced her body to move. After a few unsuccessful attempts at moving her limbs, she managed to work out of her clumsy staggering crawl to running down the corridor she originally intended; within a few moments, she came to a brightly illuminated area.

The embers of the nearby rubble gave her a reassuring moment of respite. In the back of her mind, she knew that with these monsters around, she'd be much easier to see, but the comforting light was what she really needed after so narrowly swallowed by darkness.

Putting her back to a wall beside a corridor, she slid down to catch her breath and re-steeled her nerves. "Okay, calm down Subaru. You're safe. Safe…" She whispered to herself, as she wiped the sweat and tears off her face with her forearm. With another breath of relief, she glanced into the nearby fire and watched it dance listlessly. Her eyes started to feel heavy and cumbersome, so she closed them, no need to expend excess energy keeping them open.

After a minute or two, her breathing slowed down, while she started to lose feeling in parts of her body. Initial, she was worried, but when there wasn't a burst of pain, she relaxed; she stayed like that, just casually breathing with her eyes closed and listening to the fire.

However, it came to an abrupt end when she felt her head fall forward "No! No. Stay awake. Don't get distracted." She sputtered, as she tried to move her limbs, realizing what she was doing, what she had almost done. "Focus. Focus on the situation." The woman straightened her body back up to match her alert state. "Okay. Think. Think. Where am I? There are lots of Hollows and there are buildings here. I'm dead, so this isn't the human world, and Rukongai doesn't have these kinds of construction materials, so I've got to be in Seireitei."

The trainee Shinigami pushed her hair back with a dust-covered hand "Okay. So there has to be a Shinigami around, alive or dead doesn't matter. I just need to get a Zanpaktou. I might not be able to wield it due to differences in personality and spiritual weight, but if I can just get one, I can get access to areas I couldn't before and maybe…maybe I can survive this nightmare." Softly, she stood back up on her feet and dusted herself off, to prevent a trail leading to her and temporarily help fight her fatigue.

"Pull it together, Subaru. I can get through this. I will get through this. I just need to be patient and extra careful." Leaning against the wall that led her here, she listened carefully, trying to discern for any more Hollow noises like footsteps or roars.

When she heard none, she looked to the path ahead, _'I haven't seen any sign of Shinjiro or Shaolin...and with all these terrible monsters here….'_ Her face fell at the thought _'God…I don't know if you're really out there, but if you are please. Please. Let them be safe.'_

Taking one last breath, she turned her stealth mindset back on. Quietly, she walked down the corridor, keeping a careful eye behind her, while the blazes around her allowed her shadow to creep the wall beside her. She didn't have to go very far before she walked into a courtyard. Looking around, she was pleased to find a landmark in the distance; not just any landmark, it was Sokyoku hill. She stared at the execution ground before it hit her.

The Seireitei was just one big circle and the angle and direction that the plateau was pointing in was telling her where she was in relation to it. With a grateful smile, she discovered that she was in the general area of the second division barracks. "Thank-you god." She offered, as she judged the distance and believed that she would have to move closer to the hill, to hit the station.

As she made her way down the open area, she saw a large pile of rubble with metal pipes and other sharp assortments sticking out of it, but what caught her eye was the person pierced by the metal. "A Shinigami." She steeled herself, silently weighing the chances that a Hollow could be nearby and feeding on it against her ability to get the Zanpaktou and continue her journey.

After giving a rough feel for spiritual energy, she quickly ran over to the dead body. The closer she got the more the girl's eyes started to make out more and more of the person who was on pierced upon it. Judging by the person's body mass she easily crossed out the possibility that it was a man; a point proven further by two long swaying bands of hair, a clear female trait, if it was protruding from the back of the person's head. Once she was in twenty feet, her running slowly came to a halt.

"S-shaolin-dono?" she mouthed in horrified disbelief at seeing her sister impaled through her stomach by a support beam.

The woman made a beeline to her side and clutched her wrist trying to find a pulse only to find nothing. "No…" Climbing up on some of the debris, she looked into her sister's face and saw the pained look of her eyes, wide in disbelief as a stream of blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.

She was without a doubt gone.

"Shaolin-dono…why?" whispered the grief-stricken woman, her shaking hand cupping her friend's cold cheek

"Ah, so there was another." A mysterious voice called from above the shocked woman.

As the girl turned around, she saw someone about thirty or so feet in the air, slowly descending to the ground. His brown hair slicked back with only a single strand going across the bridge of his nose. The man was wearing a white jacket with his collar turned up, over from what Subaru could make out a Shinigami Hakama, in his hand rested a sword most likely his Zanpaktou.

"Who are you?" she asked of the man, who seemed oddly familiar by most standards; though, she couldn't place the name or face.

"Why, 'Sosuke Aizen'. Surely you Shinigami haven't forgotten that name?" the man said in an almost smug tone, though Subaru was ignoring it for some answers.

'_Sosuke Aizen? As in the Aizen-Taichō? Certainly looks different.'_ she thought to herself _'But if he's here then I can finally know what's going on.'_ She looked at captain "Aizen-san. What happened here? Where are we exactly? And what happened," she looked back at Soifon "to her?"

The man let out a small chuckle as if amused by a joke she had just said, "What happened? Simple, I did a little remodeling." His smile widened as the woman's head slowly turned back to him in horror.

"I couldn't very well become a god with this eye sore of a place still in the way so I…did away with it. As for where we are in case you haven't figured it out yet, we're in Soul Society or perhaps I should say what remains of it."

"And did you do this to her!?" she muttered darkly, as her fist clenched tightly and tears threatened to escape her for what she believed this man had done.

The man looked at the woman, before his memory kicked in "Ah, you mean about Soifon-Taichō. Shame really, I admired her loyalty to her duty, coupled with her good work ethic and competency, she possessed many extremely rare quality that I truly value." The mastermind said with such delight, it made his opposite sick to her stomach.

The man shook his head disappointedly "But…she was a little too loyal to turn and her Nigeki-Kessatsu was a rather troublesome obstacle that needed to be overcome." The dark smile from before re-emerged on his face "I personally find that the way I killed her to be deliciously ironic, impaled, by cold steel, just like all her previous victims found themselves before succumbing to her Zanpaktou ability."

"YOU BASTARD!" she screamed, as she jumped from her spot to try and hit the man who did this to one of the only people she respected or cared about in this world.

"Sit down dog." Aizen commanded as he released a small fraction of his spiritual energy causing her to slam against the ground at high speeds, knocking the wind right out of her.

"I...wi…kil…you…" she wheezed trying to prevent herself from being crushed too little avail.

The man's smile grew just a fraction more, thoroughly amused by the fool before him. "You? Kill me? Ha-ha, such a laughable display, you are nowhere near the level of power Ichigo Kurosaki possessed. He is the only one to have any sort of a chance to defeat me." He said smugly while Subaru struggled to look up at him.

The woman didn't know whom this 'Ichigo Kurosaki' was but if he was the only man that could end this nightmare and avenge her sister then there wasn't any choice at all except find him.

Although, right now, that thought took second prize after staying alive.

Unfortunately for her, the conqueror took note of the small surprise on her face, and the fleeting of her eyes. It was the look of someone formulating a plan, her perseverance and determination to try and defeat him after he obtained true power left an impression on him; however, she was also extremely misinformed, a trait that he had no tolerance for in a person.

"Oh I'm sorry. How rude of me to have given you false hope like that." He said mockingly as he stooped down to get a better look at her "Allow me to enlighten you on the whereabouts of Mr. Kurosaki." He then pointed a finger to the floor "He's currently six feet under. I killed him shortly after I escaped the imprisonment that he and his fellow Shinigami put me in; however, with all the people I've killed, you can see why it's rather difficult for me to keep track of whom I've killed in recent memory."

His smile soon gave way to a frown as he leaned closer to the downed woman's face brushing a tuff of her hair away from her eyes so he could see the futile squirming more "But your hope is long gone." He then pulled out Kyoka Suigetsu and held it just above her eye "Sleep tight, Shinigami-san." He then raised his weapon and brought it down on her quickly

(Mindscape)

"AAAAAAHHHH!" the woman shrieked, as she jumped up from her desk inside the library of her inner world, her heart racing a mile a minute. Not even bothering to glance around her, she immediately patted her face and then body to find that she was in fact still alive and unharmed. "(huff) (huff) W…what…was that?" she questioned herself about that…nightmare world.

"That was a vision of the past." The monotone of Norn informed the girl as it approached from behind her. When the statue was met with a confused stare, the spirit elaborated. "That was merely a memory repeated of what has already happened once before and will happen again."

"Once befor- wait-what do you mean 'again'? When did this happen in the first place!?" the violet haired girl questioned furiously trying to gain some kind of answer

"Calm yourself Kujo." the creature, commanded sternly "You are being overtly emotional!"

Wrong words.

"Overtly emotional? OVERTLY EMOTIONAL!?" she screeched as her eyes began to water uncontrollably "You're my damn Zanpaktou spirit, so I know you must have seen that nightmare world! How can…how can you be so robotic!? So indifferent to the smoldering remains of Seireitei?! How many people died while I was trying to stay alive?" she asked which was met with a lifeless stare "Answer me!?"

The girl dropped her head as the tears dripped from her face to her feet. "If you're really a part of me, then I don't know how you can stay silent when Shaolin was impaled on a fucking building by Aizen or how Shinjiro's disappearance didn't spur you to action."

She raised her furious sorrowful gaze at the statue "Are you really my Zanpaktou, Norn!? Or are you just a Hollow, masquerading as one!?" She yelled at the callous spirit

"Perhaps, we were too heavy handed with our words." the golden clock replied in the usual cool apathetic tone "We mainly represent the objective logic you possess. We understand the concepts of emotions and signs of stress, but we cannot empathize with them. The world is black and white to us. There is only one thing that truly matters and it is simple: choices. That is why we want you to calm down, to rationally think, and make a choice."

Subaru's burning gaze seared into the creature before it fell away. The girl balled her fists, and tried to understand what the creature was saying, before turning around and slamming her fist into the wooden desk.

The golden clock watched as the girl sat down in the chair, and silently fumed to herself for several minutes, before returning back to them with a calmer expression. "What choice exactly?" she asked with understandable impatience in her voice.

"That which you saw is going to happen once again. Your friend Shaolin Fon is fated to die once Aizen has achieved his goals. To be more precise for your convenience, she will not survive the upcoming war…however, if you so choose to intervene, perhaps she might live, but who is to say what will happen to both you and Soul Society."

'_Shaolin is going to die…?'_ the young thief now started to truly take Norn's advice and calm down to think carefully. "Is there any way to stop it!? Like a super weapon or event to avert it?"

"History is vast and ever expanding, all reason lost to the brittles of time only to be uncovered centuries later and renewed by knowledge and enlightenment. The only one who has a chance of beating the one who calls himself Sosuke Aizen is the one called Ichigo Kurosaki."

Subaru remembered that Aizen had mentioned that exact same name before he 'killed' her, which meant her first course of action was clear "Then I'll find him!" she declared, not seeing anything wrong so far with her plan, but was quickly interrupted by Norn again

"How unfortunate, you were not listening. As I said all reasons are lost to time: desires, ambition, even abilities. The path has been slightly altered by our creator so who is to say that 'this' Ichigo Kurosaki will be the same man as before. The one who had died before was a powerful and noble soul, but what's to stop him from being weak now, or being just as corrupt as Aizen himself?"

Subaru looked away as she'd never met the man before and didn't have an answer to either question. Seeing her glance away, the statue continued, "You're a smart girl, what's even the statistical odds of you ending up running into him or recognizing him, need I even begin on holding a conversation? The Seireitei, Rukongai, and surrounding areas are huge, vastly, unexplored places, only a single percentile is known to geography, as you were taught in school. Let's not even begin on factoring him perhaps residing in the human, hollow and hell domains, areas which I remind you, you don't have unlimited free access to."

The girl let out a deflated sighed at the very true astronomical odd of actually catching a glimpse of him. "You have a point. I don't know" she admitted however her resolve wasn't going to waver "but I can at least try to save Shaolin. She deserves better after being betrayed by _'her'_."

"'_Her'_?" the spirit muttered confused for a moment, by the odd phrasing. "Oh, you mean Yoruichi Shihoin?" the spirit said with a hint of amusement "If you had actually made the second right turn, you would have ran into her as she lay dying. Had you asked the right questions you would have learned from her that she wasn't really responsible for leaving your sister figure."

"That a lie!" shouted Subaru refusing to believe that woman had any good intentions to her sister "She abandoned her in her time of need! Shinjiro and I were the only true sense of normalcy she had left!"

"Truly? Then let us see." The clock floated to the center of the room and called out a name "Shihoin, Yoruichi."

As the name left the deities mouth, the bookshelves started to move around, shifting in violently quick motions before suddenly coming to a screaming halt; while Subaru was looking around in confusion as to what she saw, the Zanpaktou wavered close to the bookshelf closest to it and grabbed the book that was slightly ajar from the rest.

Clearing her throat they began to read it. "Chapter 1: The creation of a Flash Goddess. Yoruichi Shihoin was born as the heir of twenty-first leader: Watashe Shihoin and his wife: Amane Hojo, a former noble clansmen princess. It was on January first at approximately 12:01.37 am that she was born…" she then looked up from her reading to the stunned girl "Should I go on?"

The trainee was stunned, even she only knew about half of that and it was mostly in part of Shaolin, Norn had just delivered pinpoint information from out of nowhere. "How…what is that information?"

"I am the keeper of fate to which even the gods our bound too. I am the chronicler of history. I can't lie as I provide the unbiased view of history by telling of each individual life that lived. Although, you will only be able to view those whom you have personally seen. This is the reason why this library is ever expanding. It is filled with the everyday life of people. People such as…"

She paused, as the books shelves rearranged themselves again, and she picked out another book and held it out provocatively. It seemed unassuming at first but the title written on the spine was what stuck out the most "…yourself." She stated as she cracked up the tome.

"Chapter one: Subaru's birth. Subaru Kujo was born in-" she would have continued on, if not for the fact that Subaru grabbed the book from her hands and started to skim through it herself, rapidly flipping through the chapters. However, with each occasion that she stopped, upon seeing some significant event, she did a thorough examination and found that it was all true.

Everything from the inane, like the foods she ate on a particular day, or the mood she was in after something happened, to important details, like her perspective on how her death in New York occurred, or the way she had spent her time in the Soul Societies Rukongai districts, or the day she said her 'I do' with Shinjiro. When she came to about halfway of the book, she paused.

"It's blank." She whispered; turning the page, she found that it too was blank. She quickly repeated the page flipping right until the back cover. "Why are these pages all blank, Norn?"

The statue didn't even pause, "Because you are still alive, and your story is not over yet, thusly I cannot spoil a conclusion, lest I be wrong and you cheat death. As for the question as to why your book is a different size like many others…well consider them to be written like an autobiography. Some authors prefer only the highlights of their life, or have small anecdotes that reveal their demure personalities, while others believe their every action -from taking a shower to eating breakfast- are prophesies foretold by the gods, let's leave it at that."

Putting the book back on the shelf, the woman walked back to the desk and sat down her leg twitching up and down in nervousness from all her excess energy. "This is completely insane, but…"

The statues shook their collective heads in disagreement, "Belief or disbelief rests with you. We are telling you only the facts. What you do with it is your choice. Which brings us back to what you wish to do? As things stand, you can pretend this particular nightmare and meeting never happened at all. You will wake up in your bed and can continue along blissfully unaware and live out the destiny that you must." The trio expanded for the woman "Conversely, you can try to do something about the situations around you, no matter how pointless it might become. But there is one thing you should know."

"And what is that?" Subaru asked quietly unsure of what this unchanging constant.

"Regardless of your choice: in the end everyone is going to die, it's just a matter of how painful their respective end is." The statue slowly turned around as it decided to go back further into the archives that served as the woman's inner world "Return whence you came. Live and decide, knowing that death awaits you no matter what you do."

(SS: Subaru's room)

With a small shake of her body, Subaru opened her eyes to see the darkness of her room. Forcefully pushing her body up to avoid falling back asleep, Subaru quickly glanced at the small alarm clock that read 2:48 am. Swinging her legs around, she quickly stood up and allowed her eyes to adjust to the dark environment, before finding her way to the light switch near her door.

After illuminating her room, she quickly went back to her dresser and put on her academy clothes. Done with her changing, she grabbed her door key and exited, locking the door behind her before maneuvering as quietly as possible to the entrance of her dorm.

When she reached outside, she quietly ducked down behind some bushes to check ahead and make sure there wasn't any patrolling faculty, who could make her out due to her bright white clothing. Sure that the coast was clear, she ran across the field and into the building over where a portion of the male students stayed.

Upon reaching Shinjiro's floor, she carefully walked over to his door and started to tap against it, keeping the noise level to a minimum. Not hearing any noise from the other side, she knocked a little harder, this time she was rewarded with the sound of something shuffling and a groggy groan. She waited a few more seconds, but when the door didn't open, she proceed to kick the door and barked the name of the Shinigami inside.

"Cumin', Comin'." The man inside called, as he started to undo the lock to the door. Opening the door a crack, he stuck his head out and yawned. "Who turned off the sun?" he asked tiredly

A quick look of relief flushed over the girl's face, before she schooled her expression back. "Marvelous, you're up." She said quickly, helping herself into his room without his permission.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead." Shinjiro said uncaringly, sarcastically inviting her in after she helped herself. With a quick yawn, he closed the door and locked it again, while Subaru flicked the light switch causing the samurai to wince from the sudden light. "Urrgh, so what brings you here so late? (Yawn) Achully whuug (groan) mmm what time is it?" he asked slowly waking himself up.

"3:10 in the morning." she said glancing at a nearby clock in his room

"'Kay, so what brings you here at 3:10-"

"Correction 3:11 am."

"-right 3:11 in the morning." He corrected, as he tiredly wiped his hand down his face from the needless information. "Look, I really appreciate the visit Subaru-koibito (5), but we do have to prepare for graduation in two weeks, and I have kendo practice in like four hours, or whenever the sun comes up, (yawn)."

As he opened his eye from his latest yawn, he saw Subaru's face seem pale almost afraid. He asked what was up only for her to tell him to sit down on the bed beside her. After taking his seat, his wife began to relay to him everything that had happened in her 'vision' as Norn had put it and what Norn had told her about things going to repeat itself.

Shinjiro remained silent through the retelling, when Subaru finished speaking, and looked to him for some kind of reaction, he promptly laughed aloud pissing the woman off.

"I'm telling you what I saw Shinjiro!" She argued. Furious that he of all people was laughing in her over what she considered to be a matter of great urgency. "Sosuke Aizen is going to betray and conquer Soul Society, he's evil!"

"Really?" he asked with undermining sarcasm, "Aizen-Taichō? Evil?" another chuckle escaped him. "Oh man, how much Sake did you drink at the stall, when I wasn't looking?" his hand darted up, telling her to stop when she looked ready to respond "Ehehe wait, wait, wait. Let me guess the next part: Shaolin's Fukutaichō…hehe…Omaeda, he, he became the spirit king afterward (snort) and he made it, aha, he made it rain rice crackers every day? Hehe, I'm right aren't I, ha-ha? Come on, I'm totally right aren't I!? Ahahaha!" The man busted out laughing so hard he started to cry.

As he started to calm back down, he wiped the tears out of his eyes, but most definitely not the smile off his face. "Ahhh~ man. But in all seriousness, didn't you say at one point you thought he was kinda cute, and basically the perfect man? What happened to you school crush?" The man joked trying to relieve the woman of her obvious nightmare.

His words however hurt the girl deeply. "Damn you, Shinjiro!" She snapped at him angrily at being told that he thought she had a bit too much to drink. "I'm not making this up! Why won't you believe me!?"

The man smiled casually "'Cause this is just downright unbelievable."

"Shinjiro…" the woman pleaded, her anger replaced by an unsettling fear. Never had Shinjiro shown such flippancy when it came to her making warnings. Deep down inside, she knew she couldn't fault him, but still…this…this hurt.

"P-please Shinjiro." She clutched his arm with her shaking hands and rested her forehead against his shoulder "I need you to believe me." She looked up and stared at him with a horrified expression he'd never seen before. "I may tell half-truths a lot, but I have never lied to you, Shinjiro. Never. Please I beg of you, I can't do this alone. I'm scared Shinjiro, I don't know what to do…please (sob) please don't turn your back on me now."

"Subaru." The samurai's expression dropped from jovial to complete concern. He knew it was a rare moment when his wife would break down and beg for something. The man gently stroked her face to stop her from crying and then pulled her into a tight embrace "Okay, okay, calm down Subaru." He whispered into her ear as he rubbed her back "I'm sorry for making you cry."

The two remained like that for several minutes, before pulling away so that the woman could steady herself. "Subaru, I'm not saying I totally believe you-"

"Wha-"

"Stop and listen." He commanded fiercely "What you're saying is a major accusation." He explained carefully "Treason in Soul Society is punishable by death and were basing all this off a dream after a night filled with sake." The woman's eyes fell dejectedly since he was right.

The man touched her cheek and gazed at her kindly "I didn't say we wouldn't do anything, but we both know we don't want to go getting any innocent people killed because of a misunderstanding or a bad dream. So, that being said, let's take things slow, and find some evidence to prove your claim. First thing tomorrow we'll try and find…Aizen-Taichō, right?"

His wife nodded silently.

"Right. We'll find him and see what he does; if it's possible we'll go through his things, IF we do find anything 'evil'" he air quoted, "we'll take the evidence and raise the flag to Soifon, as the leader of the secret police force and execution squad, she can do things we can't, if she's got probable cause. If we don't find anything, we can just keep it between us and joke about five years from now as the bad dream that turned us into detectives. Does that sound like a plan to you?"

Subaru nodded again and spoke in a hoarse voice "Thanks. I knew I could count on you, Shin." She then got up from the bed to return to her room "Goodnight."

However, before the woman could take a single step Shinjiro stood up and got in front of her "No, you stay here tonight. We don't have to go to any more classes, so we can leave whenever we want." The man smiled brightly, warming the girl's heart "Besides, if that nightmare of yours comes back, I'd rather have you close instead of back in your room."

"I'll be okay Shin." She muttered, "It was just a bad dream. Hopefully."

"Subaru Kujo." He said more forcefully, making her look at him and see his obvious discontent. "Stay here; if not for your sake," his hands shook in genuine fear, which the girl very rarely saw. "then stay for mine."

The ex-thief's hand grasped her lovers and held it gently, "Okay." She acceded with a warm smile before leaning in and kissing him on his lips.

Parting from the tender kiss, the girl slunk to the end of the bed and pulled the blanket over her, taking in the sweet scent of her husband that remained on the pillow. Shinjiro kept his eyes on her to make sure she was secure before walking over and turning off the lights.

As he laid his head down on his pillow, he lightly brushed the hair of his love. He scooted a hair and brought his arms around her form, protective in his embrace. The young woman lightly clasped one of his hands as his calming aura washed over her. "I love you Shinjiro-kun." She muttered, her heart once again captured by his actions.

To her surprise, the man heard her whisper "I love you too, Subaru-hime."

(Eleven days later)

"Well, graduation is almost here and still he hasn't done anything, Su-chan…" Shinjiro commented dully, as the pair walked through the hallways to the faculty offices, where Aizen was currently assisting the school under the table in exchange for a 'sneak peek' at the prospective graduate students.

Despite the fact the Sotaichō made it well known he was _**not**_ in favor of such mercenary attitudes, it wasn't an uncommon thing. The faculty, wanting all the help they could get with the work related to the incoming and outgoing students, rarely reported them. The students got to meet the 'Celebrities' of the Gotei 13 on a more casual level, and nearly every Taichō, with the exception of ever-accepting Unohana and to the 'T' Soifon, was willing to pull discrete favors, from simple charm to teaching, anything, to get the best and brightest students into their squad.

Still, while Yamamoto was aware the practice persisted, he did his best to make sure it was much more regulated as opposed to days past and the punishment just as harsh. Those he caught in violation to his words would be brought to the Captain's hall, where he would sit them down and deliver a long, thorough, tongue lashing for their unethical behavior…as he stacked heavy stone brick upon their knees.

Yes, it was a wonderful working system of order and most definitely not instituted in response to the Soul Society having to deal with yet _another_ lawsuit filed against Kyoraku for sexual harassment.

Still, the woman grimaced at the truth in his words, in the near two weeks that the duo investigated, the man just seemed to radiate his usual saintly aura, unlike the menacing Overlord like personality she had described.

The pair would alternate ways of observing him: Sometimes, they would do it the old fashion way, by having one who would tail him for a while before switching off to the other to avoid suspicion. Other times, they'd utilize their status as students and volunteered to help him out at his office with work; taking advantage of the situation in the hopes of spotting some odd behavior or find messages that could create a solid connection to what Subaru had claimed.

So far all they could convict Sosuke Aizen for was: Being an outstanding Samaritan, who showed true patience in the face of adversity. Having an understandable mild aversion to groups of women, who chanted his name in high pitch squeals, wanted a picture of him, or more boldly, as the pair quickly found out, his progeny. A strange, borderline obsessive, desire to consume large quantities of herbal green tea, and lastly, an uncanny ability to beat the two of them silly in roughly eighty percent of all known games; involving a board or movable pieces.

"We can hold out until graduation. Just to be certain." She tried to reassure; although, deep down, she was pretty convinced this might have just been a wild goose chase all along. "Come on, Shinjiro."

"Fine, fine." He shook off as they approached Aizen's door. Gently knocking on the door Shinjiro asked for permission to enter. They waited a second, but when no answer came, he turned the knob.

The door swung open and the pair saw Aizen-Taichō holding a piece of paper in each hand. It was fairly obvious that the man was concentrating so hard on its content to make a good decision that he hadn't heard Shin knock. "Ahem." The man cleared his throat to flag Aizen's attention.

The bespectacled man let out a quiet grunt, as he jerked his head from the forms, apparently startled to see his two student helpers. Setting them down, he gave an even look to the investigators. "My apologies, Taiga-san, Kujo-san. I've been so busy looking over my squad's budget that I must have lost track of time." He said as he leaned back in his chair. "Though…you two are rather early today."

The two exchanged a confused glance with each other before turning back to the captain "Sir. It's almost five thirty, if anything we're almost late." Shinjiro informed

Whatever the samurai must have said triggered a panic like reaction in the captain, who looked to the nearby wall and saw that the clock affirmed his words. "I- I'm sorry I have to go." He said as he quickly got up from his desk and began to sift through the piles of folders on his desk.

"Is everything alright sir?" Subaru asked since she'd never seen him lose his composure.

Aizen glanced up before shaking his head no "No, it's nothing. Just a school meeting I need to attend. But…I got so caught up in things and well, haha." he gestured to the clock with bemused smile "As you can see, not my finest moment."

Seeing his point, Shinjiro nodded his head, while he thought up a way to check his office today. "Sir," he spoke up, "if it wouldn't be too much trouble." He ran his finger between himself and his wife, "Subaru and I can take care of this mess, while you go to your meeting. You and all the other Shinigami help keep us safe at night. I think it's the least we could do to ease the burden off your shoulders."

The captain stopped what he was doing and warily glanced back at his desk. It was overflowing with paperwork he'd brought back from the division, it would take some time to get this in any decent shape, his eyes wandered back to the clock which was ticking away slowly, he had very little time, he needed to go.

'_Nothing students couldn't sort.'_ He thought to himself "It's very kind of you to offer." The man said with a grateful smile "If you could just put it in a pile before clearing off my desk, I'd be most appreciative. And again, if there are any messages, please write it down and leave it in the usual area."

"Of course sir." Subaru offered a fake cutesy smile.

Shinjiro bowed his head. "Leave it to us, Aizen-Taichō."

With one final appreciative nod, Aizen left the room to go attend his own errands leaving the snoops' free reign. The young woman cast a glance at his desk, the only area that they could never check into, and figured it wasn't big enough to warrant the both of them staying in this room to check it. "Shinjiro, why don't you clean up the mess and check inside his desk, while you're doing that, I'll go see if Aizen-Taichō is going to be making any extra stops during his little outing."

Her husband nodded his head in agreement. "Good idea, but try to be mindful of your surroundings, and don't get to close to him. It's no good if he spots you." He warned

"Exactly. It's just like a practice run for Onimitsukido." She then leaned over and gave a peck on the man's cheek "Good luck. I'll do my best on my end."

Shinjiro opened the door for his wife before returning to the pile of paper work on the desk. Having done a prior stint in paper managing, the samurai had no problem sorting the mess into five stacks, organized by what each issue the papers regarded. When he was done sorting, he rotated his shoulders to work out any kinks that may have built up.

So far, he hadn't seen anything worth making a concern about.

Turning his chair slightly, he started opening the side drawers and quickly filing thumbing through the sheets of paper. _'Training regimen changes, Repairs and reparations, Morale evaluation report, Building expansion, Monthly budget report, Officer vacation schedule, Monthly KIA report, Another monthly budget report, SMA reminder.'_ He mentally kept reading as he sifted through shaking his more and more. "(Sigh) Nope. Not here." He closed the drawer and leaned back in the easy chair. "Investigating people sure isn't as easy as the people on TV make it look."

He placed his arm on the table and leaned against it, thinking on all the areas where Aizen might put any evidence that could prove that Subaru was telling the truth. He considered, on the one hand if it did exist, he would probably keep it in a secure place: like his office back in Seireitei or his home, wherever that maybe. Alternatively, if there was no physical evidence, the man simple kept small reminders and left the rest of his plan in his head, which made the investigation next to impossible to prove until it was too late.

Well…if it all wasn't just a drunken delusion Subaru conjured up.

Still, he had a duty to give his best, especially for his wife.

"Come on, Shinjiro, focus. You've overcome way more difficult obstacles with less than what I have now." He pepped talked himself up, since nobody was going to take this possible threat seriously, if he gave up now.

So, putting his game face back on, he leaned back down to have another go at the lowest drawer. As he tried to reach without getting out of the chair, his other arm accidently knocked the stapler off the table and whacked on back of his head. "Damn it, Oww!" the man cursed, as he clutched the spot the office tool had struck him.

After rubbing the spot to dull away the pain, he pushed himself out of the chair and got down on his stomach to go underneath the desk and get the tool he moved. Once he grabbed it, he looked up to make sure he had enough clearance to not hit his head a second time. It was then that he noticed a small tassel barely sticking out from the far end of the desk. He placed his hand on it and was about to pull before he stopped himself. Pressing himself against the floor, he pulled the tassel and the bottom dropped down in an arc, which would have hit him in the face if he hadn't taken precaution.

Turning on his side to look inside, he saw a small sticky note with a time stamp for today's date. _'Finally.'_ Shinjiro thought to himself, a broad smile emerged on his face. Finally, he actually found something that could be useful. Memorizing the time, he quickly put the false bottom back and returned to his seat.

Once he was sure that everything was the way it was, before he messed with things, he looked around the room for some paper. Spotting a nearby stack on shelf, he checked it and once affirming that it was blank, he grabbed a pen from the desk and wrote down the information, before folding it up several times and pocketing it.

As he finished his task, he started to walk back to the desk when the front door opened. The man froze, paralyzed with fear until he saw Subaru slip back inside. "I'm back." She announced.

Quickly settling back down, Shinjiro sat down in the office chair. "Anything on your end, Su-chan?" he asked as he interlocked his hands.

Subaru raised an eyebrow at the man's sudden assertiveness but complied. "Nothing out of the ordinary. After I left, I found Aizen-Taichō leaving from the faculty offices and heading straight for the general administrative building. On the way there, he bumped into another Taichō. I think it might have been Gin Ichimaru, but I'm not sure, it's rare to spot Taichōs just roam the campus aimlessly, after all."

"Did they say or do anything unusual?"

"Noooo, they just talked. Of course, I was too far away to hear what they were talking about, but Aizen seemed to have a serious expression on his face." She reported before shaking her head. "But that's hardly surprising, if two Taichō's are talking to each other, in a serious conversation, it must be important Court Guard Squad business, like orders from Yamamoto-Sotaichō."

'_That's just coincidence and even if it wasn't that would give a new definition to "flimsy evidence"'_ Shinjiro thought to himself "Okay, that not really helpful."

"Well after that he attended the meeting he told us about and gave a small pep talk to a group of passing students about living to your full potential, before heading to the cafeteria for dinner and that's it before I left."

The man in chair grunted unhappily. "How about that library in your head? Norn said it documents others or something, right? Have you found anything?"

The woman sighed equally flustered. "Don't go expecting instant results, Shin. There are frustrating limitations that make the search difficult, like encountering the person for one."

The man quirked an eyebrow "Okay, but you know him, what's the problem?"

"Let me rephrase that: I just need to SEE a person to be able to access information on them. Now this wouldn't be a problem if I knew their name and this wasn't the afterlife, aka the place EVERYONE GOES TO WHEN THEY DIE. So I have a lot of names with no pictures or search criteria to filter through." The woman answered, grinding her teeth in frustration "I mean did you even know that there are two-hundred and thirty six 'Sosuke Aizens', whom we've encountered over the years? The size of their documents in the library range from the average school textbook to a few that have taken up entire bookshelves by themselves."

"What!?" Shinjiro cried out as he got up from the chair. "Two-hundred and thirty six!? Th-that a lot! I know this is the afterlife but Jesus Christ! How is that possible!?"

"Apparently, early in the founding years of Seireitei and Rukongai, there was a man who went by the name of 'Aizen'. He was among the first Shinigami trained and he contributed to maintaining the then 10 Rukongai districts. Eventually his name was selected as possible district title upon future expansion."

The samurai furrowed his eyebrow "I know we didn't visit every district but I don't really remember an 'Aizen' district."

The woman nodded "Correct. The name was eventually selected; however, with the degradation of Rukongai's state, the Seireitei passed a law that forbade Shinigami names for being used as district titles."

"I know it's a little off topic, but why exactly?"

"According to our textbooks, the official reason was to distance themselves and not get attached to the people of Rukongai, who will eventually be reincarnated."

"And unofficially?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. Some of the Shinigami believe the official story, mostly nobles and the idealistic, the more cynical say out of shame, quoting that barring extreme cases like Zaraki-Taichō, prospective Shino academy students and Shinigami have only recently started coming from there. Before we arrived, One-two hundred years ago, not coming from or having a connection to a noble family **and** becoming a Shinigami was basically an unheard of practice. You were stuck where you were unless Soul Society wanted you for their own ends. Although, I highly doubt that it's stopped others from trying to sneak their way in and better their situation."

She shrugged, unsure what to make of it "A classic case of the Shinigami abandoning their roots, after choosing to only taking in those from the noble families once expansion occurred."

"Hmm…"

"In either case, the district was renamed as the 'hanging dog' district in accordance with the law. I believed we travelled through there at one point or another."

"Ahh, okay." Now Shinjiro got it "Well, getting back to what we were talking about before, I suggest starting with the big books and working backwards. I'm sure Aizen's got a long illustrious career ahead of him."

"Already on it." she replied dully, certainly not pleased that she'd have to sift through another foray into the realms of documented dull everyday life. "What about you?"

"Well I-" he stopped when the door to the office opened and Sosuke Aizen walked in with his ever present smile. "Good to see you, sir." Shinjiro greeted switching persona up as he got up from the desk.

"And to you too." He greeted as he walked over and took his seat. The man eyed the organized stacks of paper "My, you two are quite the hard workers, I can appreciate that." He then looked at Shinjiro "Since you wife is so eager to join Soifon's squad, I'd be more than happy to take you in my division. I could use the help."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I would prefer to allow all the Taichōs a chance to assess were I would be best placed." He declined

"A pity, but a code of ethics should be observed."

"Think nothing of it sir." Subaru added demurely, as she glanced towards her husband. "We're just happy to do whatever we can to ease the burden on others." She coaxed, further adding to the smile on Aizen's face.

"Very magnanimous of you." He then slipped his hand into his pocket and held out a small sticky note. "I talked to the people at the cafeteria, and informed them that you two were busy doing a task for me, if you show them this slip they'll serve you some dinner."

Shinjiro grabbed it and bowed, "You're too kind, sir."

"We're honored you thought about us." Subaru added

The faker held up his hand and with his ever-charming smile said, "You deserve it. Please go."

So, with their dismissal, the two exited the office and started down the hallway towards the cafeteria. The two glanced around, making sure that no one was following them or listening in, before they picked up where there previous conversation ended.

"Subaru, get ready to take some extra food for tonight."

"Why love?"

"Because, I think I got us a lead." The man pulled out the small piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to the girl. "I found a false bottom underneath his desk with a sticky note that has today's date." He informed as she examined the copy "If he's really got nothing to hide-"

"Then why hide this?" Subaru added

"Exactly." The man nodded his head, before raising his hand over his mouth, a sign he was in thought. "Still, this doesn't prove anything. So I think if we tail him tonight we might just get some answers." Shinjiro suggested

"Do you think we'll get anything solid though?" Subaru questioned, "Catching a late night meeting with someone isn't going to get us much, Shinjiro. We need physical evidence, not hearsay."

"Well…we've searched everything that Aizen has here; all that's left is what's at the Seireitei. So far, he's been careful, let's hope whoever he's meeting tonight isn't." Subaru chuckled quietly.

"What?" Shinjiro asked his rather jubilant wife.

"I'm just glad we got a lucky break in all of this," She said placing both her hands behind her head. "I guess I can leave quite a bit to detective Shinjiro Taiga."

The man laughed as well "Don't you know it!" he replied, as the two entered the cafeteria to enjoy a good meal together, before they headed out.

(That night: Outside faculty dorm)

Shinjiro sighed as he exhaustively looked up at the moon in the night sky. The pair had followed Aizen, to affirm that he had returned to his temporary dorm room, before lying in wait in the nearby foliage, to keep an eye on the only entrance to the building. They had stayed in their spot since eight pm and it was almost pushing one in the morning.

The man glanced at his wife, she looked both anxious and tired, probably from sitting on the uncomfortable ground for so long. Although, every time he asked, she vehemently told him that she was fine, but her constant stroking of her Zanpaktou's hilt said otherwise.

"Maybe I was wrong." The samurai muttered to himself.

The other student however heard him "What makes you say that?"

"Su." He said wearily, as he shifted from sitting on his butt to being propped on one knee, "We've been hiding here since eight, the meeting was for 11:30. It's been almost an hour and half AFTER the scheduled time. Either I got it wrong or Aizen knows how to fly."

The girl looked down obviously shaken by his disheartened tone. "Do you…" she gulped not really wanting to say it, but… "Do you really think that this was all just a waste of time?" she asked. "I mean, we've been getting stonewalled for two weeks and the one lead we get just dried up." Subaru hung her head. "Maybe it really was just a bad dream."

Shinjiro shrugged. "Perhaps Subaru." He replied, "But at least this wild goose chase was just to make sure that Shaolin wouldn't get hurt again." He put a hand on her shoulder, garnering her attention "Nothing wrong with that in my book."

Subaru nodded her head agreeing, "You're right. Thanks for backing me up, Shin-koi." A smile flitted across her lips. "Let's go home and forget about all of this."

"Music to my ears." He said with a calm smile. Shifting his weight, he brought his other knee forward and was about to push himself up to offer his hand to his beloved, when she stopped him by pulling on the shoulder of his jerkin. "Something wrong?" he asked quietly

"I thought I saw…" she trailed off, before looking him in the eye. "Don't move."

Listening to her words, he stayed perfectly still, while she moved in a little closer to his shoulder. Pulling on the front end of his cloth, the shoulder portion of uniform shifted forward. As she had suspected, from the previously concealed location, something brown and furry stuck out. Tilting her head curiously for a moment she leaned closer to the shoulder, but went wide eyed when it suddenly shifted before her eyes, and a large brown spider took to resting on the still samurai's shoulder.

Feeling itself threatened, by the large alien-being, mere inches in front of it, the brown spider raised its foremost legs high into the air and let out a piercing hiss. Understandably, Subaru freaked out and let out a scream as she swatted the arachnid off the oblivious man's shoulder.

After hearing the hiss and narrowly dodging the hand, Shinjiro turned around to see what Subaru had hit off him and saw a tarantula struggling to re-right itself. Taking the initiative, he raised his foot up and crushed it under his sandal. Raising his foot up, he stomped again when he was sure the spider twitched. "There all gone." He said, as he scrapped his foot against the ground. "Thanks Su-hime."

The woman was laying on her butt, flustered with that close encounter with the spider. "That thing was huge! And it hissed at me!" She sputtered frantically "I-I didn't know they could do that!"

"Well-" Shinjiro's response was cut short, when the two of them heard the sound of someone's rapidly approaching footsteps. Panicking, since the two knew breaking school rules without some kind of reason was met with harsh punishment, he looked at the fallen and stunned Subaru and said, "Forgive me." Before shoving her unto her back and pressing his lips against hers.

Coming into the bushes was none other than Sosuke Aizen, who heard the scream as soon as he stepped out of the building. Lifting up his kido bearing hand, he was surprised to see the light illuminate his student desk secretaries. "What's going on here?"

Shinjiro removed his lips from his stunned silent wife, before looking back at the captain with a cheesy smile. "G-getting lucky tonight…?"

Aizen's eyebrow rose at that, while Subaru went from dumbstruck to completely scarlet in the face. "I…see. Then why Taiga-san did Kujo-san scream?"

Finding her voice, the girl pushed her body off the ground. "I-I-I ahhhh, was just ummm s-surprised by his err sudden _passion_. I w-wasn't expecting that." She answered, before quickly amending. "I mean it-it was consensual on both our parts, right, Shinjiro?"

"Mostly." He replied, trying to seem cheeky.

"…" The man looked over the both of them and sighed "And why are you out here exactly at this hour?" he asked clearly exhausted by their escapade.

"We…just wanted some privacy for…our actions tonight!" the man asserted fiercely, "We've been so busy with studying for tests, preparing for graduation, doing club activities and other things these past few weeks that we just haven't had any…ummm 'us' time. So…w-what better time than when no one's around!"

"A-absolutely Shinjiro-koi." She falsely agreed, trying to keep the lie going. "But, we took precautions, we brought protection with us!" her mind suddenly caught up to the words she just said, so she quickly pointed to their Zanpaktou. "I, I mean to protect us from hollows!" an uneasy smile broke unto her face, now that it suddenly seemed like their story was a lie due to the prior information.

"But, umm we brought the other protection too. L-Lots of it in fact! Just for the occasion! Y-ya know, just in case…" Now the previously frustrated Aizen was smirking, "Aaannnd yooou didn't really need to know that, sir." the girl turned her gaze to the ground wanting to die now. "I'mmmm going to just shut up now and pretend I don't exist." She squeaked

The good Taichō closed his hand dispelling the kido. Despite his earlier attitude, he was thoroughly amused by these two's antics. "I come in expecting to stop a heinous 'crime of opportunity' and instead find myself an observer to a 'crime of passion', I believe is the phrase." He said, which caused the two students to bury their head, lest their apparent shame be known any more than it was already.

"Rest easy you two. You have already told me about your relationship status, and considering your circumstances, I can certainly understand the necessity to be discrete, even though your choice of location about fulfilling your…urges is rather suspect. However, you two are out way past curfew, but I am not without understanding." He then helped the two up and took them out of the foliage and unto the main path.

"Now, while I am required to take you to my office and file a report, I am unfortunately very busy. So, since you two have been so useful to me and this is your first offense, I'll turn a blind eye this once and allow you to return to your dorms on your own."

Aizen's smile fell just a hair, but for Shinjiro and Subaru, the tiny release of his energy staggered them. It spoke volumes of how serious he truly was in scaring them away. "But, if I catch you two again, the principle will be the last of your worries."

The two rapidly nodded their heads and just like that, Aizen returned to his usual saintly self. "Marvelous, then I bid you both a pleasurable evening." The man then started to walk off, but the duo could have sworn they heard him chuckle about 'young love'.

The two remained stock still before letting out the biggest sigh of relief they had ever held. The pair was in an unusually ecstatic state; because, not only did they not miss their opportunity to find out if that lead was good or not, but they just dodged a silver bullet and now Aizen wasn't going to be expecting them at all. Things couldn't go any better for the two of them.

The two exchanged a silent nod with each other before giving chase to Aizen. The pair shadowed the man into the nearby park, following a small distance away and using the increasingly more plentiful vegetation to camouflage themselves.

After closely following, the pair saw a large clearing ahead with two other individuals waiting on Aizen. Shinjiro gave a motion for them to stop and dropped to his stomach, Subaru closely following his lead. They waited for a few seconds to let Aizen and whoever he was meeting fall into the lull of conversation before attempting to listen in.

"…La….mo…Ze…" one of the voices said to another.

"We…pr…tr…" another voice seemingly replied.

"Can't hear anything." Shinjiro muttered

"Me neither. We'll have to move in closer." His fellow spy suggested as she got up on her knees.

Shinjiro followed suit and together they both crawled forward, stopping every now and again to avoid arousing the suspicion of those they were eavesdropping on. Once they were near the edge of the forest, they stopped moving and began to listen in once again.

"It's nothing that can't be handled." One of the voices said, and when the pair looked through the branches, the voice seemed to belong to a tall silver haired man.

"Good and with that everything is going according to plan." Aizen said, which caught the attention of the two students.

The African man beside the silver haired individual nodded his head. "Yes, Aizen-sama. No one suspects your plan nor your involvement in 'that' incident."

Subaru looked at Shinjiro, who was returning her frightened stare, while they didn't know whatever they were talking about, the fact of the matter was: Aizen was leading a double life. The man who called him Aizen-sama, references to 'incidents', and the mention of plans just cemented what they sorely needed to know, that Subaru was not crazy and that they needed to check these other two individuals out for some evidence to stop this before it got out of hand.

"Beautiful." The now smirking Aizen replied to his cohort. He was about to continue when he noticed Gin staring past his face. "Is something the matter?" he asked sternly, hoping that he wasn't about to say 'he wasn't paying attention.'

"Yeah, got some rats." He replied, before flash stepping from his spot to where the two were hiding. The duo could only look over their shoulder and try to bracing themselves, when they were violently kicked from their hiding spot into the clearing, their bodies colliding against the ground and destroying small patches of the landscape.

"Hmm, familiar guests." Aizen muttered, as he took a few steps to go check on them.

From his spot, Shinjiro let out a pained groan, shaking his head as he got up to get his bearings, before turning to help his wife up. As he did so, he kept an eye on his attacker, knowing that if he turned his back it'd be over. "You alright?" he asked.

"Fine." She replied, as her hand went to her blade, as did Shinjiro.

"Lament your fate and change the outcome, Norn!" she declared, her blade shrinking in size.

"Show them their humanity, Masamune!" he also invoked, his blade flashing momentarily before a small vacuum-like suction echoed from his weapon.

From his spot, Tosen put his hand on his sword ready to deal with them, but before he could draw it, Aizen placed his hand unto his. "I had warned them I'd punish them. Allow me to keep my promise." When Tosen eased his stance, the leader drew his sword and whispered "Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu."

The pair watched as a bright light over took them both briefly; although, unlike Shinjiro, who merely tightened the grip on his sword, Subaru winced and brought her free hand to shield her eyes from the lights intensity.

Aizen noticed the little reaction he got from the boy and tilted his head softly. His mind twirling about wondering why he seemed to have the near opposite effect on Shinjiro. When a possible theory emerged so too did his own devious grin. Desiring to test it, the man disappeared from where he stood and reappeared barely a foot in front of the surprised samurai, sword raised high above his head.

Shinjiro, seeing the rather telegraphed attack, quickly raised his sword up to block the slow arcing strike. As Kyoka smashed into Masamune, the man was sent skidding backwards with unimaginably intense force. After kicking up dust for about ten feet, friction overcame him, and he slid a few more feet against the ground on his back. When he stopped, his clothing was torn and dirtied, while his Zanpaktou, thankfully still whole, was riddled with cracks and ready to shatter in its entirety.

It was now that Subaru could see clearly again and instead of Shinjiro by her side, it was Sosuke Aizen with a critical look in his eye. Turning around, she saw Shinjiro struggling to move, as quickly as she could she flash stepped over to him.

Kneeling down, she tried to grab her husband's hand to pull him up, but stopped when he let out a pained yell. "D-don't." He muttered, as his fingers flinched closed around his katana. "I can't feel either of my arms or my leg."

Subaru looked at his arm and muttered, "This gonna hurt." Then squeezed his arm, electing another cry of pain, but confirm what she thought. "I'm no doctor Shin, but I think he broke most of the bones in your arm."

"I'm honestly surprised you lived." Aizen commented as he took a few step over to the pair "Even though I was holding back considerably, I had expected you to still be cut in half, and you saw me too, another interesting aspect of things. Perhaps the effects of your sword?"

"W-who wouldn't see that!?" Shin grunted out. "You even paused before bringing it down."

"I didn't see it." Came the chilly whisper from Subaru, who looked worriedly into her husband's eyes. "I-I didn't see anything wrong until you were gone."

"Very interesting." The man replied as he now started to put the pieces together "It seem that your Zanpaktou has some kind of negation properties to it; possibly in response to foreign spiritual energies located around or directed against your persons. Am I correct in my hypothesis?"

'_Is that what my sword does?'_ Shinjiro's bewildered mind tried to reason _'I didn't even know that! How the hell did he guess it after just seeing it!?'_

"Judging by your look of terror, I'd say my hypothesis is in the estimated range of certainty." He cemented more to himself than the others.

"You bastard!" Subaru declared hotly as she launched a mad anger-fueled dash at the captain. The captain quirked an eyebrow and simply waited when she was almost upon him, he quickly gripped his blade and tried to impale her through her jaw.

The man watched in slow motion as the woman's eye widened momentarily seeing what he had done, but he knew it was too late for her to do anything to stop herself. His eyes were about to turn over to the other man when he caught the girl doing the impossible.

Almost like the image of the girl shifted at a speed faster than his blade, and once her face was fully out of the danger zone, did he see that his blade rose up into the air while Kujo seemingly stepped around it and brought her knife around aimed at his throat.

Subaru bared her teeth as she swung with all her might at the exposed area. A loud cracking sound was heard and pain shot all throughout her arm, but she let herself bask in the small moment of triumph.

It was finally over.

Sure, she and Shinjiro were probably going to die anyway, and maybe the other two would pick up where he left off, but right now, she was at ease knowing that they had stopped a nightmare from becoming reality.

As she stepped away from the man, she glanced down at her knife and saw the blade was completely broken, only a small jagged edge remained attached to the hilt.

She supposed it was a small sacrifice, although it meant little for her now. Clutching her pain drowned arm she was about to return to Shinjiro when she heard a voice behind her.

"Tell me…where you trying to give me a shave?" The familiar voice of the ruler of that dark nightmare world chimed.

Subaru's body began to shake in genuine terror. _'Of course.'_ She thought to herself _'I was so caught up that I forgot…'_ she looked over her shoulder and saw him flicking the spot she had failed to cut into. _'the difference in our spiritual power.'_ The woman fell to her knees, her willpower broken. _'I just gambled Shaolin and Shinjiro life…and lost.'_

As the woman in front of him collapsed, Aizen made a gesture with his hand and his two cohorts appeared next to the students, blades drawn and prepared to put them out of their misery.

"Another interesting phenomena." The traitor commented upon, as he walked over to the front of the woman and kneeled down. "Tell me how did you do that, Kujo-san?"

The woman remained there shaking in fear, but her eyes did wander over to Aizen, who gave a reassuring smile. "If you answer me honestly," the blade pressed against her neck nipped a little further, "I promise not to kill you or him."

Aizen watched as the girl's eye left him and went over to her fallen husband, an act he knew would occur due to their intimate relationship. "Norn…my Zanpaktou seems to manipulate the speed of which things occur. That's all I know about her abilities." Subaru uttered as she returned to the man in front of her.

"Intriguing." Aizen said to himself already coming up with a plan to deal with them. "Tell me how you found out about this? I have made nearly every precaution to avoid being caught up until now apparently. Care to illuminate?" he asked

Subaru's breath drew short. She couldn't tell him about her vision of the past; otherwise, Aizen would undo any mistakes he had made, by using her, yet at the same time, it seemed that there'd be no way to try and lie her way out of this.

Swallowing the lump in her throat she was about to speak when Shinjiro called out "We were following you!"

The woman's face whitened "Shinjiro!" Subaru tried to stop before he said anything; however, Aizen held up a single finger, silencing her.

"Please continue, Taiga-san." The man replied cordially.

The man took a breath before he continued, "I was cleaning up in your room today when I accidently dropped something. I went under your desk to pick it up and that's when I saw a note that had today's date and time stamp."

The man closed his eyes as a brief flare of pain surged in his arm. "I had conversed about it to Subaru, so we decided to follow you to see what kind of activities you liked to do when you weren't 'captaining'. You certainly didn't strike me as a conspiracy hobbyist."

"Shin…" Subaru muttered worriedly, while she was glad that he came up with such a good story, she wasn't sure if he'd buy it.

"I do not sense this man is telling a lie." Kaname informed his leader while the man nodded his head

"And he is a samurai. Lying is against the bushido code." Aizen considered, "Though, now that I think about it, you did fib to me earlier, outside the faculty dormitories."

"I didn't lie to you, sir. I told you a series of true statements that created a false premise." The samurai corrected, "In my defense, I do feel bad about it."

"Lied to by an honest man, who retained his honesty?" Aizen then smiled. "Well played." He then looked back to Tosen. "His story thus far is certainly plausible, in which case, from here on in there will be no more written time stamps for meeting or orders. It will be purely oral."

The blind man bowed his head "Of course sir."

"What should we do with them?" Gin asked his fearless leader

The man hummed to himself as he eyed them appraisingly. They were quite weak, but that didn't necessarily mean they couldn't be of use to him, they had potential to be good resources. The man narrowed his eyes, to which the two captain's pressed their blades closer to the two captives.

The man sensing the tension decided to provide an answer. "Simple. They will be coming with us." He said simply, garnering everyone's attention. Knowing that all eyes wanted an explanation, he opened his mouth and continued, "From what I understand they possess the power of negation and fragmentation of time manipulation. With a little creativity, they will help remove the security features no doubt placed on the Hogyoku by that man." He informed his fellow conspirators about their purpose in the plan.

'_Hogyoku?'_ the foreign word repeated in the husband and wife's mind, while the other two nodded their head in understanding.

Sheathing his sword, but still maintaining his dominant position, Gin asked "And what if they decide not to do it? Won't they be a liability?"

"Certainly not. They are merely unseated academy students. Who would take their word over the word of three respected Taichōs: One allegedly from an extinct family, another brought in by said man, and the other found by Yamamoto himself. Who in their right state of mind would believe them traitors without any kind of proof whatsoever?" He answered in a clearly calculated manner, while the two trainees could only avert their gaze to the dirt they were being pushed into.

What was really sickening about it was that he was absolutely correct and they knew it from the get-go. "Also consider my Zanpaktou ability: any attempts at trying to dismantle my plans will be fruitless. They do not possess the power to kill me, nor will they, on that note, it is also impossible for them to try and bring my plan to light. Either scenario ends in their exile from Soul Society in which I win, or it ends in their death in which case I win, again. They're only living on borrowed time, Ichimaru. I'm just letting them be productive members in the solidification of my legacy."

Subaru, as she held her gaze at the floor, couldn't help but recall the words of Norn. _'Is this what she meant when she said I could look away and remain unaware?'_ her lips twisted into a morbid frown _'Is there really nothing I can do?'_ she then saw the mental image of the Sosuke Aizen in her dream mutter the name Ichigo Kurosaki. Her heart then picked up a bit, without a second thought she started to speak. "If I help you…will you not harm Soifon-Taichō?"

"Oh?" Aizen mused; curiosity peaked, as that little tidbit revealed a desire, which if maneuvered correctly could be a crippling weakness that would ensure their eternal loyalty.

"Subaru?" Shinjiro could only wonder at what she was working at.

"Me and Shinjiro will…do…whatever it is you want. In return, please don't bring any harm to her. She's suffered enough hardship."

"Surely, you realize that I am willing to break promises I make. If I recall correctly, Ms. Fon is a captain now and will likely come to blows with my forces. I will not stand for opposition; however, in light of your earnestness, I will not break this promise: The two of you will have more time with her and if the opportunity to capture her alive with minimal casualties arises, I will consider it as a course of action." The man expertly negotiated, slightly acquiescing in order to placate them, since it was a small price, before he instilled his uncompromising demands, to net a potentially larger gain.

"In exchange one of you will work under one of us directly, so we can keep an eye on you to affirm your good faith to my cause. The other will be used for a different means."

From his spot, Shinjiro spoke up, trying to smooth things over with his wife. "I'll work directly underneath Tosen-san." He then looked over at said man "If that's okay with you."

Tosen merely moved his head towards Aizen who nodded in acceptation and then turned towards the violet haired girl.

Tosen merely moved his head in Aizen's direction and nodded that he was in accord, while Aizen himself directed his gaze to the violet haired woman below him. "As for you, you spoke of an aspiration to be in Onimitsukido. Well, you'll get your wish." He then closed his eyes and elaborated, "That branch is privy to very specific information. You will infiltrate it and then provide access to everything I could want or ask of you. Am I understood?"

Subaru's eyes lit up at seeing an opportunity to find Ichigo and completely dismantle Aizen's plans. With a nod of her head she gave an 'alright' and waited for Aizen.

The man smiled most pleased with himself "Very well, we are in accord. Anything you need to know will be just that: on a need to know basis. Till then you are free to do as you wish." He then released a bit of his spiritual power "Do not fail me." The man then turned around and left with his cohorts.

When the trio left, Subaru placed her arm against the ground and breathed a sigh of relief. She brought her good arm over her to her bad one and muttered a quiet healing kido to repair her damage before assisting Shinjiro to the school infirmary.

Never before had she been so sure she would have died, then speaking with that man, and she was also sure, she and Shinjiro might have just sold their souls to the devil, but at least they had time to recover and plan something. "Are you okay Shin?" she asked as she crawled over to him

"Broken bones and lots of pain, agh!…but ehgh nothing lost." He grunted, as the woman slung his arm around her shoulder and helped prop him up for the long journey home. "So genius…gotta a plan B?"

"Plan?" she repeated, "I'm not really sure." She answered dismally. "All we can pin our hopes on is a single person, and there isn't any guarantee that we'll find him."

Shinjiro ended up surprising her with his answer. "Then don't actively look for 'em. Let's just focus on what we can do. I say that we keep our heads down and try to learn as much as we can about their plan, so we can leave hints for someone else to find."

Subaru nodded her head "And if we do find the person?"

"Well…" the samurai scratched his head, having not really considered it "I'll try to train him or her and you find a way to get 'em to learn about what's going on. We need to keep them away from Aizen at all costs." The man looked down dismally and spoke softer "I mean assuming he or she isn't working for him in the already."

"We can't fail Shaolin, Shinjiro…we can't." Subaru replied just as mournfully.

(Aizen and co.)

As the three traitors came to an intersection, the leader turned back to his subordinates "I want the both of you to keep an eye on them. Gin you will monitor Subaru and Tosen you will monitor Shinjiro. If all goes according to plan, the two of them will no doubt work hard so as not to arouse suspicion, while trying to find some kind of evidence against us. Evidence, that no longer exists. You will also not tell them anything unless I tell you to tell them about the plans."

"Aww, it's so boring when everything goes right and there's no improvisation. Where's the zest of life?" Ichimaru pouted

Aizen smirked, he knew how to use his tongue to keep people happy and in line. "Then look at it this way. It keeps an element of danger at all times. One false step, one moment of misrelated information, and all of Soul Society descends down, it reminds me of my days in the war of Hueco Mundo, where you slept with one eye open. Rather exhilarating, don't you think?"

"You and your war stories." Gin patronized though he was noticeably happier.

"Anyway, I need to keep them in the dark and within arm's reach at all times. Once the Hogyoku has been utilized to its full power and my army is set, then and only then will I dispose of them."

"Why don't we go procure the Hogyoku now? It should be easy to find Urahara, Aizen-sama." Tosen asked respectfully.

"It is true that he must be somewhere on earth, since he hasn't entered the kingdom of Hueco Mundo, however it is still vast and will take time to pin point his exact location. While he has probably stabilized it from its previous incarnation, he will no doubt have created a powerful seal that will resist abuse. Obtaining it will not do any good until we bypass that obstacle, though I had considered it for some time, the piece for the awakening aren't yet complete."

He stopped and glanced back at his fellow "We need to ensure that those twos growth will be complimentary to my plan, while at the same time locating the third and final piece: A reliable power source to allow me to use the Hogyoku quickly to empower my soldiers in the shortest time possible. I was careless the first time around with those other Shinigami and nearly paid for it, but now I know it takes considerable spiritual energy, so I'll utilize discretion and patience." He explained to the man.

"So once we've located it, I will need to begin creating a specialized hollow to house my renewable energy source, so that I may call it out when I need it most; while ensuring it has absolutely loyalty to me alone. While it will cross the barrier and gain additional powers, I will not risk creating a hollow with enough free will to have unregulated thoughts or actions. Kisuke is the type to prey on weaknesses exposed to him; giving him a chance to ruin everything by one oversight, is a non-negotiable."

The man looked up into the sky spying the crescent moon hanging lazily, the same one that he always saw when he started his journey to become great. "There is no need to rush." The bespectacled man muttered reassuringly, "The best laid plans are the ones that take time to construct, and so long as the bounty on Kisuke is not rescinded, we have all the time in the world."

(Flash back end: Present)

"Wait a second." Ichigo interrupted "If that story is true then why didn't you try to intervene in other ways? I can't think of anything that you've done that's inhibited Aizen's plans."

Shinjiro sighed, since he had expected the reaction, but was still moderately hurt. "We did try." He stated, as he looked over the trio mournfully. "But arousing your guard without gaining Aizen's or your suspicion was a near impossible task."

"'Near impossible' so then you found away." The captain said more as a statement than a question.

"We couldn't make a big showing of it, but we did whatever little things we could, in the hopes that if we piled on enough, we could get a decent change." He answered, though his body language betrayed his supposed optimism. "But that doesn't mean we always succeeded; in fact most time, it still felt like a slow downhill slide."

(Flash back: 3 years after Yoruichi's betrayal [49 year from present])

Sitting on the benches in the training field, Shinjiro watched as Soifon drilled everyone into the ground…again. A depressed sigh escaped his lips, since he knew why the cold temperamental Taichō was in such an explosively irritable mood.

It had started with how they learned the truth behind Yoruichi's sudden departure from Soul Society. While they were still a little miffed on certain aspects, they acknowledged it was easy to criticize when you weren't in the moment and forced to make a decision. So, after a small debate between them weighing the pros and cons of bringing up the understandably touchy subject, they decided it would be for the best to try and curb Shaolin's now technically unfounded animosity towards her former idol and friend.

The man grimaced when he remembered how that had gone. When the duo had brought up the prospect, that maybe perhaps they were wrong about Yoruichi, Shaolin had completely stopped what she had been doing and just gazed back at them with a glassy stare, as if having trouble comprehending what they were saying.

He couldn't blame her, since they were her staunchest advocates for Yoruichi's destruction, or in his case, her apprehension and subjection to the law, so to hear them even lightly muse that they were in the wrong was enough to put her in a foul mood.

After recovering herself, she had them informed them to 'not joke around' or 'insinuate such a notion'. When they tried to persuade her otherwise, she snarled at them. Ranting vehemently, of the situation at hand, before in turn providing an ever painful detailing as to why 'that Bitch' as she said, was nothing but a traitor, along with a laundry list of other expletives, even rattling in that the only good thing that ever happened between them was that she got captainship and her stinger missile Bankai, that she was personally going to make Yoruichi choke on as she shoved it down her throat before exploding it out of her ass.

However, the hurt woman was not done there; instead, she took it a step further. Coolly telling them that 'she wasn't really angry' and that as soon as the Haori touched her shoulders, her personal vendetta, was no longer the reason why she was maintaining her stance on the matter. Instead, she was faithfully carrying out her orders, in the interests of both 'justice' and 'her duty', like a 'respectable Taichō' should.

The two had winced at all the transparent lies, and overtly brutal tone the girl was addressing them with, but still the duo tried to cling to some kind of hope they could mitigate the damage Aizen had caused and they had salted. Until it then led to Subaru asking the question that brought the punishment of both her and every other Shinigami of two.

"Alright, we, we get it, but we're just trying to say, have you thought that just maybe, MAYBE, there was a good reason for why she left the way she did? She was our friend, Shaolin-sama. She helped you excel as a Shinigami before you met us, she didn't turn us in after Shinjiro and I broke into Soul Society, and she tried to be the best role model for us for the five years we've known her. She took us all in and gave us a second chance. You of all people can't have forgotten that, it's just not like her. Don't you remember?" she had presented in the most innocent, non-threatening, way possible; trying, at the very minimum, to plant a seed of doubt, so the woman might entertain the idea of changing her stance on the matter at a future point in time.

However, it wasn't meant to be…

Shaolin had immediately flipped her lid and accused them of 'sympathizing' with 'her' of all people. Without so much as second glance, she turned around and stormed off, ordering Subaru to rally all second squad Shinigami to meet in the field mid-departure.

The cold captain had been drilling them for the last two hours at a pace they never knew existed, her unfiltered anger giving her near superhuman endurance, as she led them through each painful exercise, one right after another. No rest. No breaks. No mercy.

Some like Omaeda and a few of Subaru's fellow low ranked soldiers had looong since passed out in their own vomit, which the clearly unwelcome eleventh seat kindly moved the bodies to the side, so they could recover somewhat.

Although, his altruistic actions were felt underneath the crippling death glare of the captain, while other seemed to be greatly slowing down and stumbling in their movement, trying to keep pace for fear of their angry captain's after-training attitude.

The guilty one, Subaru, seemed to be on her last legs, as water was streaming from her eyes, her limbs were shaking as she gasped for air, and she was requiring no small amount of assistance from a fellow operative just to keep on her feet.

Shinjiro let out a pitying sigh, when he saw Subaru finally collapse from exhaustion, quickly followed by five other operatives eating the dirt. As he got up from his seat again, he immediately felt the spiritual pressure of Soifon, pressing against him much harder than before; although, he worked through it, and went about his repentance job, starting with the nearest.

He made a mental note that, once the 'session' was over, and he dropped off his wife at four's intensive care unit, he would have to recant on both their behalf…once the furious teenage captain had calmed down of course.

As he reached down, and slung the man's arm over his shoulder, he couldn't help but feel an extreme sense of failure, as a trusted confidant…as a human being.

The fires of anger that they had helped nurture in her to keep her focused, that served to bring the three of them closer together after the betrayal, a solidifying front for all of them, became a mistake.

A mistake born from misinformation, misappropriated judgment, and misery.

A mistake the concerned pair could never rectify under their own power.

(Flash back: 13 years before Chapter One [15 years from present])

"Ninth division sixth seat, Shinjiro Taiga, what is your position!?" echoed the voice of Soifon over the communicator.

"Moving through district 19 of South Rukongai. Currently on route to last known position of relief squad 82, Ma'am. I've got three confirmed KIA and four wounded due to environmental hazards. I've sent twelfth seat Nataku Kuroda and unseated officer Joseph Walker to get them back to CCP (6) 'Hisagi' over in South East Noble District 4. I'm on my own, I repeat, I have no support, I am on my own."

"What about the Subaru's group? Have you made contact?"

"Subaru is on her way to evacuate nearby souls in districts 15 through 18, but this damn blaze is slowing her down. Unlikely she'll be able to intercept them without back up." He yelled into the communicator as he quickly jumped to the side and avoided a collapsing rooftop.

"Damn it." Cursed the woman, as she tried to run through her options.

He was about to continue when out of the corner of his eye he spotted an orange haired woman leading a group of people. "I've got some survivors. Moving to rendezvous."

"Roger, Shinjiro. Move them to West district 26, Captain Hitsugaya's Bankai has the fire controlled in that sector; I'll relay your orders to TOC (7) and possible Tosen or Aizen, whoever is closest to provide support for the eighty-second."

"Copy that, thanks!" he responded, as he hurried over to the group, his eyes dropping to the side of the lead woman, who was carrying an unconscious child in her arms and had a Zanpaktou at her hip. _'A fellow Shinigami?'_ he pondered, since she wasn't wearing her Hakama _'What's she doing in civvies? Was she on leave when this happened?'_ The man shook his head _'No, I gotta focus. This isn't the time for distractions.'_

"Hey!" he yelled catching the lead woman's attention "This way! Over here!" he waved his hand beckoning them to follow.

The swordswoman stopped running and turned to the group. "Everyone, hurry that way!" she directed, trying to usher them to move it. She kept barking encouragement; however, despite her best effort, a few stragglers were crushed by the falling infrastructure, killing some of them instantly while others were burned horribly.

The woman mentally had to restrain herself from going over to help them, because that would mean putting down her son in such a dangerous environment, chancing that the same thing didn't happen to him.

Something she wouldn't allow to happen again.

"I'm sorry." She muttered as she raised a finger. _'Sōren Sōkatsui…'_ she mentally commanded.

A condensed pool of spiritual particle channeled through her extended arm and formed into a sphere barely a centimeter away from her fingertip. The pale fireball expanded rapidly before shooting forwards, engulfing the entire street and all the suffering souls trapped, sparing them the lengthy painful death that would have awaited them.

Turning her eyes away from what she did, she caught sight of the last member of the group turning down a nearby street. Using her flash step, she quickly caught back up to the leading Shinigami. "Thank-you for coming." The grateful mother thanked "Are there more of you? Has Seireitei taken action?"

Shinjiro nodded. "Yeah, most of the squads and the Kido corps are mobilized to contain the blaze, but its city wide. Squads 1, 12, 13 and most of the captains are acting as coordinating support to minimize casualties and keep things organized. The fours are doing their job with 2 getting medics and patients to each other, Squad 8, 11 and their captains are digging trenches to curb the fires spread. The tens and their captain as well as the sixes and the Kido corps are dealing with the fire personally. Squads 3, 5, 7, 9 have been dispatched to brave the fires on rescue and relocation duty, which is why I'm here. I promise to get you to the nearest safe zone, West Rukongai district 26, as quickly as possible."

The woman looked behind her to the group of refugees then turned back to the samurai. "There are more people back in the higher districts as well as Hollows, Shinigami-san." She shifted the boy in her arms to him "Please take my son and get these survivors over there in one peace. I'm going back to do what I can to save others."

"No, I'll go." He tried to dissuade, his eyes flickering to make sure the area ahead was clear before glancing to the boy "Your son is going to need you when he wakes up. How do you think he'll feel when he opens his eyes and doesn't see his Mother? I know you want to help, but you've done enough already. The best thing you can do is stick together and help the Shinigami treat anyone with burn injuries at the evacuation site."

A quiet grunt escaped the woman, as she brought her child back close to her body, his words hitting her core. "You're right. If I release my Zanpaktou, it would increase my power but it will do more harm than good. The average Rukongai inhabitant wouldn't be able to survive being near me. Which only leaves my Asauchi and Kidos, but a stray attack in this unstable environment could collapse a building on top of us. I can't fight while putting my son in danger." A frustrated sadness marred her face "Damn it…what's the point of having power if you can't help people when they truly need it?"

Shinjiro knew that look on her face. It was a look for sacrifice and loss "You left some important people behind, didn't you?"

The woman spared him a glance before nodding her head, "Yes…my three-year old daughter and my husband."

That stung the samurai. "I'm sorry for your loss. I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to lose a child." He paused and swallowed the lump in his throat "Pardon my forwardness, milady, but maybe if you spoke on it, it might ease the pain."

"Perhaps." She answered back "Last night, I got into an argument with my husband. I found out a secret about him. A secret that threatened the livelihood of myself and more importantly, our children."

'_A cheating spouse huh? That's pretty rough.'_ Shinjiro thought to himself coming to what he believed was the only conclusion. "How did you discover the secret?"

"During my life, I've met my husband in many strange places. The first time we met was in Hueco Mundo, he cried, he said I looked so much like her, and then he asked my name. Shortly thereafter, I would see him around the human world, but most times Rukongai."

The woman exhaled while her ardent companion listened on "He was a constant flirter and boaster, saying he was a powerful Shinigami from a noble family, I never really bought it though…at least not all of it. Later on, after we had gotten together, I noticed that whenever he wasn't looking at me, or perfecting his super-secret 'ultimate family vacation gift' outside of the Rukongai, he would always be searching for something. Some kind of great fish. I always though he was odd since he had a weird 'o' on his cheek, but I couldn't quite place why, until I noticed his earlobe. Then I remembered our first meeting and for the first time, I truly felt afraid."

"I see." Shinjiro muttered, though he was still a little confused, did it mean he was with a chick during her deployment in Hueco Mundo and was subsequently two-timing her throughout their friendship, or did he jump to a wrong conclusion. "So what happened next?"

"I confronted him about it. I yelled at him saying that 'I loved him and that if he trusted me like he said he did then he would have told me'. The only reason I came to live out here was to be with him. Sure, I believed him when he told me he wanted to help the people of Rukongai; I always wanted to ease the burden on them as well since most Shinigami have…changed over the years." She explained, re-solidifying the vile two-timing theory for the samurai.

"I finally was gifted the chance to follow my heart after I had a…disagreement with someone I cared about. We argued about the way to treat and accept others, but we had irreconcilable differences. He always said I had my heart on my sleeve, so I called him a monster and told him that if he wanted to stop me from doing what was right, he was welcome to try. Which just left me with him…and that was enough for me."

A sad reminiscent smile flitted across her lips, "I was drawn to him, each time we met over the years, I couldn't imagine another man who so captivated me. I gave him the weirdest compliments like saying he looked cool when he smoked or that his frumpy face made me want to kiss him until he was all better."

Her eyes narrowed as they turned another street, "I forgave him for a lot of things too, like when he told me couldn't go to Seireitei with me when I needed to give birth, but given his past and what I know now it makes a little more sense to me, only I know who the father is."

Shinjiro gritted his teeth distastefully; he honestly never met someone who was so fiercely loyal to such an emotionally abusive person. It saddened him and made him wish a thousand curses upon the man. "But, despite all that you sacrificed for him, you still went separate ways…"

"No." The orange haired woman shook her head, seeing where he was going. "Not with intentional finality. I love that man. I wanted to believe that we could have worked through it, so I sent him away that night. That way we could both figure out what to do with clearer heads. I didn't want us to lose what we had because we were caught up in the moment…or in my case the feelings of betrayal. I didn't want a repeat performance like that disagreement I mentioned before."

She gave a tender smile to the young man. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me. Burdening a young man like yourself with my troubles."

Shinjiro however didn't really hear her as he was caught up in his thoughts. _'Betrayal huh…'_ The sixth seat thought to himself reminded of Shaolin and his failure. The man looked on ahead taking the next turn towards their destination. Even after all this time, he still felt like he had failed her and now he was inadvertently working against her for her own good. An undermining knife to the back in exchange for a friendly shoulder for her to steady herself on.

It was a token sugarcoated betrayal…

…the worst kind of betrayal.

"Are you okay?" she asked breaking him from his thoughts.

"Yes, yes. Sorry. Umm, you mentioned a daughter didn't you? What happened to her?" he asked trying to work his mind off the subject of betrayal

"Before the fire broke out, I went out to go get some food for breakfast. It was supposed to be special since they both turned three today." She placed a loving hand on her orange haired son. "Unlike his sleepyhead baby sister, my little boy here is an early riser. So together we had a mother-son trip to the wealthier districts, that way we could surprise our favorite little girl with a beautiful spread when we got back." Her frown returned full force.

"When we were returning back, barely an hour or two later, we saw the smoke in the distance. I didn't think much of it at first until we got closer. Then I realized that it must have been coming from the direction of our home. I don't think I've ever flash stepped so quickly before in my life. When I arrived the entire area was covered in fire and smoke, but I didn't care. I set Ichigo down and busted into my house."

The woman hung her head and started to cry, "I checked the whole house. Her room, my room, upstairs. Everywhere. I wanted to check again, but the smoke was so thick my eyes burned as I asphyxiated. I stumbled out of my home just as it collapsed; only to see my son passed out from the smoke, I thought he would be okay in an open-air environment. I was so relieved to know my healing kido was enough to stabilize him. I almost lost my other baby because I wasn't thinking."

"You were worried and children get kidnapped all the time. You did what you had to…"

"Maybe…" she muttered, "Once he was okay, I grabbed him and got away from the area. That's when I ran into this group and have been leading them to safety as best as I could." Her eyes brows furrowed "We were attacked by Hollows that just came out of nowhere; they could breathe fire and had other strange abilities, of the fifty I started with, this small group is all that's left."

"What a horrific tale." The man lamented, his heart going out to the widow who tragedy after tragedy seemed to befall. Still he wouldn't let her lose heart. "Listen to me." He started, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You went back when others would've stayed away. You are a brave, kind, mother. And I know it hurts, and I know it feels hollow, but you saved not only your son's life, but those other souls behind us, so please…don't give up."

The woman looked at the young man and gave him a deprecating smile. "Thank-you kind sir. It's odd. Normally, I'm the one who helps others, not the other way around."

"Don't worry abou-" the man was cut off as his communicator blared

"IS ANYONE ON THIS CHANNEL!? I REPEAT: HOLLOWS COMING IN FROM ALL DIRECTIONS AND ATTACKING THE SOULS WERE ESCORTING! WE NEED ASSISTANCE AT ONCE! SOMEONE RESPOND!"

"Damn it." Shinjiro cursed as he wanted to respond but he still had these people with him. Whether the woman could sense his moral dilemma or not, she spoke "Go. I will lead them to safety."

"But-"

"You have done enough for me. I can keep us safe until we reach the evacuation point" A kind smile grew on the lips of the beautiful orange haired woman "Go! Help those who need you."

Shinjiro opened his mouth to protest, but closed his eyes "Thank-you and I'm sorry." He then grabbed his communicator as he made an about face, disappearing in a flash step.

Though the souls behind her made a clamor of panic, horror, and cursed the reapers for abandoning them again, the woman quickly reasserted her authority. "Everyone, listen to me. That man needs to go help others who are under attack! He told me where take you!" the woman looked over her shoulder and gripped the blade at her side "Don't lose heart! On my Zanpaktou, I swear, I'll get you all to safety!"

The tense crowd behind her started to ease up, believing in her words. Ever since she came to live among them, her name had spread throughout the Rukongai, the only Shinigami with a heart who cared for commoner and noblemen alike. The woman earnestly had come from the walled city of Seireitei to ease the hardships they endured.

She wouldn't abandon them.

Seeing the faces of the men, women, and children behind her light up, a smile graced her lips as well, as she continued to lead them to salvation, sparing one more glance in the direction the rescuing Shinigami went. _'I'm sorry he says…such compassion. I'm glad that even though I left because of what happened to the Quincy, there are still kind Shinigami in the Seireitei.'_

(Flash back: 1 month before Chapter One [2 years from present])

Opening the door for his wife, Shinjiro quickly followed in and shut the door to Aizen's office. The two had no idea why they were being called in since they hadn't done anything worth disrupting of his plans. The pair saluted him to which he told them to take a seat.

When the two were seated, the would-be ruler leaned forward in his desk appraisingly "I thank-you for arriving on such short notice."

"Not a problem." Shinjiro replied with politeness instilled by bushido, while Subaru simple sat in silence and glared holes into Aizen's head. "You had some kind of announcement."

"Correct." The man said as he pulled out a picture and held it out to them.

Grabbing the image, the duo saw the center focus was on a young man with orange hair and brown eyes, laughing with some undescriptive Shinigami.

Looking up expectantly, Aizen continued. "This man will become a new addition to squad two at my recommendation to Hitsugaya-Taichō."

"Why squad two?" Subaru asked _'And what does this have to do with anything?'_

Aizen smiled "I want the two of you to keep an eye on him. The man comes from a noteworthy lineage." _'And if I'm lucky Soifon-Taichō will destroy him to the point where he'll want to come to me.'_

"What's his name?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki."

The man's answer shook the third seats to their core and while they made no visual show it, on the inside there mind was racing frantically trying to put the pieces together. They knew the name Ichigo Kurosaki was the name of the one who could oppose Aizen, but they hadn't actually expected running into the person, not only that but it was someone whom Aizen was entrusting to them to monitor.

"So you want us to monitor him?" Subaru asked quietly, intentionally lower her tone to hide her surging excitement. "Why us exactly?"

"Kaname, Gin, and I are busy planning the finer details of my plans on this side; as well as finding out about certain things in Rukongai. We simply cannot afford to take on an extra responsibility that may turn out little profit: Hence why it has fallen to you two."

The man smirked "While I appreciate all of your hard work and obedience, I am no fool. I know of both your animosity towards me and know that if the opportunity to betray me ever occurred, you would seize it and pile drive the Sokyoku itself into my back, not that I haven't thought of such things well in advance. Yet, instead of punishing you, as one would a conspirator. Not only do I tolerate it, but I continue to reward you, granting you the time you so dearly cherish with Soifon-Taichō."

The pair fell silent and looked away not daring to voice a defense. "I told you that I'd let you spend more time with her. Consider this a bonus for all of your hard work…unless of course you prefer that I rescind on our arrangement from before and proceed with what I originally had in mind."

Even though he really didn't want to, Shinjiro bowed forward, "You are too kind." He replied in a polite though notably sarcastic tone. "If I may ask something, before we undertake this assignment."

"And that is?"

Shinjiro looked the man in the eye, "You seem to be in a good mood regarding this Ichigo fellow. May I ask why?"

"Why?" the traitor mused as he leaned back into his chair. "Hmmm…why indeed?" he repeated, as he crossed his arms and stared into the ceiling, genuinely contemplating the issue. After a few minutes of thinking on it, the man surprised the two of them by smiling wistfully.

"Something draws me to him. When I first saw him…I saw a brief fragment of myself in him. He was determined to his ideals and was willing to cross whatever line to defend them. Call it a fickle of the whim, but he strikes me as a self-made man, a bird of a feather." He answered, having thought about his life up until now.

The other two traitors looked on mesmerized, having never seen such an introspective side to the man. Normally, he was always about what he was going to do and how best to go about attaining his goals, but this new side that had surfaced, it was a side that both worried and genuinely intrigued them about the man underneath the overlord.

However, before the issue could be pressed further, Aizen returned to his business state of mind "But that's enough of that. You have your orders. Failure isn't an option, dismissed."

(Flash back: Interlude between chapter 5 and 6: Shortly after Ichigo met with Aizen in chapter 5)

"So what's up, Kohai?" Shinjiro asked, as he rested his chin against the back of the chair he was sitting in. Watching the man he had helped train pace back and forth in Subaru's office.

Ichigo looked at his sempai and scratched the back of his head. "I was gonna ask Toshiro, or Rangiku, but they're probably busy with work, plus I didn't want to go all the way there just to bug them with my problems."

"It's cool. If you need to get something off your chest I'd be more than happy to listen." The samurai replied as a look of concern crossed his face. "But no one man is an island, Ichigo. It is okay to rely on others for help, when you need it."

Ichigo seemed to consider his words. "You're right. Thanks. I'll try to keep it in mind." He replied, "Anyway, back to what I was saying, I ahh, I don't really know how else to describe it, but have you ever…" the man gritted his teeth "…you ever get a weird vibe from someone?"

"All the time with you." Subaru quipped dryly to the freeloaders in her office, while she was busy doing work for Shaolin.

"Su." Shinjiro pouted disappointedly, while the girl just shrugged uncaringly, as she soldiered through more reports to present to the captain.

"It's alright." Ichigo waved off, slightly amused by their antics. "Back to what I was saying, I just felt like…something bad was gonna happen."

"Hmm, well, I guess my question is who gave you the feeling?" the man wagged his thumb between himself and his wife. "We've been in the Shinigami outfit for a lot longer than you. Maybe we can give you the inside scoop, Kohai."

"It's about Captain Aizen." He said and was about to continue when he saw their reaction. Shinjiro's grip on the chair seemed to increase exponentially and he seemed to stop breathing. His eyes widened just a hair, his freehand stopped moving, and his casual smile turned into a serious frown. Behind him, Subaru had actively stopped what she was doing and turned her attention over to the men's conversation, eye brows arched inquisitively and lips forming a small line.

All in all the sudden change in demeanor was most unnerving.

"Aizen-Taichō you said." Subaru repeated

"Yeeeah." He tilted his head cautiously to the side, eyes narrowed. "Is everything okaaay?" he worded slowly.

"Just. Curious." Shinjiro uttered just as slowly, as brought his hands back together and rested his chin on them. "So…what did Aizen-Taichō do exactly that made you feel sooo…oddly about him."

Ichigo crossed his arms. "Well, we had a conversation about how things are run, and about what things might be like twenty years down the line, you know, philosophical things. Then he was curious about Zangetsu here so I showed him, he seemed pretty impressed cause he then offered me my a position in his company, but I declined."

"Really?" asked Subaru, who was shocked that Ichigo had avoided his allure, especially considering him circumstances with prickly commanders.

The man cheeks flushed slightly. "I didn't want to cop out on Soifon. She was brutal for a while and I probably would have considered it if she hadn't eased up, but she's not so bad once you get passed her temperament."

The man glanced back at the pair, who gave a firm but understanding nod, prompting him to continue, since they needed to know what happened next. "But like I was saying after the proposal he then went to reach for his Zanpaktou to show it, but we got interrupted by Soifon-Taichō. Anyway, the reason I brought it up to you guys is because my…err…friend," he said, since he couldn't bring up the hollow within him, "said that something was weird, and told me to keep my distance, so what do you think, kinda out there, right?"

Before his eyes, Shinjiro and Subaru's aggressiveness postures eased considerably, as they returned to more relaxed stances. Shinjiro turned around in his chair and looked at Subaru, who was giving him an equally relieved expression.

Finally, Shinjiro turned around and spoke. "I think you should listen to your friend. It sounds like a lot politics are involved. That's something you don't want to get dragged into."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he certainly hadn't considered that but… "I don't know that doesn't sound right to me."

"Well…there's that. OOOORR he might suspect you of something." Subaru lied.

"WHAT!?" he shot back, reacting as they had hoped.

The girl nodded her head and turned towards him fully, "Taichō's are very busy, so for them to just suddenly take an interest, and offer a position, sounds like a hidden agenda to me, Kurosaki. Do you recall the conversation you had with him? It was about the future and the way things are being ran. You may not know it, Ichigo, but throughout history, we, human beings, have had our fair share of traitors, who let power go to their heads and started to question the future."

She pointed her finger at him, "You were jettisoned into the fast lane from the academy. From newcomer to fifteenth seat, skipping hundreds of possible -more experienced- officer candidates, from slot fifteen to a single digit number nine, then you solidified your stake of the tenths sixths seat by awakening your Shikai, and then finally you advanced to rank of fourth seat on your first day here. You did all that seat jumping in a fraction of the time it took Shinjiro, or I, to even reach third seat. Granted, in your case, Ichigo, there are unusual circumstances surrounding you, some of which you're probably not even aware of yet, but still you must see our point…" she trailed off, causing Ichigo to frown.

They all knew he earned his promotion to each rank. The only time that chain was broken was from when he was transferred over and jumped to fourth seat, since the position was available and it was easier on Soifon to just give him the open rank rather than drawing up an entire restructuring of her division's seated officer placement and allocation.

Though, no matter the reason, looking at the situation from an outsider's perspective…

Still, the duo knew that the idea couldn't be left hanging with listlessly concern; the lies and doubts they created needed to be solidified in his mind. "And if you look at his offer in another way: If you're in his company, he can easily keep an eye on you." She baited trying to get him to accept their message of caution.

"Really?" Ichigo asked, doubt and concern marring his face "I mean, he seemed like a nice enough guy, but I guess when you put it that way, it is kinda fishy." He covered his mouth with his hand and seemed to consider something "Should I bring it up to Soifon-Taichō or the Sotaichō? I'd like to know why I'm being investigated. I mean couldn't Soifon or Toshiro attest on my behalf?"

"Weeelll, you don't want to go that way about it either." Shinjiro answered quickly, knowing of how counterproductive that would be in keeping Ichigo safe from Aizen, "We were just kinda speculating a bit, you know, just tossing theories out there and rationalizing it. However, this could be a case that there is a legitimate reason for all the secrecy, and the reason why is waaaay above our pay-grade. My advice: just do what your friend said and stay away from him in the meantime. Once Aizen is done doing well…whatever it is he's doing, I'm sure he or maybe even Soifon-Taichō will tell you what's really going on." He tried to reassure, working the act over to his wife again.

"Yeah, waiting it out is definitely the best course of action, at the moment." Subaru answered, casting a friendly smile, further attempting to convince him, "Besides, if it helps ease your mind, you can just think of this as an opportunity to test your patience. Shin-kun, Soifon-Taichō, and myself all know that you have nothing to hide. It's just that the stupid investigators just need to confirm what we already know. So there's no need to be concerned."

Shinjiro nodded his head and smiled, "Yeah, worse come to worse, we'll gladly testify your innocence on your behalf. We know you, so don't sweat it."

"If you say so, then whatever. You guys haven't steered me wrong before." The orange haired man said with a shrug, letting the subject drop.

(Flashback: Interlude between chapter 5 and 6)

The couple sat in silence as Aizen continued to down his drink. The silent hope that he'd drown dashed when he placed the cup back on the coffee table. "Thank-you for your full report about the battle at Health Land." He thanked sarcastically.

"If you knew what it did, why did you ask for a report about the incident and the gem?" Subaru asked, slightly ticked about him being behind the gem and Hollow bait incident at health land.

Their 'leader' smiled, "It is always good to have a practice run to gather data and to spot the inconsistencies between controlled laboratory testing and actual field-based usage. Though, I was disappointed in the casualty count being so…low."

He took another sip of his tea, ignoring their disgusted glares. "Still, I am pleased to know the combined data regarding the gem will contribute to the perfection of the 'caja negacion' I've been developing. It will be quite handy for a separate task I have in mind, and more so, once I find a way to mass replicate them."

"We're honored to be your pawns." Subaru deadpanned, taken once again to the benefit of Aizen.

"You're very welcome." He replied back as he started to switch gears. "You mentioned earlier that Mr. Kurosaki will be sent on a mission in a few days to the human world. Care to elaborate?"

Shinjiro nodded forcefully, "Correct sir." he then gestured to Subaru. "As part of Onimitsukido guard detail, Subaru followed her captain to Hitsugaya-Taichō's. It was apparently in regards to a request of some kind."

"What kind of request?" the man asked, as he looked over to the woman.

"She didn't formally disclose it to me, but from what I overheard: she wanted to know if he was ever deployed to the human world. It was probably for a mission of some kind." The woman shrugged, continuing her appearance of a hear-saying informant, as she loosely summarized the event. "I think she's taking this 'cross-division training experiment' as a matter of pride. She's been going all out on it since day one and hasn't looked back, Aizen-Taichō."

The man shuffled in his chair at this information, biting his lip. This surprisingly unexpected opportunity would make up for the failure at Health Land. Which, despite the inside information these two provided, guaranteeing that he'd be there for the ambush he planned, was foiled by the appearance of two other Captains and a Lieutenant.

Still, while he had another chance to get the one who escaped Kyoka Suigetsu's hypnotic steel, before he became a problem to his place, it seemed the Spirit King and all those who'd impede his rise to greatness mocked him. While he did have the free time to take leave and finish this job personally, he was given almost the barest of information, making it impossible to get with any level of certainty the location of where this mission to the human world would be.

Hitsugaya, more than likely wouldn't know such information. Since the event and person in question was no longer under his jurisdiction, he didn't need to know either. The other person in the conversation, Soifon, was a vastly different lock that was just as impossible to crack. Soifon was very reserved and guarded of secretive information, which this mission apparently was, so she wouldn't speak of it, unless it was to the individual himself. However, due to him constantly being near her, he figured that either: he wouldn't know till last minute OR she simply used her presence instead of oral instruction to reinforce that if he performed poorly, the fourth division would be gaining a new ward.

At the same time, he believed that she, a believer in maximum effort, would not accept a minimum standard. Given Ichigo's current and projected ability, he would hazard to say that she would send him to an area where he could push himself, so a combat heavy environment teeming with hollows would be likely but still, the world of the living wasn't something that could be trivially accounted for in regards to planning interceptions.

This just left him with the couple before him.

He knew he had to take what they said with a grain of salt. Shinjiro only spoke the truth, but he wouldn't be able to tell him the information he wanted, and even if he could, he'd already proven quite sinister when giving misinformation, a mistake he vowed not to fall for again.

Subaru, on the other hand, had no lying restriction, but maintained a certain degree of truth to her words, but, just from what he had heard, it seemed she only knew of the meeting, but not the finer details of what was spoken.

Normally, he had ways of dealing with getting the answer out of them, or at least, the information he needed could be obtained much more readily from a secondary source, if it wasn't pertinent information all together.

Still, if taken at face value, this was troubling opportunity. If they didn't know the details, which they were asserting the stance of, then even if he were to presume they were lying to him, and threatened the two of them, it would still take weeks to narrow down the general area of operations the man could potentially be in.

He had a limited window of opportunity and only one more chance where he'd be vulnerable. He needed to be methodical and precise with his response to the situation.

The master strategist's eyes narrowed as he thought over the conundrum, desperately trying to find the answer that would secure his victory from the hands of uncertainty. _'If only I could be everywhere, expectant of his arrival.'_ he mused troubled, _'Wait. Something everywhere...and hostile to Shinigami.'_

Then he realized, if he couldn't do it himself, what about others under his command? Barragan! Rudbornn! Any of his hollow allies in Hueco Mundo.

That was the perfect answer.

Issuing forth an order for a portion of his army, to temporarily take battle positions in the human world, to kill a Shinigami fitting Mr. Kurosaki's description, would exponentially increase the likelihood that the man would be killed, upon his undertaking of Soifon's mission. Plus, those two hadn't quite figured out his plan yet, so that meant his army wasn't on their radar; therefore, if Ichigo died via Hollow, they couldn't place their blame on him.

Even if the plan failed, it would harm Soul Societies forces greatly at barely a cost to him, since none of the soldier he truly valued had crossed the barrier, and he would still be given time to find another way to kill Ichigo without alerting Soul Societies forces, who kept an eye on him.

He could have Kaname send word to Barragan along with an update on his sleeper cell timeline, which would also leave him free to put the finishing touches on the caja negacion. Then he, Gin, and Kaname could perform the hardest part of the plan with his biologically engineered hollow.

'_Yes, it's perfect.'_ The man concluded about his grand strategy, creating success from near disaster.

Everything had falling into place. The winds of destiny had changed direction, the goddess of victory was blowing her horn for him, he just needed to be as bold as always and answer her call.

Standing up from his desk with proud unshakable determination, he stared down the two of them, who shifted in response, bracing themselves expecting the worst. "Subaru, Shinjiro. Your task is simple: Bring me Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen within the hour." He ordered coldly, pausing briefly for them to relax their guard.

"Afterwards you will have 24 hours to use the Onimitsukido network and provide me with information regarding the functional patrol shifts of each squad, as well as a detailed schematic of the sewer system. Failure will not be tolerated, get out of my sight."

The pair panicked slightly under the hefty orders; while they were glad, they had given minimal good information to the man; they couldn't help but feel that it didn't matter in the slightest to Aizen or his scheme. With their new task, the duo quickly got up and made for the door to begin their assigned task and then keep a wary eye on Ichigo during his stint on earth.

The pair never saw the smile of Aizen, who had managed to distract them with a meaningless task, so he could perform his plan breaking two-fold assault.

(Flashback: Three months after chapter 8)

Walking into Aizen's office Shinjiro took his seat in one of the two empty chairs. Aizen's eyes narrowed asking the very question of where the man's counterpart was. The samurai bowed forward in his chair in apology.

"Subaru won't be able to make it. She got sick from the sudden influenza outbreak and collapsed in front of Soifon-Taichō. She's resting in the fourth division. Soifon is there as well, getting a check-up for once, so she'll verify it, if you don't believe me." He reported solemnly

"Mmm." The man acknowledged as Gin also succumbed to the virus.

Although; he was doubtless of the integrity of her stay, since unlike the man, who upon getting a surprise visit, was found milking the free hospital stay for all it was worth, an act he was definitely not amused to see. She had a legitimate reason to not piss him off, and obey every relevant command to the best of her ability.

"Very well. Then I will charge you with relaying my words to Kujo when she has recovered her strength." He then leaned forward in his desk and spoke.

"I have acquired the third piece to the puzzle and have also significantly narrowed down the locations of the Hogyoku. Therefore, we will be proceeding to next stages of the plan. Until next time your previous orders will still stand. You are dismissed."

"Yes…sir." the man replied back, knowing that time was now no longer on their or Ichigo's side.

(Flashback: During Chapter 9: In the Forest of squad 2)

"Are you ready for this!? Super Speedy Yachiru Kusajishi is gonna blow you outta the water Dark-chan!" the pink haired Fukutaichō exclaimed, as she hopped back and forth on her feet.

"I'm sure you will President-sama." The woman replied warmly, a carefree smile on her face, finally able to enjoy the way life seemed to be going for her and her friends. "I take it you remember the rules?"

"Yup! Gotta stay in the forest!"

"Corre-"

"-Aaand if you don't catch me in five minutes, I win and you'll owe me a jawbreaker." She interrupted with a satisfied smile.

"Corrrrrect…?" Subaru frowned, _'Did I promise that? I don't recall saying anything about a jawbreaker.'_

"Hey! Can I ask you something Dark-chan?"

"I suppose."

The girl stopped bouncing and looked at the spy, eyes full of wonder. "Why are you so nice to me? You always seem to keep to yourself around others, except Soi-chan."

The woman thought on it for a second, before she kneeled down to eye level. "I suppose…it's because you remind of a little girl I once knew."

"Was she your friend?"

The woman smiled sadly. "Yeah, Mine and Shinjiro's. Her name was Roseita Aries. She was about ten when I met her."

Yachiru brought a finger over her lip and thought about what Dark-chan was saying. "So why are you all frumpy?" she tilted her head. "Did she die?"

"I…I don't know." She shook her head, "We died before her. If she were to still be alive, she'd be an old woman in her eighties or nineties." Subaru closed her eyes picturing the energetic girl in her mind. "I doubt I'd recognize her anymore or that she'd even remember me." She opened her eyes, which were slightly misty. "In a way…I feel like I've been left behind."

"Hmmm…" the girl thought hard, before suddenly feeling the light bulb flicker on. "I got an idea! You're a big girl right!? Doc-chan said babies come from big girls and their tummies! So can't you make another Rose-chan in your tummy?"

The spy shook her head sadly, "It's not that simple." She tried to explain, "I…work for someone who's really harsh. Me and Shinjiro, well…we wouldn't be able to have a child of our own…at least not while we still work for him. Besides Yachiru, even if I could, Roseita is Roseita, nobody can replace her."

When she saw that she was sort of losing the little girl with abstract thoughts, she decided to bring to a more personal level for her. Placing her hand underneath the girl's chin to make sure she was listening, she continued. "Zaraki Kenpachi. Ken-chan. Kenny. He's important to you, right?" the girl nodded jubilantly. "Do you think anyone could replace him?" the girl snapped her fingers. "Just like that?"

"No way! Kenny is Kenny!" she shouted, which the spy nodded her head agreeably, as she wiped her eyes.

"Now you get how I feel. I know you're not her, but…sometimes." She bite her lip. "Sometimes, I just want to forget."

"Oh." The young child whimpered. Before the spy could speak up, the girl ran and wrapped her arm around her shoulder. "Yachiru is really sorry for asking, so please stop being sad Dark-chan!"

"I…" the girl stopped and smiled gently. "It's okay. Thank-you for caring, Yachiru-chan." She thanked as she gently stroked the girl's hair.

The woman was about to continue speaking when she felt the familiar spiritual energy of Aizen approaching from the distance. Not wanting to involve the girl, she forced the girl to look at her while she schooled her features. "Tell you what: let's get back to the game." She pulled her mask back over her nose. "I'll be 'it' first. I'll even give you a head start before I start counting and if you win the game, I'll double your candy."

"WHAT!?" The small child lit up at the prospect "OH YEEEAAAAH! You're gonna regret those words Dark-chan!" she declared as she hunched over like a track runner "3.2.1! HERE WE GOOOOO!" and took off in a straight line.

Once she was sure the child was gone, she looked up and saw Aizen jumping down from the canopy of a nearby tree. "How kind of you to send her away so we could talk."

"I doubted it was something a child should hear." She insisted

"Quite right." He agreed "Now for the purpose of my visit. I wish for you to pass this on to Shinjiro when you meet him."

Subaru folded her arms behind her back "Very well."

"Things seem to be progressing better than expected, so I'll be moving my time tables up on my plan." He answered enjoying the squirming look in the woman's eyes "I will call you and Shinjiro at a later date to inform you on the changes relevant to you."

The woman nodded her head and he continued, "And as a casual reminder, keep in mind that your cooperation will directly influence the survival of Soifon-Taichō during a…certain adjustment period." The man smiled "I trust you will do your utmost in all of my endeavors."

"I will." The girl replied darkly. She was about to ask about anything else when she sensed the approaching signature of Ichigo. Fearing for him, she turned back to Aizen.

"I'm afraid I must ask you to leave Aizen-Taichō. I sense someone coming. If word gets out that I was seen with you here, Soifon will ask and then…" she stopped purposefully, desperately trying to make the man image a worst-case scenario.

Aizen stopped and considered. He had those two under his influence so long as they were afraid that Soifon would be hurt. However, if she were actively putting herself in danger by trying to interfere with his plans, his sway over them would loosen considerably and then he'd have to figure out a way to dispose of Soifon without alerting the other captains.

'_No.'_ he thought to himself, it was far too risky a move just yet. He still needed the two third seats cooperation for just a bit longer and so would concede to her advice. "Very well, I will depart for now, until next time, good day."

The woman bowed "Of course…"

Once the man flash stepped off, Subaru took in a deep calming breath as she straightened up "…you fucker." She cursed, before proceeding to flash step after Yachiru, trying to get as far away from the spot she'd just been in lest Ichigo accidently run into a lingering Aizen.

(Flash back: Chapter 16: Shortly after the betrayal of Ichigo)

After walking down the stairwell that led to the rooftop, Shinjiro sulked to himself, mulling in his thoughts. Ichigo was a traitor, Subaru and his work went down the drain, the plan that Aizen had was well on its way to being a reality, and Shaolin and the rest of Soul Society was going to pay the ultimate price for one mad man's ascension.

The man absent mindedly heard the door leading to the stairwell open up again, his captain following barely five steps behind him. "Shinjiro-san." The blind man started, causing Shinjiro to stop walking and look back at him.

"I understand you are angry and distraught both by my words and your friend's actions; however, I did have a purpose in seeking you out. We have a meeting with Aizen in less than an hour. We must be on our way."

The man slumped his shoulders, before letting out an exasperated sigh; he was tired and most definitely not in the mood to see people, but he knew he had no choice in the matter. "Fine." He spat dejectedly, as he turned back to the vacant hallway. "But I'm getting Masamune first."

The Taichō nodded his head and they went to Shinjiro's room first before heading off to an open aired courtyard somewhere between squad 12 and 13. It was very late so they didn't need to be worried about others seeing them as they left.

Aizen was sipping from a can of green tea as he, Subaru, and Gin awaited their final two participants. Once they arrived at the meeting point, Shinjiro walked over to his wife and noticed the small horizontal gash on her cheek. When asked she just said it wasn't anything he needed to be concerned about; though, he did see that her eyes drifted over to a Haori-less Ichimaru, letting him know who the culprit was.

Gulping down the last of his drink, Aizen casually tossed the can to the side and started the gathering. "I'm pleased to see that everyone was able to get here on such short notice. I have come to inform you all on some late breaking developments; however, first I must turn to Kujo-san."

The man looked over at the lone woman as she hesitantly stepped forward. "Kujo, Ichimaru has informed me that you were on your way to Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. To what was the purpose of your visit?"

The woman swallowed the lump in her throat, genuinely fearing he would cut her down if he didn't like the reason. "Captain Hitsugaya requested documentation from Captain Soifon. I was the one decided to relay the documentation to him."

"And what was the information about, Subaru-chan?" Gin taunted the woman, seemingly trying to get her killed, by making it seem like she was intentionally omitting information.

Her eyes drifted over to the man. "It was about Ichigo's past mission reports, nothing more than that." She answered, which brought a small smile to Aizen's face.

"And did he receive them?"

"Yes."

"Marvelous. I do so look forward to his meticulous pursuit and its benefits to me." The bespectacled man informed, "Even though I didn't get a chance to ask you, I thank-you for your contribution to that endeavor." He praised mockingly to the unwitting pawn. "You may step back." He dismissed, he was about to speak when he saw Shinjiro's questioning gaze. "Do you have a question Taiga-san?"

"I was just wonder what this meeting was truly about." He stated coldly, trying his best to hide his inner moroseness.

"Shinjiro." Tosen warned disapprovingly

"That's alright, Kaname. Shinjiro will always be a straightforward individual. So I will address that point." He replied as he straightened his form, as a commander should when addressing subordinates. "I have come to let you two know of when we will be departing Soul Society. You already know that the meeting ground will be Sokyoku hill, but for the actual time, it will be the third day immediately after I have given a signal. Fail to show up and I will shatter Soifon-Taichō with the truth; including your involvement in all these events, before dispatching her before your eyes."

"And what's the signal?" the heartbroken Subaru asked, knowing that their finite time with Shaolin was finally coming to an end.

"The signal will be a doppelganger of my body impaled upon my own sword against one of the buildings located in Seireitei. It is then that you will follow my words accordingly. No farewells. No notes. I have given you plenty of time to create whatever confiding memories you wish with your beloved Taichō. Now is the time that you truly work for me."

He then turned away as Ichimaru and Tosen stepped closer to Aizen. "If you have nothing else to say you are free to go. I need to address my fellow Taichōs on a different matter."

The two remained silent, still feeling utterly defeated and hopeless. Subaru turned and was about to walk away when Shinjiro spoke up. "Tell me something Aizen-san. Soifon-Taichō informed us that our friend Ichigo was a traitor. So…" the man raised an even look at the man, showing a weary, angry side just below the surface. "…what I want to know is this: His…betrayal…it was something you had a hand in, wasn't it? All part of your master plan?" he asked, accusing yet yearning for enlightenment.

"Soifon-Taichō informed you of this incident…how curious." The man replied carefully, eyebrows rising slightly at both that tidbit, since Soifon was notorious known for following instruction, penalty of death or not, this was a very rare lapse in judgment even for her, as well as his accusation itself.

He hadn't expected them to come to the correct conclusion so soon. He was almost certain that once word had spread, about the incident and the resulting civil war he instigated ensued, they'd join the masses believing in a hidden Kurosaki insurgency, only learning it was him once he had the Hogyoku from Kuchiki and they were safely in Hueco Mundo.

He allowed himself to dwell on this error momentarily; before, he concluded that it must have been because they remembered that he had asked them to monitor the man. Perhaps, they had grown used to such a state of paranoia and fear; they were willing to blame him for events, even if it had been something he had or had not done. He would have to be careful when trying to manipulate that factor again at a future time.

Still, right now, it was inconsequential. No matter how or what summations they arrived at, they allowed a critical error in their own deductions. It was simple: They sought answers from Aizen.

The man's question betrayed him to Aizen. He could hear the melodious undertone of desperation that coated it. Such an insatiable thirst for an answer and closure, left one constantly exposed to anyone with a position of authority, like himself. He could spin his answers so many ways it actually hurt.

Sometimes, people were just too easy to manipulate.

"No." he lied oh so smoothly, finding a small satisfaction in seeing the samurai grimace. "I had nothing to do with Mr. Kurosaki's current betrayal." The man placed his hands in his pocket. "In fact, I was the one who advocated that we send someone to go investigate the area they were stationed at, which Kuchiki-Taichō answered the call." He informed amicably.

"If I truly had foreseen such an event, I would have tried to eliminate him instead of recruiting him to my side at the first opportunity. At this latest juncture about a possible investigation, I would have at least sent myself, Kaname, or Gin to mop things up, with the interests of personal safety in mind."

The man closed his eyes and smiled, knowing his work was done. "Some people can lead truly scary double lives. I thought I would have been a shining enough example for that lesson to have sunk in Taiga-san, Kujo-san."

The man and the woman lowered their head obviously distressed; Aizen's smirk grew as he turned away. "You are dismissed. Enjoy the little time you have left."

The devastated pair stood there for a few seconds before backing away mechanically. Their minds were jumbled messes as they started to walk off, clouded with doubts. Their misguided hopes, violently twisted by the liar's manipulation. It just seemed like despite their best effort to undermine him nothing would go their way at all.

He would continue to acquire everything he needed to succeed again, while only defeat would greet them with open arms.

"Shin." Subaru mutter mournfully "I…I don't want to go back to Shaolin's barracks. It's always been hard lying to her, especially these past few week, but now…now I can't even look her in the eye anymore. She's so hurt that she's lashing out in anger, pushing people away. She doesn't say it, but I know, I can see it in her eyes and action. She doesn't just hate Ichigo. No, it's worse than that. She hates you. She hates me. She hates everyone. She think we're all going to betray her."

She wrapped her arms around his and laid her head against his shoulder. "I just…(Sniff)…WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY TO HER!? (Hic) I can't tell her it not true, our very existence is a lie that proves her words!" she started to cry, finally hitting her breaking point. "I'm out of answers…" she whispered quietly. "I don't know…(Hic) I don't know what to do anymore…"

The somber samurai absent-mindedly scratched the top layer of his wife's hair. "You still have me." The man tried to reassure; despite tearing up as well, he kept his voice as calm and as steady as he could. He could not, and would not, let her know that he was just as ready to give up as she was.

He needed to be her rock.

"Subaru, listen to me, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life." He admitted in caring whisper, "My biggest one was when I lost control to Nobunaga and…I killed you. I've regretted it my entire time here, but you've always forgiven me for it. I don't have all the answer and neither do you…"

He turned his face away when he felt his tears freely rolling down his cheeks, but he forced himself to maintain his calm reassuring tone. "…and that's okay. We're human, Subaru. For me, you don't have to be a genius, you don't have to be perfect, you don't always need to make the right choice. Just be you. Do what you think is right and don't worry about making mistakes."

The man used his free hand and wiped the water off his face before continuing. "I swore it to you when I married you and I will say it as many time as you need to hear: Subaru Kujo, I love you; and no matter what happens, I will always stay by your side and keep you safe, this I promise you."

"Sh…shin... (Hic)" the woman stopped walking and buried herself into his chest, letting out all the emotions she'd bottled up out.

The man clutched the woman closer "So please. Don't give up." He whispered raggedly into her ear, tears falling anew. "We're the only ones who can protect Shaolin. Not Yoruichi, not Ichigo, not even the Sotaichō. Us. Maybe…maybe we can't stop Aizen. But…if our actions…everything we've done till now can spare her, from what you say originally happened, then that is still worth fighting for. As long as we're still breathing, we can still do some good, but if we give up now Aizen wins. We can't give him that opportunity or satisfaction…"

The pair stood there for several minutes, so that they wouldn't have to face the stark reality that their world was a nightmare, a gilded mind-raking hell in which they held no power or hope to truly escape from.

Even this moment wasn't a genuine reprieve, but, for what it was, it was worth it. To express, to release, everything they had bottled up inside their hearts, over the long, dark, fifty years in servitude to Aizen.

"You're right." She muttered, as she had finally stopped crying and was now gaining an iota of self-control. She looked up solemnly and spoke in hoarse tone. "You're right. I'm just…sorry Shinjiro-koibito. Sorry for dragging you into this. For just everything in general." She lowered her head back against his chest. "I love you and I'm just so… (Sob)"

"I know." The man muttered, cradling her body as he stared off into the dark corridors, unsure of the future. "I love you too, Subaru-hime." He finished, gently applying a kiss to her forehead, before resting his chin just against her hair, his weary eyes finally closing. "I love you too."

(Flash back: Interlude between Ch.20-21: Nighttime)

Amid the rocky wasteland, that was Kisuke and Yoruichi's secret training ground, Shinjiro was sitting quietly with Subaru, who had a small-flattened paper bag laid out in front of them. The pair was a small ways away from the others so that they could talk about Aizen uninhibited.

"So why did you grab this blood packet from the fourth division?" The young man inquired, since all the other Band-Aids, wraps, and gauze were handed over to Kisuke, except for it. "I'm no doctor, but isn't it kinda useless without an IV or trained specialist, both of which we don't have on hand?"

"Back when we reunited with Ichigo after he proved his innocence, as well as shared his plan to free Rukia, I got to thinking that it would only be a matter of time before Aizen was aware of Ichigo continued existence."

Subaru looked at the packet in her hand. "Maybe, he even knew about it beforehand, but I still wanted to have a back-up plan to protect Ichigo, in case Aizen had considered this scenario."

"Right, back at Kukaku-san's you mentioned to me that Aizen's meticulous and resourceful, so the rendezvous and extraction point must bear some significance to another facet of Aizen's plans. Case in point Rukia's execution, we learned that she's got the Hogyoku that Aizen wants so badly."

The girl nodded in agreement "We can rest assured that Aizen knows that Ichigo is still alive, Shinjiro, and now we just got the signal to meet at Sokyoku hill, where Rukia's execution is going to be held two days from now. No doubt, there were slight adjustments, but so far, everything is going according to his plan." A tired sigh escaped her. "It really does suck to be left in the dark."

"Okay, I'm sensing a 'but we're gonna stop it' coming on right?" he insisted

The girl nodded again, "Ichigo is training for Bankai now and will probably be fighting up on the hill to keep the captains from chasing after Rukia. He's going to be killed unless we intervene."

"And this blood packet is gonna help?" he pressed again, still not seeing where this was going.

"Yes, but were gonna really need to sell the performance."

'_Sell the performance?'_ Shinjiro raised an eye brow at that _'What does acting…? Wait…blood packet…bloody wounds…bloody wounds…dead body!'_ his eyes widened, as he now got what her bright idea was. "We're gonna attack him and make it look like we killed him."

"Bingo." She answered with a confident smile, "We'll flank him, and strike for real with our Zanpaktou's, that way we'll have real blood showing we hurt him. Then we'll go around the front, and you'll stab him again to create a visible wound no matter which way he falls down, while I speed myself up and cut open the blood packet, so it looks like I slashed his throat and that he's assuredly dead."

"Sounds like a pretty solid plan, so far." The samurai quietly affirmed, seeing no obvious holes that would tank the plan in an instant.

"Aizen knows we'll do anything to ensure Shaolin remains safe, even if it means cutting down a friend." She stated, basing everything on assumptions the man had of them, "But what he doesn't know is: that we know that Ichigo, the one I managed to read up on by Norn, is strong enough to kill him, given time. This Ichigo seem to follow in the previous footsteps to certain degrees."

Her voice dropped to a low but audible mutter "Though frankly, I wish I could just read up on Aizen, but none of the biographies I've glanced match his description or exploits. It's like he doesn't exist or even have a name."

The girl's smile fell, as she lowered head and spoke noticeably more somber. "Of course, this is only gonna work if Aizen doesn't hypnotize him, before we can act, and if we're not around long enough for Aizen to put two and two together. I'm just hoping his acquisition of the Hogyoku will distract him enough to not notice while we get out of here."

The samurai placed a reassuring hand against her cheek. "Listen Subaru. We are so close to pulling this off we can't lose it now. Aizen may have lied and deceived us," the man smirked brimming with confidence, "but I think it's time that he knows how it feels to look like an idiot after being played."

The woman's lip curved upwards just as equally. "Then we'd best stay alive to give him the performance of a lifetime." She then leaned back against the floor and stared at the ceiling. "Shinjiro, let's get some rest. We've got a lot to prepare for."

The man smiled to himself as he got next to his wife and kissed her on the lips, before wrapping his arms around her, ensuring that both of them could finally have a restful night's sleep.

(Flash back end: Present)

"That's the truth and why we did what we did. Believe me we tried everything we could, but our hands were forced multiple times. Still, if this ends with Aizen's death and the prevention of his plans, then whatever consequences afterward aren't important." He finished, leaving the silent group to make their own decisions on the matter of what to believe about him.

And consider they did; if what he said was true, then Aizen already knew a great deal, about when the best time to attack Soul Society would be, due to Subaru's spying in the Onimitsukido, and his many years to plan and refine his strategy against circumstances and squad habits, which lead to the sound trouncing of Soul Societies' forces.

However, even in the face of defeat, there was unseen benefits to the current situation.

Despite the severe hit Soul Society took in the personnel, facilities, and morale departments, Ichigo would be the first to say that the damage sustained during the secession could have been infinitely worse.

The Soul Society itself now had a true united front against a threat. He was still alive and still in Soul Societies army despite Aizen's earlier attempt to recruit him. Next was Senna, who not only joined the fight, but also could-be capable of channel hollow power like him. Shaolin being able to maintain a good relationship with those around her, instead of what would be fractured, tense, distrust with others, and those were just something off the top of his head there was bound to be many other redeeming qualities.

But, since he was thinking of the girls, he spared a side-glance at them to see how they were taking the apparent news. Their reactions were about what he expected: Senna was at a loss for words both due to her lack of closeness to Shinjiro and Subaru and wanting to respect the others around her whom were more intricately involved, the second squad captain's body was shaking lightly, her face ghastly as she continued to take in his words. Ichigo walked over, placed a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed it tightly.

He was gifted a haunted look of a woman who was ready to throw-up in disgust, cry out in anguish and explode in anger all at the same time.

Knowing that they couldn't afford for them to be in such a state with enemies in the area, Ichigo decided to press Shinjiro for more information and to divert attention from his earlier words. "What can you tell me about these soldiers Aizen has here?"

"They're Hollows who've gained the powers of Shinigami. They're called Arrancar; each Arrancar has a number tattooed on their body. I'm not entirely sure what else it means besides the hierarchy thing I was telling you about earlier. The top commanders of the Arrancar are called Espada."

"With the right kanji 'Espada' means 'ten swords' in our language." Senna commented

Shinjiro nodded his head. "That's right. The Espada are the first leading numbers in his Arrancar/Hollow army. And one of them is here in this city with his fraccion."

"Fraccion?" Soifon asked fearfully

"Fraccion are kind of like the lackeys of an Espada. They command the same authority level of their Espada, usually serving as their voice when not around, but do not go making the mistake in thinking them pushovers. Not all fraccion are created equally, while some legitimately are nothing more than fourth string 'yes men' to their leader, kind of like how Omaeda-san was, some are in fact former Espada themselves, given placement by their new leader having been removed from power. That is the purpose of fraccion system, to solidify a current Espada's authority while limiting casualties of strong hollows for Aizen. I think that's what happened with this particular Espada and his kinda-sorta friend Antenor."

"'Kinda-sorta?'"

"It's complicated. But I'm willing to say sort of one-sided…"

He paused momentarily, before he remembered something important regarding the system, "Senna." He said catching the girl's attention "Your father is in Hueco Mundo."

"What!?" she screamed both overjoyed that he was alive but angry about what it meant.

The samurai nodded in affirmation "Yeah, Subaru and I met him after the incident at Sokyoku hill. He…was worried about you, but once we privately informed him on Ichigo-dono's survival, he entrusted Ichigo to keep you safe."

"Dad…" she whispered "Shinjiro-san do you know why he's in Hueco Mundo?"

The man bit his lip, "Forgive me, Lady Senna. I would like to say he is there against his will but…he has free access in exchange for keeping some of the Hollows in line, a job he shares with another person, a red headed woman. There is also a rumor saying that he served as the inspiration for the Espada hierarchy system, and considering the power he's shown us in private, it's probably true. If we knew that back during the invasion I wonder how things would have played out."

"Father…" the woman's face twisted in fear, concern, and hurt at knowing her father was in a world of the damned, and had been keeping such a secret.

Seeing what his words did, he tried to make amends. "But I've talked with him and he has obvious contempt for Aizen and believes that Ichigo and Soul Society can take him down, so I'm sure he has his reasons for what he's doing. Though for the strength I sense in him, he seems unable to attack Aizen for some reason, but he is by no means helpless."

"So Aizen has the 'unknown entity' at his command…" Soifon muttered, perturbed at the prospect of what that meant for Soul Society.

"Then we'll trust him, just like we have to trust you." Ichigo said aloud, reassuring both women at the same time.

Soifon let the matter drop, since they had things that took more precedence, while Senna gave Ichigo a relaxed smile; although, she was now wondering if that meant the story her father told her was fabricated…which in turn…

In the distance, a huge explosion occurred and smoke rose from the area. Soifon looked on stunned at what she was seeing and more importantly what the explosion implied, she gave a quick glance at Ichigo who was clutching the radio in his shirt tightly. His eyes darting away from the victims in sector four.

Seeing that there was very little time left, Ichigo got back on topic and asked another question. "Can you tell us what they look like? We need to know what we're fighting."

"Arrancars are humanoid in appearance. The only telltale signs are the hollow holes they keep after transformation and the occasional bone fragments clinging to their body. Those fragments are the remains of their hollow masks; although, they don't always stick around the Arrancars head. Sometimes they take on different appearances like helmets, arm guards even accessories like necklaces or earrings."

The man stopped explaining when another explosion, much closer, caught their attention. While the Soul Society Shinigami were distracted by the blast, the other man scanned the sky and saw who had done it.

"If you really want to see one, there's one right there." He raised his finger and pointed to the buildings, which the three saw a humanoid shaped being strolling casually through the night sky, firing a red beam down at the street with each impact a loud scream was heard, no doubt by the poor soul whom was under this sadistic individual's gaze.

"PLEASE HELP!" the voice screamed, which seemed familiar to Ichigo, but before he could say anything, he immediately had to grab hold of Senna's arm as she tried to brush past him to go over to the individual.

"Ichigo! Let me go! That was Don Kannoji, he's in trouble!" the woman pleaded quickly, the terror evident in her voice. "I have to save him."

Before an argument could break, the quartet felt a heavy spiritual pressure fall over all of them. Knowing who this was, Shinjiro quickly said, "Ichigo, let her go. You're gonna have bigger problems in a couple seconds."

Taking the man's advice, after feeling that threatening warning burst of power, Ichigo let go of her. "You heard him. Shaolin go back Senna up and when you're done hurry back to help me out. Senna, if half of what he says is true, I don't want you anywhere near me. You'll get destroyed so make sure, Don Kannoji is safe."

"I understand, Ichigo, but be very careful! We don't know what they can do yet." Shaolin cautioned

"Thank-you Ichigo and don't be reckless!" the relieved sister replied

The team split off and went after the beam-chucking enemy just as another individual in white appeared in the sky above the two men. The blue haired man simply turned his head in regard to the flee individuals and while he respected that they at least had the common sense to rightfully be afraid of him, it would be a moot point; because, tonight he was gonna kill every single one of them.

Starting with the strongest enemy.

Sensing another spiritual power, much stronger than the one that the girls were heading to, Ichigo instantly braced his stance, while his free arm lightly wrapped around his Zangetsu's hilt. The blue haired man took a menacing step forward before he relaxed his posture. "What the fuck!? What are you doing here Boy Scout? I thought I told you and my fraccion to stay away from him, he's mine!"

"I don't work for you remember? Therefore, your orders didn't exactly apply to me. Besides, my actions have not compromised…whatever it was you were doing here, if that explosion earlier was you're handy work, Grimmjow." He shot back unapologetically.

Grimmjow scoffed, before turning his eye back on his target, and have to take a double take. "What the fuck?" he quietly muttered to himself as he sensed Ichigo again. Instantly, the man sonidoed over and lifted Shinjiro by his collar. "HEY! What the FUCK did you do to him!? His spiritual pressure was two almost three times as strong it was when I got here! Why is he so goddamn weak all of a sudden, cabrón!?"

Shinjiro said nothing as he struggled in the Espada's grasp, only now did he actually understand Grimmjow's misinterpretation of Ichigo's supposed spiritual power. Ichigo and Senna shared an almost indistinguishable spiritual signature and when combined together it drowned out Soifon's spiritual signature, so what the psychotic king actually felt was all three of them under one banner: Ichigo.

Grimmjow was about to ask him again when he got slugged in the jaw, the force breaking his grip on the samurai and sending him careening towards the guardrail. Before he could even raise his guard up, the Espada felt the force of a kick shoot him through the steel railing towards the street below.

Ichigo lowered his striking leg back down, walked over to the edge of building, and saw his opponent land on the street nursing the blows he sustained, but still looking ready for a rumble. He turned his head towards the fallen samurai and stared at him, his eyes showing no emotion as to what he truly thought of him. Without a word, the Onimitsukido soldier leaped off the building down to the street where his opponent was busy cracking knuckles eager for some payback.

"Cocky little shit ain't cha." The man in white said, "I like that. Got a name?"

Ichigo raised his hands up to defend himself "Kurosaki."

"Kurosaki? The fuck names their kid 'Kurosaki'!?" the man barked out a cold laugh. "You must have had some fucked up parents. I almost feel bad for ya!" he taunted

"You talk a lot." Ichigo replied as he settled into a martial arts stance. _'I better get a feel for him first before I turn things up. Don't want to waste all my energy.'_ he thought cautiously

"HA! You gotta have balls to make it where I'm from!" the man raised his hands up "Come on bitch! Let's see what you got."

In an instance, Grimmjow saw the Shinigami flash step in front of him arm barely a three feet away from his face.

A loud crack rang through the streets as Ichigo saw that his enemy countered the attack with his own. _'He blocked it from a dead stop with no movement?'_ Ichigo's eyes widened when he saw the man smirk. _'Espada, huh…'_

The man didn't get much more chance to muse as he immediately had to jut his left hand out to catch the kick aimed for his side. The Shinigami felt his entire body shake from the strike, but quickly focused on his enemy as he swept his right leg around to take the man off his feet.

The smirking Espada didn't bate an eye when he immediately back flipped kicking the Shinigami in the chin to create some separation for himself. As the panther landed on his feet, he charged at the staggered Shinigami.

The blue haired warrior buried his fist into Ichigo's stomach, before hitting him again with other hand, and then upper cutting him into the air and kicking him away. The Espada watched with a little satisfaction at seeing the wannabe tough-guy being batted away; though, before he moved again, he saw the man holding his hands together in front of his body and his mouthing moving. _'What's the?'_

"Hado 65! Isukumeru Hantei (Impaling Judgment!)" the men yelled as four bulky golden arrow-like pillars formed around his body and screamed toward Grimmjow who simply braced his hierro.

The piercing light collided into the man, stinging him much more than he originally anticipated. As the dust from the light settled, he saw the piece of shit Shinigami handspring off the street for more distance.

The only warning that Ichigo got about the Espada's attack was the slight flicker of spiritual energy both in front of him and behind him. The man quickly reached for Zangetsu as he glanced over his shoulder prepared to strike.

That quickly proved to be wrong, as Grimmjow appeared and sunk his hand through the Shinigami's lung. "Gotcha!" the sexta relished the sight of pain in the man's eyes.

His delight quickly turned to confusion as not a moment later, the man he had impaled suddenly vanished into thin air. "You sure?" Ichigo replied to the shocked Espada, who turned only to see Ichigo ready to cleave into Grimmjow's back.

Wasting little time, the man lurched forward narrowly avoiding the swing. He was about to launch himself forward when he felt a huge spiritual energy emanating from the butcher knife of a sword as the man brought it back around underhanded. "Getsuga." A huge bright light shinned in Grimmjow's face. "TENSHŌ!"

The radiant energy bean surged before Ichigo and coasted down the street, ripping up streetlights, cars, trees, anything standing in its way before detonating.

Ichigo eased his stance, though kept himself vigilant of his surroundings and movements of spiritual energy. He knew that if half the things that Shinjiro said were true this fight was far from over; sure enough, he then heard the sound of feet touching the ground behind him.

Turning around, he saw that Grimmjow looked absolutely fine, save for a small nick across an eyebrow. "You're pretty good to have dodged that at point blank range. Used some kind of hollow flash step?"

The Espada hocked before spitting out some saliva from his mouth. "Sonido, Cabrón." The man glanced at his bloody hand. "Now how did you survive? I know I got you."

"Cicada technique; learned it from my significant other."

"Heh." The man stuck his hands in his pocket. "Well, you ain't as much of a piece of shit as I thought, then again since you pulled out that weapon, means you ain't got anything more to show." The man scowled "Way to kill my joy, puta."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, somewhat disgusted "So you like fighting, huh?" he stopped when he heard a static sound. Casting his gaze upward, he saw a green network energy-lining shake uncontrollably, _'Shit. Since that tower got attacked the barriers weakened considerably and this guy is stronger than he's letting on.'_ He brought his eyes back to the Espada before him _'Especially that sword of his. Better end this quick before it fails and thing get complicated.'_

"How about a little tidbit? I'm not fighting at full power," he informed hoping to catch his interest to give him time. The Espada said nothing at first then became more aggressive in stance "Bullshit." He declared

"It's the truth." He replied with a confident smirk "I bet I kick your ass with my Bankai. Or are you just too much of insecure bitch to think someone's better than you."

Ichigo's smile grew wider when he saw the man's eyes widen and his fist begin to shake. Apparently, this guy didn't like being though little of, and was beginning to let it show. "Show me, Pendejo." He cursed burning the man's image into his head "Show me. Right. NOW." He roared, his spiritual energy exploding outwards.

Ichigo brought his foot back and swung his sword around, his spiritual energy flaring out just as fiercely against Grimmjow. "Bankai!"

(With Senna and Shaolin)

Skipping over the rooftops, the pair tried to stay ahead of the floating Arrancar.

Senna quickly looked down at the streets below to confirm Don Kannoji's location. "Shaolin, I'm going to get him to safety, please distract the enemy for me."

"Got it." she responded, as she waited for Senna to drop to the street below, before maneuvering behind the Arrancar.

Don Kannoji was still running like all hell down the street. He didn't know who this guy was, but after watching him descend down from the sky, he couldn't help but think about his friend and the way, he met him. However, unlike his friend, the man was immediately hostile and let him 'play' a game of sport.

Dodge the laser or die.

The spirit-channeler huffed to himself as his sides were beginning to cramp up, as he heard the sound of an oncoming blast, he glanced over his shoulder to see the bright red light through his shades.

Just then, he felt a rush of air over his skin as he was immediately on a rooftop of one of the building, completely shocked by the phenomena.

"Are you okay?" a voice called from behind him, turning around he saw the familiar form of Senna, looking back at him with obvious concern.

"Senna." He whispered gratefully "Thank-you."

Senna quickly gave him a once over, before looking to see Soifon descending on the Arrancar, who was looking around the street for Kannoji. "Stay here. I'll be right back."

(Soifon)

Turning in mid-air the captain brought her foot down upon the back of the Arrancar's skull sending him streaking towards the street. She then dropped the energy keeping her air borne and landed on a nearby lamppost, crouched and ready to move.

Spying Senna jumping down from a nearby roof top, Soifon rubbed her foot, her shin stinging after colliding with the rather tough helmet on the man's head. Once fully nursed, she dropped down to the street, and approached the crater where the Arrancar was in.

Looking to the hole, she wasn't surprised to see the man pushing himself, and rubbing the part of his head where he was hit. The Arrancar in question was a white haired individual with lightly tanned skin and strange helmet that engulfed his head, with one side wrapped in a cloth-like turban.

The man looked over his shoulder at his attacker and found a woman with blue hair done in a Chinese braid, with a black martial arts Gi and small white coat. The scowling woman looked down at him seemingly measuring him up, which pissed him off.

No way was he about to be looked down by a Shinigami of all people. Grabbing his Zanpaktou, he quickly turned around and jumped towards the woman, who merely jumped backwards expectantly.

The Arrancar didn't even so much as get within arm's reach before a powerful force slammed into him, sending him through the nearby guardrails. Biting back a growl, he looked over to see another woman with a golden staff, focusing intensely as she brought her spinning weapon to a halt.

Pulling himself up, he took a moment to pop his arm back into place, before turning to them. Now that he got a good look at them and feel for their spiritual pressure, he felt himself smirking. It seemed he got one of those captain's and her lieutenant.

The two girls braced themselves while he sauntered over to them. "Wasn't very nice to attack me when my back was turned." The man said with a slight lisp.

The captain narrowed her eyes as the man drew closer. "Senna." She whispered to her compatriot, "I'm going to try and gain a feel for these Arrancar. I want you to provide me support, but if I should die, I want you to run away."

"You can't be serious." Senna shot back, very worried by what she said.

"Senna, don't argue with me." She commanded quickly. "You and Ichigo are far more important than me. You two are the only ones who can defeat Aizen. We can't lose you. That's why I want you to support me, at least until I'm sure that normal Shinigami can finish them."

The girl frowned but nodded "Fine, but don't be reckless."

"I won't." she then turned back to the man. "So what are you supposed to be exactly? A pawn of Aizen's? You don't look like much. Do you even have a name or are you just an expendable tool?"

"Que tragona! You think you're so tough, huh, puta!? Me llamo Di-Roy Rinker and I'm the Hollow whose gonna kill your bitch ass."

The Arrancar quickly disappeared and reappeared between the two Shinigami. The two girls jumped back in opposite direction, while the Arrancar turned to the captain and gave chase. The captain quickly twirled around and threw her Anken to gauge the enemy as she settled into her stance.

The woman was moderately surprised when Di-Roy didn't bother to raise his arm up to defend himself, even more so, she was shocked to see her throwing knives bounce off harmlessly. Getting her head back in the game, she ducked underneath the Arrancar's sword swipe, and back flipped away.

When the man lunged forward, she whipped her leg around and slammed it in the side of his head. The man staggered a few feet, and was struck again by an elbow to the back, but then proceeded to vanish when she tried to reach around his neck and break it.

With the man disappeared, the captain raised her guard again, _'He disappeared almost like a flash step. Probably to bide some time.'_ The girl winced as she popped the bones in her hands. _'Something about his flesh. I know I'm not going all out but if feels like I'm hitting a tree.'_ Her eyes diverted to her discarded Anken, _'Those had no effect whatsoever ever after nailing him in the face.'_

The girl scanned her surroundings _'What to do?'_

"Shaolin, look out!" Senna cried from her aerial perch.

Sensing the minute flicker of spiritual energy, the woman turned around just in time to intercept the strike aimed for her stomach, and returned with a fist aimed straight for the his neck, knocking the Arrancar off his feet and back into a nearby car.

The car's alarm went off as the man's body crushed it. The sharp tooth man, groaned as pulled himself out of his metal pit. "Fuck. That hurt." Di-Roy muttered, as he placed a hand on the back of his neck. His fingers moving in tandem with the rotation in his neck to until a pleasing crack rang in his ears.

"How are you so tough?" the person in front of him asked.

The Arrancar glanced into the obviously confused face of the captain. He was tempted to not say anything, but he still lacked feeling in some of his limbs, and thought it would be to his advantage to stall. "That would be my Hierro." He answered, telling her just enough to get her to inquire and allow him a chance for reprieve.

"Hierro?" the woman looked at her arm "Is it something on your skin?"

The Arrancar smirked "Si! For Arrancar's like mi amigos y mi our spiritual energy can coat our skin and increase our resistance to your Shinigami attacks. In fact all of you attacks so far, I barely felt them." The woman gritted her teeth; while the man's smirk grew more, thinking he unnerved her "If this is the strength of a captain, it's greatly exaggerated."

"Never estimate a Shinigami, especially a captain." The woman shot back as she filed his words away. "My 'exaggerated' strength is enough to kick your ass."

The Arrancar laughed cruelly. "I'm not even trying here. I haven't even used my ressurreccion."

The Taichō went wide-eyed at what he was implying. _'They have more power than this? That's not good. Still…he's a chatty one. Let's see if I can get it out of him.'_

The woman raised her guard. "What is this ressurreccion nonsense? Hollows have always been forced to use full power at all time; they don't know the first thing about sealing away their spiritual energy. Do you think me an idiot?"

"Sí, señora, sí." He then held up his sword. "Did you think my sword was just any old sword? Look closely and tell me what it is."

The woman's eyes focused on the steel, and for a moment, she was at loss, until she sensed the spiritual energy swirling around it. "A Zanpaktou?"

"Correcto. We Hollows who cross the barrier to become Arrancar gain a Zanpaktou that holds the beastly powers we used to possess which we can then unleash any moment of our choosing." Di-Roy brought his hand back and gazed over the edge of his sword. "But you look like a skeptical sort, allow me to show you."

Shaolin had to brace herself momentarily, as the Arrancar's spiritual energy spiked and the ground around him cracked under his pressure. "Pinch, Cangrejo Ermitaño (Hermit Crab)."

A vapor escaped the man's blade and began to wrap around his body, which started to rumble and expand. The captain watched in battle hardened curiosity as the being continued to lurch over until a large shelled figure stood before her.

The form of Di-Roy became much more rounder in size and his arms turned into a pair of claws, while his legs turned into six stumpy digits that held his large, armored body. Only his face was exposed, which even then was half covered, as a thick turban like covering wrapped around the top half of his head, and two black holes for eyes looked back at her. "HAHAHAHAHA! Don't look so cocky now do ya!?" he mocked, as his bellowing voice reverberated through the air.

Shaolin looked over the monstrous form of Di-Roy, but instead of having the expectant showing of fear, she seemed surprisingly calm about the situation. "So this is your so-called trump ability. I'm not impressed."

"Don't try to play cool, perra!" the creature roared as it stomped angrily. "My spiritual energy is much greater than your piss shit level. I can't believe Aizen was worried about you fuckers, I could take you all on!"

That seemed to get a reaction out of the captain, who looked surprised. "Looks like I was right." She said "You are just a throw away soldier if you believe that. Any real threat would have known I'm not even trying. Surely, you must have seen that I haven't even released my Shikai yet, besides…"

Before she continued, Di-Roy was immediately lifted into the air by a pillar of wind slamming into his body, tossing him into a nearby street sign.

As the tornado died down, the fraccion saw the second woman from earlier drop down beside the captain. "I'm not fighting alone." She informed the Arrancar, who was busy trying to right himself.

With the brief interlude granted courtesy of Senna, Shaolin turned to her friend. "I hope you were paying attention."

The teenager nodded. "I was. He was no match for either of us before his release, but if his release works the same way that a Shinigami does when using it then-"

"-then it would be safe to assume he is between two to five times stronger than before." She finished, as she pulled her sword out of its sheath. "Sting him to death, Suzumebachi." As her gauntlet formed the captain turned back to her friend, "We need to be sure of their strength in this new form. So I want you to fight with me."

Senna looked towards her with evident worry. "We can't delay helping Ichigo with tests you know."

"I understand your concern. However, this enemy is weaker than the one Ichigo is facing and I'm missing crucial information on these beings. If we don't have an accurate measure of them, we'll just be rushing to our deaths." The woman settled into her stance, but spoke much more softly. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. Besides, I'm not going to put his life on the line for this loser's attention. So trust me."

Senna nodded her head, while Di-Roy corrected himself and snarled at them. The fraccion indignant at the fact that not only did these two women blind side him, but had a conversation as if he wasn't there. It burned him to the core. He was above these Shinigami; he was higher up in the food chain. He wouldn't be looked down on.

With an anger fuelled Sonido, the crab tried to snip both girls in half with his powerful claws.

To his surprise, the smaller girl jumped into the air while the other leaned to one side and extended her staff, catching the pincer mid strike and preventing it from closing. Di-Roy was about to close his other claw and strike the immobile woman, when the other landed beside his shoulder.

In an impressive show of strength, the captain grabbed hold of the claw and lurched it back, jerking the fraccion off his feet and over her shoulders before being tossed into a nearby building.

Not one to repeat his mistake, Di-Roy corrected himself before he hit the building and dug one of his claws into the side of the building to anchor himself.

With a sadistic smile, he drew in a breath before spewing out a black stream of bubbles towards the women. The wall of liquid homed in on the women and then exploded in a violent eruption, leaving a crater where they previously were standing.

Nudging his arm out of the building, the hermit crab Arrancar walked over to his handiwork to make sure they were dead. He looked into the hole and saw nothing. He was about to turn away in satisfaction when something caught his attention, a small dark circle.

With a growl, the monster looked up and saw the two Shinigami still alive. The one with the staff holding unto it in midair, while she used her other hand to grab hold of the captain, escaping the blast via the sky.

Senna let out a sigh of relief, having escaped the strange attack and gave a quick glance to Shaolin, who nodded her head. Directing her spiritual energy, her Zanpaktou dived into a hard arc towards the monster. Just before coming in range, Senna released her grip on Soifon, who kept her intense speed and drop kicked the monster in his face.

As the Arrancar lurched back, Senna dropped down behind it, her sandals helping her skid to a stop. Once Di-Roy fully turned around he couldn't do anything except brace himself as the other woman's staff came in overhead and crashed into the side of his head.

Stepping in tandem with her swing, Senna used her momentum and brought her staff back around in a vertical arc and struck him in the jaw. Turning the staff in her hand, she was ready to swing her staff again when the monster surprised her with his sudden recover and seized her staff mid-strike with his hard pincers.

Di-Roy gave a quick yank, forcing her forward, as he raised his other claw to smash her into the ground. As the large limb started to bear down on her, Senna removed one hand from her Shakujo and brought her forearm over her head to shield herself.

The claw slammed into the arm, driving the girl's feet into the tar slightly, but to Di-Roy's surprise, instead of continuing to press her through, it stopped; however, what really sent him reeling was a thin layer of white between her clothing and his claw. _'No way…'_ he thought to himself as he knew what that was. _'how does Shinigami have a hierro?'_ the black-eyed beast looked into the glowing gold eyes of the other woman. _'What are you?'_

His momentary distraction was cut when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. A loud roar escaped him, as he looked down to see the captain standing to the left of his claw, that he was slowly pulling back to touch a spot where a strange red butterfly mark was. "What did yo-" he grunted again, feeling his strength fading.

The captain barely glanced over her shoulder to the defeated beast. "Arrancar are very dangerous enemies indeed. Now that I know a little bit about how to best engage you, I'll be sure to end these fights quickly." She then turned towards the other woman who eyes returned to normal "Just like you. Nigeki-Kessatsu."

Senna watched as the red butterfly mark shined in response to the command before quickly overtaking the man's body and erupting into a giant butterfly that destroyed his body completely. The young adult took in a breath of air to calm down, though she was still shaking on the inside from the adrenaline rush.

"Senna." Soifon said getting her attention "Are you okay?"

Senna looked at the woman before looking down at her hand, which was shaking, and understood what she was getting at. "No, I'm fine. He's a hollow, so he's been purified. We didn't kill him."

"Right." The captain reluctantly nodded her head to her statement before taking a few steps away. "I'm going back to assist Ichigo. I want you to go make sure that soul you rescued is still safe. Once that's done, I want you to lay low until this over."

Senna frowned but nodded her head. "Okay, but promise me you'll stay safe. I don't want to lose you."

Despite the tense battle going on, Shaolin smiled. "I will." She answered, as she placed her hand against the teen's cheek. "And I'll look out for Ichigo as well." She then removed her hand and switched back to captain mode. "Now go. We can't waste any more time."

"Okay." The purple haired girl confirmed as the captain departed. Turning around, Senna looked towards the rooftop Don Kannoji was at and spotted him looking over the edge. _'Was he watching the fight?'_ Despite the distance, she could sense his spiritual energy had calm biorhythm, as if he…wasn't so surprised.

It was odd.

Wanting answers, the girl used her flash step and crossed the distance. Appearing ten feet behind the TV star. "Kannoji-san." She said bring his attention from the streets below.

Hearing the sudden voice, the spirit medium was surprised by her sudden appearance behind him, he didn't think she cross that kind of distance in the blink of an eye. Though, he was quick to get over his shock. "I saw what you did down there Senna. You and that other one were incredible to defeat such a beast." The man crossed his arms in his trademark fashion. "Ein would be proud to see that you've grown into a strong defender of justice! So I salute you, Wahahaha!"

The man laughed for a few seconds, but when he saw the woman didn't share in his mirth, he grew concerned. "Senna, what's wrong? You always laughed with me." The superstar wilted a little more when the girl's eyes hardened on the man. "Are you alright, child?"

A distant glassy stare landed on the man. "Kannoji-san, you've known my family for a long time. I've wondered something for a while. You watched me fighting and you were calm about it." She paused slightly, as she thought how best to word her thoughts.

"When me, you, Rukia and the others were trapped in the hospital last year, the only thing that frightened you were the monsters, the Hollows, you didn't bate an eye when we fought and destroyed them, which means…you must have been used to seeing 'humans' doing such things before." She steadied her gaze on her friend, who wilted under it. "Am I right?"

The man didn't say anything, which unnerved her. "Don. You've been a family friend for as long as I can remember, but you're also spiritually aware, at some point you must have wondered where all these people were coming from, or what they were." She stated quietly. "Or maybe you did have an idea…"

"Like ghosts." The man flinched

"Devils." Then he stopped breathing

"Or…Shinigami." In response, the man inhaled deeply as he removed his glasses from his face, as he knew where she was going with her line of thoughts. "Father always told me that I was adopted. That's why I accepted never having a mother around, but now I know it's not true."

"Senna…"

"So, I want you to treat me like an adult. Tell me the truth, how did you really meet my dad? You told me he showed up in Karakura right when you were getting ready to make it big…what's the truth?"

"I never thought I'd see this day, nor would I be the one to tell you." The man placed his hands in his pocket. "I'm sorry, Senna, but that's something you should-"

"Ask my father?" She cut him off, "I can't. He's…trapped in the afterlife. A world I know almost nothing about." She then glanced sadly into the man's eyes.

And it pained him.

"Please, Don. Just tell me the truth. I've always respected you; don't do this to me now."

The TV star drew in a breath before exhaling deeply, "I don't know much about that world either, but I did know that you and your father weren't of this world. From the very moment I met him."

He slowly started walking over to the roof top railing and gripped it, "Sixteen years ago, I got fired from my previous job at an Osaka Radio station, so I was forced to move back here to my home town of Karakura in the old two story home my parent's left me. I was twenty-eight years old and already out of a job. For a time I sat at home watching TV, wondering how to get back on my feet, then I saw a reality TV show and it occurred to me. Ever since I was a kid I could see spirits, yet no one ever believed, but if I could capture something on camera or some other supernatural phenomena then I could turn it into a show and strike it rich. So for next year, I did all kind of odd jobs, saving up my money. My piddling earnings was just enough to interest an up-and-coming channel. They gave me two weeks to submit a five-minute skit, to see if I was worth investing in, but that was enough."

"How was that enough exactly?" she asked, as she walked over and joined him.

"Because…I met your father." He replied, "I was scouring possible shot locations at night when I went to check out the old abandoned hospital. As I was getting ready to enter, I felt a huge chill run down my spine. The area around me grew so cold; I could see my breath in front of me, even though it was in the middle of a summer heat wave. It actually hurt to breath."

'_A chill and a hard time breathing. That's what happens when a powerful spiritual energy comes near a weaker one.'_ Senna recalled the basics from her Shinigami tutors. "What happened next?"

The man rubbed his arm with his free hand, to rid himself of the Goosebumps he felt whenever he thought about what happened. "I freaked out. I wanted to strike it rich, not die. So I turned around and got ready to pack my things up and try again a different night. That's when I saw him."

He nodded his head as he recalled it all with clarity, "He was descending from a black hole in the sky wearing a pristine white attire with katana at his side. I thought he was some kind of wingless…angel, but I noticed some kind of aura of heat was radiating off his form. He had two bodies slung over his shoulder, one looked like a child-sized mannequin, and the other was a carbon copy of himself, but what caught my eyes the most was what he had in his arms. Wrapped protectively in a blanket was a sleeping child."

"Me." She whispered quietly, though the man nodded his head in confirmation.

"That it was Senna. I remember being frozen on the spot at seeing him descend down. Then when he landed, his eyes fell on me, as if I recognizing me, before going back to you, Senna, to make sure you were okay from the journey. At first, I thought it was some kind of stunt show and that I was being set up, but he called me by name. When I asked who he was he told me he was the devil appointed by god."

The man shook his head back and forth, despite having a smile on his face. "I couldn't even believe what I did next. I thought he was going to steal your soul, so I tried to attack him to save you. He didn't have to move to send me splattered across the street. But the odd thing was, he said I hadn't changed; I was still the same dumb, courageous, spirit medium he remembered."

'_Why would dad say that if it was his first time here?_' the girl looked away to the street below. _'But if it wasn't then why doesn't Don remember seeing him? He's certainly old enough too…what's going on?'_

The girl was brought out of her thoughts when the man tapped her arm "A lot to take in?" he asked.

"Yeah." She admitted, "But I need to know the truth. Could you continue?"

The man nodded, as he placed his glasses back over his nose. "I asked him what he was going to do. He startled me when he walked up and asked me for my help. So, I gave it to him, but only if he told me who or rather what he was. He agreed and I took him back home. He then told me that he was from a world that I could never reach, but was filled with people, who had power similar to his. He said they were invisible to the naked eye, but I could glimpse them due to my 'spiritual awareness'. I asked him if they were ghosts, and he said in a manner of speaking, they were Shinigami and other assorted Souls."

The man paused to catch his breath and let the girl process the information. "Frankly, I was surprised to hear it. A world beyond the grasp of human beings. Guess it's true what they say: you think you rule the world, but when you look down, you're just standing in someone else's hand." He quoted thoughtfully of the saying before continuing his story,

"He told me that he lived among them, staying just out of sight of the Shinigami except for one. He then told me that he and his daughter, you, escaped from a massive citywide inferno. He cried, when he told me that when he returned home he found the house ablaze, said he didn't sense his wife or his son, only you, he thought the fire got to them first. He wasn't going to let it claim you too, so he grabbed you and escaped the area. When he saw Shinigami pouring out of the 'Seireitei', or so he said, he turned around and fled to the outskirts of a 'Rukongai'. He apparently had some kind of underground hideaway; because that was where he got the bodies he was carrying over his shoulder."

'_Father created the Gigai?'_ she wondered to herself, recalling what Kisuke had said about them. _'But those were special. He said it'd take centuries to make…' _the girl's eyes widened as she started to derive a conclusion.

"After hearing his story and how he wanted a chance to live in peace with his daughter, I told him about my up-and-coming show. He was a ghost and I was a spirit finder looking for haunted lo-cals, I told him that if he helped me, I'd be swimming in money and be able to help him in return, I even offered him the deed to the place you two live in. It would help give him the second chance he wanted." The man smiled, "I also added in the stipulation that he couldn't take my soul either, but he just laughed at me, saying he needed the pick me up."

The young adult looked at her friend. "That means you must have set up dad with a fake name…does that mean his name isn't Ein?"

"When he was coming up with the alias of his first name, he glanced at his sword and then asked if 'Ein' was an acceptable name nowadays. I told I had a friend named Ein Shiratori, who died in a car accident some time ago." The man admitted, "I figured it wouldn't have hurt none if we gave him the last name of my cousin. Wanted to make it seem legit, and whose going to think to link the name to a guy rotting in prison.

"Thus Ein Takamiko was born." Senna aloud to which the man nodded. "So then you knew that the whole adoption story he told me was a lie?"

The dark man sighed, "Yeah, I knew, I helped him come up with it. He said that the people of that world would try to kill you, so he didn't want you to have anything to do with it. Senna, he just wanted you to live a happy, carefree, life. He was trying to do right by you, so please don't hate him."

"I…" she paused. "I don't. I've seen the world myself…it's not exactly pretty." She said sadly, as she leveled an even stare into the man's eyes. "I think I have a lead to his true identity and about who I am, so I have one more question to ask."

"And that is?"

"What was my father's real name?"

"He only told me once, I never forgot it. He made promise to never call him by it, but his name was Isshin. Isshin Kurosaki."

"Ichigo…" the woman whispered. _'I knew it! I thought Don's recounting of the story sounded similar to the one Dad told me and Ichigo before we went to Soul Society, but after hearing all of this, this clinches it.'_ The woman furrowed her eyebrows. _'But dad told him that I was in danger if I stayed there…could he…could he have known about my inner hollow?'_

That had stumped the girl. How had her father known about such a thing, and why was it that he avoided the Shinigami, except for Masaki? From what she was just told, he had a Zanpaktou, the ability to cross over to the human world, specially made Gigais, and Masaki had always told Ichigo that his father was a nobleman to explain his absence, yet not a single Shinigami had apparently heard of him.

'_Was he some kind of undercover Shinigami?'_ she shook her head. _'No, Shaolin definitely would have told Ichigo by now, and even if she didn't know Yamamoto would have imprisoned him when we invaded…'_

Then had his mother lied to him as well about Isshin's past? But why? Had she suspected that he was more than he initially let on? If so then why have kids?

Something wasn't adding up, she had to be overlooking something.

Her epiphany came when she remembered what Kannoji said _'A city wide fire.'_ The pensive girl recalled; trying to create something that would explain the circumstances of her and Ichigo's separation. _'Could both Masaki AND Isshin thought that the other died, when actuality one went to the human world, while the other found refuge near the Seireitei?__'_ she speculated. On the surface it sounded plausible, so working the theory she continued. _'Okay, that explains how we separated, but…then why tell Kannoji that our lives could be in danger?'_

The voices of prior conversations on the matter came flooding back into her.

_So what that means for you two is that you aren't entirely Shinigami._

_So what you're trying to say is that Ichigo and Senna are part Hollow AND Shinigami?_

_Well Mirokumaru said 'I am her and she is me'_

…_it's also a piece of your soul. But for that to be true they'd have needed to be inside you for a long time._

She was starting to breathe heavier at the implications, then her heart stopped when she remembered her earlier skirmish.

Di-Roy had a Zanpaktou even though he was a Hollow…and he was humanoid in appearance. Which meant… _'My mother was a Shinigami captain and she married an Arrancar…a Hollow._' She concluded, coming to the only explanation that made sense for her origins and unique heritage.

"Senna?" Don Kannoji called to her for the umpteenth time, as he saw the girl run the spectrum of emotions and now was settled in an uncomfortable place. "Senna!"

"W-what?" she started out of her daze, looking back at him.

"I asked: Are you okay?" he repeated solemnly.

The woman pursed her lips, "Y-yeah, why?" she asked.

The man lifted a hand and touched her cheek, "You're crying, my child."

"Wha-" the woman brought her hand up and upon touching her cheek found the water path of tears. When had that happened? Why had it happened? Was she sad? Or…was she happy?

Before she could move, she found herself in the arms of the TV star, hugging her tightly. "It's okay, Senna, just a lot to take in." the man leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, "You needed to know the truth someday, I'm just glad you are a strong enough woman to handle what it means."

"Don…" she whispered, as she looked up at the man who took his glasses off.

"Senna, I don't know about that other world, but your father has always wanted what's best for you. Same for me too. If you have to fight monster everyday…as long as it eventually leads to something that makes you happy, then you'll never lose the home in your heart."

The girl wrapped her arms around the man and smiled, "Thank-you, Kannoji-san. Thank-you for everything."

The pair remained like that for a few minutes until Senna broke away and grabbed her Shakujo. "I've got to go now. A lot of people need me; my power can make a difference."

The man nodded his head, "I understand. Be very careful Senna." The man slowly crossed his arms in front of him in X fashion. "The spirits will always be with you."

The young girl was taken aback, before she mimicked the action, a contented smile her lips. After a few seconds, she placed her foot on the guardrail and hopped onto her Shakujo, then took off into the sky.

The man stayed like that for a few more seconds, until he felt the tears pouring down from behind his shades "May the spirits… (Sniff) always be with you, Senna."

(Same time: Ichigo)

"Hrrrah!"

The opaque blade slammed into a large advertisement sign, ripping it in half, while the intended target dodged to the left and fired off a ragged doom blast that also missed the target, who disappeared in a flash step.

As Ichigo rematerialized in the night sky, he took a moment to wipe the blood trail that had covered his left eye. His breathing was heavy from exhaustion and his clothing was clinging to him due to sweat. Even though he had the upper hand now that he was using full power, it seemed that problems were beginning to arise.

The barrier had been failing for a while and he felt his strength starting to become more and more restricted, no doubt by the overseers back in Soul Society, who were trying to compensate for the loss of a tower. On top of that, it seemed that Shinjiro also wasn't exaggerating when he said than Espada were elites. No matter how hard his sword struck the man, he just seemed to grit his teeth and get back up, or would dodge it and try to follow it up with a deadly counterattack.

The Shinigami quickly turned around and blocked the Espada's sword with Tensa Zangetsu. The combat enthusiast scowled as he pressed his sword more against the blade, which Ichigo met just as eagerly.

While he was keeping his guard up, the Shinigami was sure that if he held out for just a bit longer, he could kill this guy in one good hit before things got too hairy.

The pair jumped apart taking a moment to re-grip their weapon. Grimmjow was breathing harder than he was, having received a lot more damage than Ichigo had once the former entered his Bankai state. The lower ends of his Jacket were torn off and he had plenty of shallow cuts across his sides and abdomen. His hair was disheveled and his arms were shaking from physical exhaustion.

"You fight well for kid with fucked up parents." Grimmjow taunted, trying to catch his breath. A smirk graced his lips when he saw Ichigo return a hateful scowl back at him. "What's the matter Cabrón? Got mommy and daddy issues?"

"Is that all you can do? Taunt me?" the Shinigami responded, "You're the one ready to drop dead." A cruel smirk gathered on his lips. "If this is the supposed power of the Espada, I think this war is as good as won."

"Usted arrogante hijo de puta!" The man roared, spiritual energy flaring along with his temper. "Don't you dare look down on me, Shinigami!"

The Espada then shocked Ichigo when he immediately placed his sword in his hand and slashed it, his blood fling into the night sky. The self-mutilation threw the man off guard just long enough for the Espada to gather energy in said hand. "No me jodas! Chock on this!" A compressed red ball of energy swelled before turning into a pale blue fire. "Gran Rey Cero!"

The thunderous beam of energy split the sky as it surged forward, only stopping when it collided against a huge green energy dome encasing the area around the city.

As the light died down, the Espada kept his guard up ready to fire another one should his target still be alive. Grimmjow's keen eyes had seen the man's body twitch just before it hit him, and after seeing the man's intense speed, meant there was a chance he might have dodged it.

Hearing a noise, he quickly snapped his neck to his immediate sides, expecting him to come out of another cicada, only to see a water tower careen over and collapse.

That's when he felt it.

A sharp spike in spiritual energy.

As he turned towards the battle-ravaged street below, he saw that fucking piece of shit snarling at him, gripping his sword in a two handed swing. A black aura cloaked his body and Zanpaktou, his eyes glowed gold as if taunting him in the difference in power. "Getsuga!" he yelled as he stepping tandem with the swing "TENSHŌ!" he screamed

The black energy returned, an even louder response that dwarfed the panther king's forbidden cero, but unfortunately, for Grimmjow, there was nowhere to go. No place to evade the attack that encased the entire area above the city street.

The Black Death engulfed the man as it screamed upward, colliding into the same energy field, but unlike before, the shielding dome finally collapse under the abuse, shattering as the attack pierced the sky.

As the dark reiatsu blocked the sky, he felt a panicked voice calling to him from inside his head _'This Seireitei observation officer Akon. The barrier has failed. Placing immediate max reiatsu restriction on all Shinigami in the AO. Recommend immediate withdrawal from all combat operations until we can re-direct power and stabilize it. Until then you are on your own! Repeat, you are on your own!'_

The lieutenant immediately felt an insurmountably sharp drop in his strength, all his muscles locked up tightly before releasing, forcing him to his knees. He started to wheeze; he felt tired before but now was really feeling it. This could not have happened at a worse time.

"Buen…intento, fucker." Came a voice above him.

'_Shit…really!?'_ he thought to himself, as he looked upward and saw Grimmjow heavily wounded.

The Getsuga Tenshō had done its job, despite the Espada curling his body up and trying to block the attack with his sword. A huge burn mark ran from the corner of his forehead over the bridge of his nose and across his chest. His left arm had been completely lopped off and his entire jacket was destroyed along with everything below his knees.

The Espada fell to his knees in pain, never before had he been so confronted with his own mortality then just now, and it stung to know it was a damn Shinigami that almost did him in.

'_No.'_ he promised himself, as he gritted his teeth, trying to stand back up again. _'Not till I become a king amongst warriors! I won't die! Not to anyone!'_ Despite his shaking frame, he managed to get back up. _'Especially to this piece of shit!'_

"You're a glutton for punishment, Grimmjow." hissed Ichigo, who readied himself despite his tide turning handicap. "Better run back home to Aizen or I'll take your other arm too!"

"I've had enough of you!" he yelled, as he brought his sword arm to around his chest. "I'm gonna carve your heart with my claws! Grind, Pantera!" he yelled ready to unleash his ressurreccion.

He waited for the transformation to occur, but went wide-eyed when nothing happened. _'What the fuck!? Why now!?'_ His question was quickly answered when he felt a faint energy beside him, turning to his left, he saw that tagalong samurai barely three feet away from him, his Zanpaktou drawn and a scathing look in his eye.

"You…" he hissed to which the samurai sighed in resignation.

Their confrontation was put on hold when the Espada felt more spiritual signatures to his right, but it was one in particular that made him want to groan. He knew exactly who it was.

Looking back around, he saw two Arrancar. One was Luppi who was following closely behind the one he loathed. The Arrancar was extremely pale with green eyes and black hair that was partially covered by his hollow mask.

"¿Qué quieres Cifer?" The fighting Espada growled.

"To save the primary objective that Aizen-sama asked of you from your blatant stupidity." His superior replied coolly, eyes closing with cold indifference. "You were sent to gather information; instead, you let the thrill of fighting get the better of you and over eighty por ciento of your fraccion are dead as a result. If not for the timely intervention of Aizen and Primera, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Luppi and I could have made it." He shot back

Ulquiorra disagreed again "Perhaps you haven't noticed the encroaching spiritual energies coming towards us." He informed, before pointing towards the street below as a female figure appeared from a nearby street, taking a stance next to the first Shinigami. "Or that soldier wearing a Haori. I believe she's a captain, how do you think it would have gone now?"

"Who asked you…" he shot as he eased his stance, while the other Espada opened a way back home. Looking down towards the recovered Shinigami, he raised his voice. "Love to continue to fucking with ya, chicken shit, but I've got bigger fish to fry!"

"Get back here Grimmjow!" he yelled, trying to goad him back into finishing it; though, it seemed he wouldn't bite, as he started to walk into the portal.

"I'll see you again, Kurosaki. On my number sexta. I'll see you again." He replied back, as he disappeared into the void, Luppi following closely behind, fretting over her leader's wounds.

The lone Shinigami amidst the Hollows looked back into the eyes of Ichigo and Shaolin, a fleeting sadness barely veiled by a resolution. "Ichigo-dekai (8)…I don't like burdening others, but I must make one more request: Please, look after Shaolin-gozen (9) and survive…together."

The pair's eyes widened at his words, but couldn't say anything in response as he too disappeared behind the dark veil along with the controlled Arrancar.

When the portal closed fully, Ichigo fell to his knees, as his Bankai finally gave out returning Tensa Zangetsu back into its cleaver shape. The woman beside him also began to feel light headed, from both a sudden flux of fatigue and the sudden re-tightening on her reiatsu, but she was still good enough to offer her hand to Ichigo. "Anything broken?" she asked, as the man pushed himself up and leaned against her.

The man panted slightly, before shaking his head. "No." he then turned his head down the street she came from to see Senna approaching atop her Shakujo. "But were really gonna need all the help we can get. If he was just the sixth strongest, we've got five more and Aizen to go. We were lucky tonight." The man glanced down at his wife "Are you and Senna okay?"

"Nothing a nights rest won't cure." She replied as the pair started to make their way closer towards the younger sibling who had gotten off her Shakujo, so they could use as emergency transport.

"Ichigo are you okay!?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." He tried to easy the agitated woman. "Let's just go home. We need to see Shinji ASAP. This war just got complicated."

* * *

End fic banter:

Ichigo:…

Shaolin:…

Senna:…

Shinjiro:…

Subaru:…

Blackout2010:…

?: Hey you guys…

(All turn around)

Everyone (acknowledging): Aizen.

Aizen: I'd like to take this moment and say…

Aizen: (•_•)

Aizen: ()•_•)⌐■-■

Aizen: (⌐■_■) _Exactly as planned._

Everyone:…

Ichigo (annoyed): Shut up, Aizen.

Ichimaru: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!

* * *

PS3 BTAT: Silver trophy earned: An old story. {1+1=?}

Description: Hear both sides of Masaki and Isshin Kurosaki's story.

* * *

End fic announcement: Temperance and the hanged man.

Blackout2010: Okay so for the most faithful of viewers (IE the people who read the very first summary I posted of the story, back in 1-31-2011) you will recall why I had put AU/AT. The AU part comes from the many changes to the story, the AT (alternate timeline) comes in from instead of Aizen remaining detained after being defeated by Ichigo. He broke out and killed a powerless Ichigo [and subsequently everyone else], hence the reason why I was hesitant to post and keep the AT tag up, because I figured someone might make a comment on it. [Shrugs] Curiosity kills the cat and all that. Anyway questions or concerns feel free to leave it in review or PM, as long as I can respond back. Thank-you for your time.

* * *

Guidepost of the soul:

1. Refers to the Tarot card: Temperance: which relates to: Balance: Moderation: Stability: Peace and War: This relates to Shinjiro.

1. Refers to the Tarot card: Hanged Man: which relates to: Sacrifice: Enduring: Giving up: Suspension of life: This relates to Subaru.

2. For all those who've played 'Borderlands 2', you may recognize this section and a few lines below being quite similar to the echo logs of Handsome Jack found in the city of Opportunity, specifically the echo cast where Jack, during a conference meeting, was describing how Hyperion weapons were, "Weapons made by smart son of a bitches for smart son of a bitches" and better than 'Pisstal' Bandit and 'War-hippy' Maliwan. The urge to pass up that humor gold mine was impossible.

3. For those of you who played Fire Emblem 7: called 'Rekka no ken' in japan and just 'Fire Emblem' for the US GBA edition, you may remember 'Glass the mercenary' and his memorably introduction during chapter 2: Sword of Spirits. Enjoy your chuckle.

4. Again another 'Fire Emblem' reference. This time young Owain 'Dark', son of Lissa, from 'Fire Emblem: Awakening', and his ridiculous weapon naming. Again, for those in know, enjoy your chuckle.

5. Koibito: Similar to the ending of Koi, it means my beloved/Loved one, and is used in nature of 'my one true love' or 'my only love'. It is rather old fashion to use the full phrase, Koibito.

6. CCP is military acronym for Casualty Collection point. Typically rendezvous and retreat points for wounded and location of medical facilities.

7. TOC is military acronym for Tactical Operations Center. Typically, where high command and field command elements are located.

8. Dekai: This suffix is very old and roughly translates into 'your royal highness' and given Shinjiro's background, would be akin to the samurai calling Ichigo 'His lord'. Granted tono/dono would be a 'modern' equivalent, but I felt it that those wouldn't convey the gravity of the regard he's holding Ichigo.

9. Gozen: This suffix is also a bit dated it also translates roughly into milady or noblewoman, again in reference to a samurai calling his female leader, 'lady' or 'mistress'. The modern equivalent would be akin to 'Ojou', although Ojou's are typically identified as young women, whereas Gozen are typically grown, mature women. The more you know the better off you'll be.


	30. Facing the truth, facing yourself

Author's response to the unknown reviews.

To unknown review known only as: 'Fan124'

To put simply. Ouch. That actually stung a bit, real confidence shooter. While I'm not entirely sure as to why I am writing this, since you've already stated ch. 26 was going to be the last chapter you read, I would still none the less like to express my gratitude that you took the time to read this story, and I hope in turn it entertained you. While, I don't necessarily agree with your reasoning since it's more preferential than concrete reasoning, I hope that perhaps someday you can come back and finish the story. It's (hopefully) not going anywhere. So, I bid you fair well. Good day.

To unknown reviewer known only as: 'Katsuragi'

Querido Katsuragi ,

En primer lugar , espero que no me equivoco lo que estoy diciendo , español no es mi lengua materna , por lo que estoy utilizando el traductor de Google . Ahora, a lo que me escribiste . Gracias por elogiar mi trabajo , significa mucho para mí . Ahora para la IchiSen , entiendo su ... decepción. Honestamente, cuando empecé a escribir este fic , tenía la intención de ser capaz de decir con orgullo que he creado la primera historia length ' épica ' que ofrece mi pareja favorita IchiSoi . Sin embargo , como escritor, a veces tenemos extraños impulsos creativos que nos empuja a hacer cosas que nunca pensamos hacer antes, todo en nombre de la creación de público digno material que podemos decir ' Sí, ese fic, lo escribí " .

Uno de los propósitos , la burla nave si usted desea , se llevó a cabo exclusivamente por el valor de la comedia al principio. Si recuerdan mi avatar del personaje Blackout2010 ' explicando a Senna en tono de broma que el metro el romance era bastante baja y que Senna , siendo la parcela sólo es importante femenina de la época, tuvo que tomar el relevo . Más tarde, si sabía o no, empecé a crecer más y más enamorado de la pareja , lo que alimenta en combates puros de impulso creativo que hizo un montón de otros escenarios , que por lo general ha mejorado la historia.

Esto llegó a un punto crítico , cuando Sinceramente, no sé qué hacer con Senna. Por un lado , me pregunté a mí mismo tendría razón de mí para llevar su felicidad, porque si lo hago , no habría una gran cantidad de problemas internos que afectarían a ella ( de ahí por qué me hice un punto de mostrar a la audiencia durante la escenario de la confesión general ) . Luché con una respuesta, así que llegué a la conclusión que a mí mismo , ¿por qué no convertirlo en un dilema moral? Este fic ha tenido varios problemas, donde no hubo respuesta correcta a la solución. La cuestión que quería plantear era la siguiente: ¿Cuál es la medida de la felicidad ? ¿Dónde se establece la línea en la arena de lo que está bien y lo que está mal con él? Quería transformar la cuestión de una simple respuesta de que no me gusta porque es raro, y quería hacer en una cuestión de causa del pensamiento .

Ahora que fue entonces, esto es ahora. No voy a pelos en la lengua , y aún estoy un poco inseguro , pero estoy muy inclinado hacia un maridaje de tres vías . Así que , si eso es un tema de oferta para usted, entonces lo siento. Yo aprecio su patrocinio , y me gustaría extender mis disculpas. Ciertamente espero que mi fic hasta este punto, usted ha entretenido y aliviado incluso un pequeño peso en su mente.

Deseando lo mejor,  
Jeanluc Ocasio alias Blackout2010

Well, that was long, unto the next part which is!

* * *

A Challenge presented:

Firstly, as you can see by the title, just below is a story challenge for those willing to undertake it. I gave my word to fellow author Storylover213 that I'd post it up, so for those who wish to try please feel free to PM him/her if you want a go. Below are the detail.

Details: Well, the Challenge is for an Ichigo with a OC Zanpaktou, instead of Zangetsu, fic. The OC Zanpaktou can be something you make yourself or it can be based off another power from a different source, like Greed's abilities from FMA. It would start at the beginning of the Rescue Rukia Arc during the Shattered Shaft, and continue on till the end of the Arrancar Wars and go further if you wish, with whatever changes you wish to make to the Canon. Ichigo must at some point learn how to control his inner Hollow earlier than he did in the Manga, and also learn how to control both of his berserk Hollow Forms (Vasto Lorde Ichigo and rampaging half-mask Ichigo). The pairing for the story is a choice of Ichigo/Halibel, Ichigo/Yoruichi, or Ichigo/Four-Five girl harem (with either Tia or Yoruichi having a place in it.)

So that's it does this sound good enough to you.

-Sincerely

StoryLover213.

Recap requirements:

OC Zanpaktou (can't be Zangetsu)

Start at Shattered Shaft.

Ichigo masters his Hollow form (subset abilities are optional)

Pairing must be: Yoru/Ichi, Ichigo/Halibel, or Harem.

Minimum length from SS to Arrancar arc (afterwards, whatever you want).

Good luck with that Audience happy story forming, now unto!

* * *

Prefic banter:

Mayuri: HEY! This is Mayuri Kurotsuchi with an important announcement. It has recently come to my attention that all you brainless…valued customers have been going to that two-bit hack Urahara for supplies. (1)

Zaraki: THAT ENDS TODAY!

Mayuri: Why you ask? Simple. Because as of this moment the 'Kurotsuchi Scientific Emporium' is open for business! Here at our emporium we have scientist doing twenty-four-seven testing to ensure our product it the best. Scientist such as:

Zaraki: CAVE JOHNSON! (2)

Cave Johnson: Burn life's house down with combustible lemons!

Zaraki: OROCHIMARU!

Orochimaru: Everything I use is kid friendly.

Zaraki: LEX LUTHOR!

Luthor: I have enough money to cure cancer, but I chose not to.

Zaraki: AND THAT ONE GUY WHO TRIED TO DESTORY THE WORLD THAT ONE TIME!

Guy?: BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IT'S ALIVE! ALIVE!

Mayuri: I know what you're thinking! You're thinking 'maybe these products aren't for me'. But hold on, allow me to introduce our first product: The very feisty scent of-

Zaraki: GENOCIDE!

Mayuri:…-cologne! That's right. While everyone else is coming into the office smelling like a coffee fiend, you can strut on in smelling like-

Zaraki: AN ASS KICKER!

Mayuri: And when your boss gets in your face you can-

Zaraki: KICK HIS ASS!

Mayuri: This will also increase your popularity by 500%-

Zaraki: WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT!

Mayuri: But hold up we've got more after this commercial message. Stay tuned!

* * *

Chapter 30: Facing the truth, facing yourself

A low chime echoed throughout the Kurosaki residence, filling all the empty space and piercing behind every door frame into each room. A small interval of silence passed by before the same low chime reverberated through the air again, this time successfully stirring one of the home's occupants.

The young woman's eyes flitted open for a moment, before closing back up, as she choose to return to her blissful rest; however, before she could enjoy the rewards of her choice, she was once again privy to the interrupting ring of her doorbell.

Cracking open her eyes again, she moved her head to the side to let her see her clock on her dresser. The red circular timekeeper read the time to be seven-thirty in the morning, much too early for a delivery man, which left the only other conclusion she could think of.

'_I don't need truancy officers this early. Sides haven't missed a day yet…'_ The young proprietress mentally groaned, as she gently removed Shaolin's outstretched arm, that was resting against her shoulder and fell to her back, so she could get out of bed. Thankfully, as she was getting out, the tired captain let out a groan from the departure of warmth and retracted her arm back, as she shuffled her body to rest on her stomach.

Once Senna was on her feet, she stretched, straightened her back up, as much as she could, popping any joints that had seized up during the night prior, and waking up her muscles.

After the brief stretch, she looked back at her bedmate and concluded that it might be best to wake her for the new day to come. So, leaning down, she placed her hand against the snoozing Captain's shoulder and lightly shook her.

Shaolin, with much more room to move, rolled over to cocoon herself under the blanket and return to the peaceful embrace of deep sleep. Unfortunately, for her, the now awakened Senna wouldn't have it.

"Come on, Shaolin-chan, time to get up." She chided, as she turned the girl back over to face her.

"Rrgg…" the groggy Chinese woman groaned, barely raising the effort to open her eyes. "Five more minutes." She practically begged, before closing her eyes. "I'm exhausted…let me sleep, Gakusei."

Senna bit her lip, understanding of her tiredness due to yesterday's fighting, but she still had little choice in the situation. "The sun is already up Sensei." She replied quietly.

Shaolin's eyes flitted open again, momentarily regarding the ray of light filtering into the room from the nearby window. "I know…" she muttered, as she touched her shoulders. "But there was a time shift delay when Ichigo and I crossed over from the Soul Society. We've been up for nearly 36 hours yesterday."

The girl sighed and just when she was going to reply the doorbell rang again, her impatient guest catching her ire. "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME! HOLD YOUR HORSES!" She shouted towards her door hoping her voice carried to the rude person outside.

Turning back to the semi-awake woman, she offered her a hand with a small sympathetic smile. "I know you don't want to, but please get up." She tilted her head slightly, smiled widening. "If you do, I'll make you and Ichigo the best breakfast ever."

The dull rumble of the woman's stomach echoed much to the Captain's chagrin. "V-very well." She faltered, as she slowly started to unravel herself from the blanket to get out of the bed.

As the girls left Senna's room, still wearing the clothing they left on their Gigais yesterday, they were surprised to see that Ichigo was turning at the T-shaped junction towards the front door. He was wearing pants, but his upper body was shirtless save for the towel over his shoulder. The telltale signs of a shower.

He bobbed his head slightly, in recognition to their presence, before continuing to the door to open it. As the door swung open, it revealed a tall buxom silver haired maiden in a black Hakama and lieutenants badge wrapped around her arm.

The giant woman bowed apologetically. "I'm sorry for disturbing you so early in the day, but medical relief has just arrived. I'm also here to inform you all on the situation."

His memory kicking in, Ichigo recognized Isane Kotetsu and back away from the doorway. "No, it's alright, Isane." He said as he extended his hand in the direction of the two girls. "Please come in."

Isane muttered her thanks as she ducked under the low hanging, before taking a seat at the dining room table along with the others.

"I'm glad Soul Society was able to send someone, especially a friendly face like you, Isane-chan." Senna started up.

While the gentle giant was appreciative of her kind words, Isane bit her lips at the reality of the situation. "I wish we could have come sooner, but with the collapse of the barrier yesterday, opening up a gateway full of Shinigami might have caused more harm than good." She lowered her head in apology "Again, I'm sorry we couldn't reach you until today."

"That's alright. Our part of the task force didn't suffer any damage that we couldn't heal on our own." The Captain replied, before she leaned forward with a solemn expression, placing her elbows on the table. "But you mentioned about informing us on the situation. Has something changed?"

"Unlike you three the rest of the defense team suffered major casualties." She pulled out a small list from her pocket and glanced over it before reading aloud. "Hitsugaya-Taichō suffered from several severed tendons in his arm and shoulder as well as other lacerations. Ikkakku Madarame was transported to the intensive care unit back at the fourth division, due to severe third degree burns, he had to be sedated. Renji Abarai suffered from laceration as well as a punctured stomach, I think the blood loss might have been more serious then what I heard, because he seemed to be suffering from delirium mention in detail a Quincy that helped him out…but everyone knows the Quincy were destroyed at the turn of the last century. Rukia Kuchiki suffered a moderate concussion from blunt force trauma, but reports she got off lightly. We also have seventeen confirmed KIA's including seventh seat of squads six and eight Canna Lachlan and Etzli Zolin."

"That bad…" A mutter of disbelief escaped Ichigo.

They suffered that many losses? To what? Five? Maybe, six Arrancars? If this trend was going to be the norm then this war was going to be a lot bleaker than initially expected.

"Yes, I'm afraid." She said quietly, as she reached into her pocket, pulling out another small report that she handed over to captain Soifon. "In addition to that, one of the towers designed to protect Karakura town was extensively damaged. So we're pulling double time to finish constructing the rest of the towers around the city, that way if another one breaks during the war, we won't suffer a forced reiatsu suppression on ourselves."

The Captain nodded her head as she finished reading the report. Handing it back to Isane, the blue haired woman turned to the Kurosaki siblings. "It seems Urahara-san had a feeling that this might happen, so he made sure that during the execution phase that upon a tower reaching seventy-five percent completion, the building team would focus on the next one, providing multiple back-ups." Her eyes darted back to Isane. "Thank-you for providing this report, Fukutaichō."

"Umm, I also have a set of orders from Captain Unohana, which is backed by several other Taichōs." That caught their attention. It was rare that several Taichōs agreed upon a decision made by someone other than the Sotaichō.

"What did she say?" asked Senna, her words laced with curiosity.

The shorthaired woman clasped her hands together. "Because we don't know the physiological nature of these new enemies, or the effects that either the Hogyoku or Hueco Mundo might have on us, all active human world Shinigami are being recalled back for mandatory debriefing and health evaluations."

"Health evaluations? Why?" Senna tilted her head in confusion, "Can Hollows carry diseases or something?"

Ichigo met Senna's eyes and answered her question, "Well, people's souls can still get sick, Senna, just ask Captain Ukitake," Ichigo pointed his thumb at Shaolin, "or better yet, ask 'Captain Winter'." He poked fun of the weather-prone captain.

"Something you wish to repeat, Fukutaichō Kurosaki?" the unamused captain snarled, her grey eyes flashing indignantly, while a nervous Isane scooted her chair a little further away from the short woman.

A bemused smirk flitted across Ichigo's lips, since he knew she wasn't really serious about her implied threat and would have instead given an amusing justification about her embarrassing secret, but with Isane here and unaware of their clandestine relationship, they wouldn't risk it possibly getting back to SWA, specifically the rumor mill Rangiku.

"Anyway, Senna." Ichigo continued, "You remember when Rukia and I told you that Hollow are twisted human souls?"

"Yeah, their pluses that weren't reached in time and feed on others to try and satiate the emptiness in their hearts." She repeated what they had told her long ago.

"Right, well, it's doubtful that Hollows have much in the way of hygiene and Hueco Mundo does have some differences from Soul Society, so it's possible for them to have a transmittable disease. Most times healing kido can neutralize foreign spiritual particles in the body, but," he extended his hand Isane's way. "like she said, the Arrancar are different from the average Hollow."

"That's correct, Kurosaki-Fukutaichō." Isane acknowledged, as she held her hand palm-faced up on the table. "We just want to make sure that none of us needs to be worried about getting some kind of Hollow infection. Creating a remedy now is better than trying to create it in the middle of battle."

_You two have both Hollow and Shinigami parts._

The words of Urahara rang in the mind of Shaolin, who narrowed her eyes intently. If the blond pair they had met yesterday could teach them to use Hollow powers then that meant they had Hollow parts in them too, for better or worse.

However, if the doctors at Soul Society were actively looking for Hollow DNA, it would lead to one of two conclusions. They find it in the Kurosaki's and then they remove it, causing them to miss the chance to gain control of this Hollow power and affect the outcome of this war.

The other equally bad conclusion was, that upon discovery, a riot would ensue once word spread that the Kurosaki's were technically walking biohazards. The fear and paranoia would eventually reach boiling point that the two might have to be monitored, or put under some kind of control, which would only serve to re-solidify the Vizards' warning.

'_Promise.'_ She corrected herself, as she closed her eyes. She knew what she had to do. "I'll go on behalf of all of us." She replied, her response calling all eyes to her.

Looking towards Isane, she lifted her hand in the direction of the siblings. "These two have a very special mission authorized by the Sotaichō, which is strictly need to know, Kotetsu-Fukutaichō. But luckily for us, I've been with them this entire trip as per my own orders, so if these two happened to catch some kind of infection, it will already be in my system, so if you can cure me, it'll cure them." She explained.

The gray haired woman's eyebrows rose, not expecting to hear about a classified mission. "Okay, Taichō." She nodded, as she got up from the table. "Then shall we head out Soifon-Taichō? Your group was the last one."

The Captain glanced warily at the two Kurosaki's, her worry evident on her face, but before she could turn away, she felt Ichigo's hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Captain. We'll be fine." A smile grew on the man's face "By the time you get back, we'll be ready to take the fight to Aizen."

Senna smiled as well to ease her trepidation. "Yeah, just head on back and tell your leader to be ready."

The stoic Captain felt her lips curve upward into a small smile. "Alright. Be careful then." She got up from the table and exited her Gigai. "I trust you remember where to go?" she asked one more worry driven question.

"The docks, don't worry." Ichigo reassured, "We'll see you back here."

The woman nodded and turned to the lieutenant from four. "Very well. Kotetsu-Fukutaichō, ready to depart?"

"Of course."

With their debriefing finished, the pair departed Senna's apartment, using their Shinigami forms to cross through the air to the transition point.

As they strolled at a leisurely pace to avoid any unseen complication, Isane found herself in an odd position with the Second squad Captain. Even though they were both in SWA, the two of them weren't particularly close, so finding something to talk about to help get an idea of her mental state wasn't easy.

The tall woman nervously looked at the scowling Captain from her peripheral, her eyes traveling over her body to find a conversation starter. Once her eyes came to the woman's hand, her movement became a little more rigid, at what she saw.

Her sudden twitch in movement seemingly caught the Captain's eyes. When Soifon turned in her direction, Isane immediately focused her eyes directly in front of her to avoid the suspicion of her shorter travel companion.

When the intimidating gaze of her superior left her body again, she looked back to see the woman let out a quiet sigh, before considerably softening up her usual grim expression. Once again, the combat medic was beginning to wonder if she was in some weird daydream, since it was so…un-Soifon like. Her eyes went back to object she noted earlier _'I wonder if that-'_

Her thought were interrupted by Soifon speaking aloud, "What are you staring at?" the Captain asked bluntly, causing her opposite to think she fell from a daydream straight into a nightmare.

When no response was given, no doubt to her clamming up, Shaolin held back the acquired edge in her voice. "Kotetsu-san," she said, her voice much softer, but still carrying it's professionalism. "You've been shooting looks at me for a little bit and your body language suggests nervousness." Her eyes shifted from the air in front of her to the woman beside her. "After last night, I find this to be more than a little unnerving; hence, why I am asking you if something is wrong." She explained her perception.

"O-oh, it umm…nothing, nothing serious." She started out, turning her body back towards her superior. "but…umm well…" she lifted her right arm slightly and pointed at the woman's hand closest to her. "You're wearing a ring, Soifon-Taichō."

A puzzled expression crossed the Captain's face as she glanced down, and to her horror, she saw that the marriage ring Ichigo had given to her, exposed to the natural air. _'How could I be so stupid as to forget my gloves!?'_ the panicked woman screamed on the inside.

Nearly two years of their successfully maintained clandestine relationship was now threatened exposure because of a single blunder. _'No.'_ she thought to herself, her eyes wandered over to the tall woman who was moving her lips. _'I need to convince her that it's not what it looks like. But how? I can't order her to forget what she saw that's basically admitting it. Maybe if I killed her? Dead people tell no tales. No, that would just be unethical; I could never, but then wha-'_

"Captain, are you listening to me?" the oblivious woman asked,

"Huh?" she replied stupidly, her inner conspiracy bubble getting popped.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, the gentle woman repeated her prior question. "I asked: If you knew the social implications of wearing a ring on the ring finger of your left hand, Soifon-Taichō."

'_Eureka!'_ the Captain thought, "Ummmmm…no." she replied, her voice sounding just a bit defensive. "Why?" scripting her eyes to look down, towards the hand at her side, she added. "I'm not insulting people am I?"

'_Of course, she wouldn't know.'_ Isane thought to herself with a motherly smile, since romance and Captain Soifon did not equate. "No, nothing like that, Captain." She said, which seemed to ease the feigningly tense captain's posture. "A ring on your left hand ring finger means that you're married to someone or that you're getting engaged."

"O-oh really?" she answered back, as she lifted her hand up to face level. "I didn't know that. Senna loaned it to me while I was in my Gigai last night." She lied, as she pulled the silver ring off her hand and pocketed it. "She was regaling me about human world fashion and how best to blend in with other humans. I'll have to return it to her when I get back."

To the fukutaichō's surprise, she received a sincere smile. "Thank-you. You saved me a lot potential embarrassment."

"N-no problem." She accepted; eating down the white lie mixed with genuine positive emotion. "You know you've really undergone a positive psychological change, Captain."

"I've changed? Wait. You've been monitoring me?" she questioned, as she warily took a step away from the doctor.

"No, nothing like that." The girl fretted, since she didn't want to give her the wrong idea after successfully breaking the ice between them. "Umm…what I mean is, I specialize in medical psychology more than I do medical practice."

Soifon's scrunched up her features, "Soooo, what does that mean? You're not actually a doctor?"

"No, I am. I just specialize in one field more than another, I'm still fully qualified to practice medicine." She clarified, "Anyway back to what I meant: During the SWA meetings and in your conversations, I've noticed a pattern over the years."

"What is this pattern exactly?" the Chinese woman asked, her expression guarded.

"I've noticed that ever since Kurosaki-Fukutaichō joined your squad, you've become far less reserved and much more expressive. Before he joined, you rarely took an interest in the doings of the club, mostly keeping to yourself with a scowl on your face or conversing with your third seat, but after Ichigo joined as a replacement, you gradually started to chat more with the other members, even offering to listen to their problems and give advice. A year later and you surprise us all by actively initiating your first member, Senna-san, whom you had spoken quite fondly of, even though you only knew each other for the week after Aizen's treachery.

"Really?" the Captain muttered to herself, having not realized the little changes she had undergone when she wasn't thinking.

"I wasn't the only one who noticed. When I asked my Captain and Rangiku about it, they both agreed that Ichigo really grows on people. And their right." The woman looked into the blue sky, thinking back on her memory of the man.

"When I met him alone at the cemetery after Aizen departed, I saw him thinking about our mutual friend, Hanataro-kun. I spoke with him and I learned that he's very dedicated to doing what he thinks is for the best, but he still cares about people. I could see why people respected and looked up to him." The woman's eyes fell back on the quiet Captain. "That's why I think he had an impact on you too, Captain."

Shaolin was silent as she thought over her memories of the man. Finally, she let out a small chuckle. "I guess you're right. Maybe I have changed." She said wistfully, as they continued their stroll to the transfer point.

(Ichigo and Senna)

Stepping off the city bus, the Gigai clad pair walked through the large gates leading to the shipyard's warehouses. They walked past the motorized forklifts and busy hard-hat workers towards their destination.

Once they reached the plot on the far end, the pair spared a glance at each other; each sibling looked the other over to wash away any lingering doubts, before nodding simultaneously and knocking loudly against the galvanized metal door. The pair stood there for a moment, the sound of battered metal ringing in their ears, before the mechanism operating the warehouse door kicked on and began to remove the obstacle in their way.

As the large piece of galvanized metal lifted up, they saw the smirking form of Shinji with his hands in his pocket. "Well good mornin' to ya." He greeted amicably. "Gotta say you look a lot healthier than I expected."

"So you felt the fighting." Senna said more as statement than a question.

The man nodded "Yup."

"And you didn't interfere." Ichigo said next

Again another nod "Yup." He replied, popping the p at the end.

"Why?"

The man pursed his lips boredly. "Like I said, not our problem. The whole Aizen shtick is a problem born and raised by Soul Society. I washed my hands of that place, the moment they put a target on my back." He then looked over at Ichigo "Which speaking of, am I going to have to look over my shoulder while you're here, Mr. Shinigami?"

"Would you believe any answer I tell you?" he asked sardonically.

The man smiled cheekily. "Nope," He then turned around and started walking back into the depths of the warehouse. "walk this way." He gestured with two fingers.

Following closely in step, the two Shinigami walked into the dark empty warehouse, eyes scanning the area for the man's partner or the people he mentioned before.

When they reached the further most corner, Shinji knelt down and muttered something. Immediately a flickering silver light coated his index finger, placing it down in front of his feet, the patch of dirt morphed into a trapdoor with a circular metal ring and iron chain.

Glancing over his shoulder to pass the hint for them to back up, he pulled open the door that led to some underground stairwell.

Following down the stairwell, the two Kurosaki's were surprised to see the underground area was huge in comparison to the top floor; it might very well have encompassed most of the shipyard. The question as to how such a place came to exist was put on hold when the Shinigami saw an assortment of individuals sitting on a picnic blanket eating food.

"Hey-o!" Shinji called out to get everyone's attention.

The tall pink haired man wearing the cooking apron, looked up from his pot of stew, and quickly pointed to the man's right "Hirako look-"

The man didn't get a chance to finish when the blond girl from yesterday, Hiyori, drop kicked the man in the side of the face, forcing him to eat into the hard rocky ground.

The guests, while miraculously able to maintain their outward front, were reasonably shaken on the inside after seeing the 'greeting' the man got back from his own.

Perhaps, it was for the best they had come today instead of yesterday.

"Hey…you alright, slack jaw?" Hiyori asked, her voice holding a certain amount of concern, since she hit the wrong person with her kick.

Placing his arm against the ground to push himself up, Shinji looked back from his fallen position at the obvious perpetrator. "WHAT THE HELL!?" he yelled as got up to nurse his jaw, "What was that for!?"

The girl's concern fell back underneath the surface. "Shock and awe." She shot back. "We're supposed to be a group of badass warriors, and they come walking in while we're stuffing our faces with soup, rice balls and toast."

From the blanket, a green haired girl wearing a white jumpsuit, hoped to her feet with obvious indignation at something. "Heyyyy! You said you liked my cinnamon toast!" she shouted, as she pointed an accusing finger at shorter girl.

"I told you it WAS good, but we really-" she stopped and looked back up to the stairwell to see the still unnerved pair. "HEY! Stop eavesdropping jackasses, it's fuckin' rude! Learn some goddamn manners!" she yelled, as she pointed her finger at them accusingly.

Senna sighed, as she turned to her brother. "We're screwed…" she muttered dejectedly, her eyes dull and lifeless.

"Yup…that's a good way of putting it." He answered, as he watched the two bicker about how they needed to seem intimidating to newcomers.

The two bickered for a few more seconds, before a pierced silver haired man wearing a blue muscle shirt and beige shorts yelled at the pair. "Hey shut up the both ya! You're giving us all a bad rep!" his eyes then drifted over to the recovered Shinji.

"Hirako, what's the deal with them? I thought we agreed only to deal with Kisuke or Yoruichi, no outsiders." the man glanced back at the pair with hard glare. "Or are we getting double crossed? Again."

"Naw, it's legit." The man replied, as he walked over to the pair are extended towards them. "These two are the ones Urahara told me to tell you guys about." He then eyed over his friends annoyed, "Course, you would have known about it if you all hadn't up and bailed for a night on the town last night."

"We were out of food and needed to resupply, can't mooch off Urahara all the time." said the large pink haired man wearing a green business suit.

"I believe I already informed you of my desire to complete my collection of 'Nayamashi Quartet'." The sailor uniform wearing girl with glasses replied, unashamedly of her choice in genre.

"Hey, me and Love went to see the movie 'Summer wars'! It was the last showing!" the lime green haired girl shouted dutifully as she pointed to a man wearing a green tracksuit, who was shaking his head proudly.

"I was practicing my riveting violin serenade on the far side of our play ground."

"If by 'riveting' you mean 'smash your head against the wall until the noise stops', then yeah riveting." Hiyori snarked.

"I was pulling a double shift on the docks, since everyone else except Hachi want to be a freeloader." The silver haired man stung verbally. "What's your excuse?"

"All right, all right, damn. I'm just trying to say a little heads up would be nice." The man's face grew serious "You guys already know that Urahara has been doing his best to try and understand our condition. He's convinced the answer to reverse engineering it lies within these two."

"Really?" the glasses wearing woman muttered with a look of astonishment, a sentiment matched by her colleagues.

"When I was visiting him last time, he mentioned his trip to Soul Society and about the data regarding these two. He speculated that if they could naturally use Hollow power, then he could isolate the physiological reason as to why. When I asked him for the details, he mentioned the Aizen spiel. He said he managed to get Yamamoto to temporarily rescind the bounty on us in exchange for teaching them to use the power of Hollows. I'm still working on getting it permanently dropped but that's another story."

"Sounds like this has been going on for a while." Rose commented, obviously dissatisfied. "I wish you had mentioned something earlier."

Shinji rubbed the back of his neck, "I didn't know about it till recently and I didn't want to bring it up because I didn't want to get any ones hopes up, besides I said 'temporary rescinded'."

"Then Yamamoto must be very desperate or he's gone unusually soft." Kensei muttered ominously, "I don't like it."

"That's enough conspiracy talk, you're worrying them." He waved off, trying to redirect back on topic. "Let's start with introduction and then begin on finding out the level of these Hollows before we try forcing them out."

From the back, the pink haired man with the cooking apron stood up "My name is Hachi Ushoda. Pleased to meet you."

The green haired girl hopped up and saluted, "Mashiro Kuna! Totally cool to meetcha!"

From beside her, the silver haired man eyed them carefully before saying. "Kensei Muguruma."

His fierce gaze was abruptly ended when Mashiro yelled, "Stop trying to look cool Kensei!"

Kensei quickly wheeled around to the woman "I'm not. This just how I normally look!" he exclaimed, unknowingly earning sympathy points from Ichigo, who experienced similar problems in Shinigami school.

"Blah, blah, blah, no one cares!" she waved off dismissively

"What was that you little-"

The long blonde man sighed at them arguing, before he bowed gracefully. "Please do ignore them, I am Rojuro Otoribashi, but you may refer to me as Rose."

The guy in the green tracksuit stepped up next. "Name's Love Aikawa, and yes, Love is my first name. I am the symbol of the union between Passion Aono and Fury Aikawa."

Next Hiyori spoke, "I'm Hiyori Sarugaki, just in case you morons forgot."

"Lisa Yadomaru, a pleasure." She greeted as she adjusted her glasses.

"Shinji Hirako or Hirako Shinji, either one works."

"Wait…those names…" Ichigo's muttered as he thought about them. They seemed familiar, he knew he should know them, but from where?

"What? We've already been taking out of the textbooks at Shino? Man, they must really hate us to do something that petty." Shinji complained aloud as he scratched his chin annoyed.

Senna tilted her head confused, "Textbooks?" she repeated not getting the man's hint.

Snapping his fingers, now Ichigo was able to put his finger on them. "You guys are the Captains and Lieutenants that went missing shortly before Urahara vacated Soul Society."

"That we are."

The orange haired man felt his stomach drop. "No wonder you hate Soul Society, you barely escaped persecution."

"For a crime we didn't intentionally commit." Shinji cheerfully finished, "That about sums it up."

Ichigo leaned forward, "So what happens now? You don't seem eager to want to teach us."

"I ain't eager to teach anyone these techniques kid. As questionable as their decisions are, Central 46 got it right when they said it's forbidden to wield these powers." Shinji replied, as he scratched the side of his chin. "But a deal is a deal, you're helping us out, least we could do is return the favor."

"Judging by their reishi and spiritual potentials, it seem these two will have very troublesome Hollows." Hachi informed as he took off his apron, "I'd best get started on an appropriate barrier."

As the large man started to walk off, Senna turned to Lisa. "So how exactly does one train to use Hollow powers? Is it like practicing the four basic style of Shinigami combat?"

The woman shook her head, "No. What we must do is bring out your Hollows, so that you may subdue them in your inner world, while we keep your body under control in this world. After which we may begin your training proper."

"I see." The girl looked back at Ichigo quietly, as she thought something over. "Can I go first then?" she asked him.

"Senna…" the man muttered obviously objecting to it.

The girl smiled seeing his concern "Ichigo, you're the stronger of the two of us, and you have Bankai. If I go first, then you'll know what you're getting into, and if I succeed then I can help you keep your body in control." She smiled "It's a win-win, Ichigo."

"Only if you don't die." Ichigo countered knowingly.

A small grunt escaped her since what he said was true. "Ichigo," she said softly "I have to do it either way." A relaxed smile placed it's self on her face to convince her stalwart brother. "Just trust me. I won't let you down."

The man gritted his teeth, before relenting. "Alright, we'll do it your way, but be careful." He then looked at Rose. "About how long will it take for us to get started? The war isn't going to wait forever."

"I take it by you impulsiveness that you are as young as you look." The breezy man replied, "It shouldn't take more than two hours for us to set up the barrier. Please eat and relax." The man turned around and started to walk off. "It just might be your last chance."

(Soul Society)

"Thank-you for the escort, Kotetsu-Fukutaichō." Soifon thanked, as the pair reached the door leading to the Captain's hall, where each member of the advance team gave their debriefing, before dismissal.

"Not a problem. Good day."

The large woman bowed before disappearing in a flash step. The absence of the woman in front of her, gave Shaolin a clear view of the white city that stretched out before her, what it was they defended. The Captain's eyes lingered over Soul Society for a minute more, before she put back on her serious face to see the head captain.

Pushing open the doors she stepped into the hall, which was empty save for the Sotaichō standing ever firmly at the end.

The woman quickly crossed the distance before kneel in front of her commander. "I apologize for my lateness, Sotaichō. I overslept after last night's confrontation with Aizen's forces."

"Yes, these Arrancar I've heard so much about." The old man said knowingly, as he stroked his chin. "They are quite troublesome indeed. It seems Urahara was correct in his assumption that Aizen would try to test out his new force, but I never thought he'd strike Karakura. It seems I was too objective with the situation."

"You couldn't have known, sir." She tried to assuage, although the man looked no less swayed.

"No matter, what's done is done. I would like your status report on the mission I sent you on."

The woman nodded, "Ichigo and I rendezvoused with our target, Senna, and proceeded to Urahara's who debriefed us on a curious revelation." She then lifted her gaze, her eyes making contact with the old Shinigami. "How long have you known that Ichigo and Senna could tap into the power of Hollows?"

"I was made aware of it by Urahara himself after he made some careful observations regarding them. He informed me that such a power could play a pivotal role in our struggle against Aizen, especially since they aren't under the hypnosis of Aizen's Shikai."

Shaolin's stomach sank as she recalled Shinji's words. "Urahara also revealed a small group who could tap into the same power as Ichigo…were you aware of them as well?"

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow, perhaps he was mistaken of just how interactive the girl truly was with her ex-allies. "I would think you would be aware of them yourself. They were your predecessor's colleagues after all." He pointed out for the woman.

The woman's eyes lit up at what he said. "I see. I thought they were familiar, but I couldn't place it." She stated carefully, as her eyes drew away from the man. _'That explains how they know the judicial process so well.'_ She concluded darkly.

The old man coughed to get the woman's attention back to the debriefing. "Continue with your report, Soifon-Taicho."

"I assume you've already been well informed about the Arrancar, regarding their ranking system, abilities, and their possession of Zanpaktou, so I'll skip it and tell you that Ichigo and Senna are currently training with the ex-group of Taichōs and Fukutaichōs to gaining control of their Hollows."

"I understand." He was about to dismiss her when he saw the woman get up from her knees with a bit of defiance in her eyes. "Something on your mind, Taichō?" He asked, since it was rare time she had such a look.

"Yes. A…" she paused to consider her phrasing, she didn't want to reveal there to be more to her and Ichigo's relationship, especially now. "'concern' was raised to me, it's in regards to the subset of orders you instructed me to perform."

"Really?" he responded with veiled caution, "I was sure I explicitly said to proceed at your own discretion. What was is that concerns you?"

"I was wondering: Once this business with Aizen is finally settled, what it was you plan on doing with Kurosaki-Fukutaichō and the girl, Senna. You and the central forty-six forbade any individual with Shinigami powers to try and possess the powers of Hollow, so what will happen to them?"

The ancient Shinigami nodded his head, seeing what was going on. "Did Shinji put you up to this?" He asked.

When small woman kept her mouth closed in fear of a bad response, he continued, "I told you when I gave you those orders, I needed someone to carry them out without question. You were my primary selection because of your loyalty to Soul Society and your ability to approach them without raising their guard. That is why I came to you first, before all other prospective candidates."

He opened his eyes, pressing his spiritual energy against her, not enough to inhibit her, but to showcase his seriousness on the matter. "However, if you feel that you have become too close to them and cannot do what it is I require in maintaining the balance amongst the worlds, then tell me now, so that I can recluse you and find someone who can, before you make an irredeemable mistake."

Despite the pressure, the woman maintained her ground. "I'm just trying to ease suspicions…sir." she replied as professionally as possible.

"I understand. However, these suspicions only have grounds, if one does not believe in seeing the bigger picture. I was very careful in the orders I gave you, Captain."

The slightly tanned woman bowed her head, "Yes…you were." She acceded, her hairline obscuring her eyes, hiding her true thoughts.

The Sotaichō eased on his spiritual energy, "It is good to see you understand. Now go, get yourself checked in at Unohana's barracks; after which, if you are cleared, you'll return to your post in the human world."

"My orders?" she asked as she stood up, silently hoping it wasn't what she thought they would be.

The man didn't hesitate. "The same as last time. Protect Ichigo Kurosaki and the substitute Shinigami Senna, while overseeing their condition. Kill any high priority targets should a reasonable opportunity arise, and-"

Despite her crestfallen disposition, she concealed how she felt behind her usual ice queen front. "-and Kill Ichigo Kurosaki and Senna should they prove too dangerous to leave alive or become a threat to Soul Society. I know." Shaolin finished, already knowing what he was going to say.

"Good." He uttered callously, his merciless tone stoking the fire inside of her. "You are dismissed Captain."

The Captain drew in a breath and exhaled, bowing her head submissively to her commander again, before she got up and turned to leave. On the inside, she kept her anger in check as she walked back the way she came. She knew that he was just looking at the big picture from a realistic point of view; she had just survived a night against enemies that were in the same league as herself.

She knew that the power of Hollows was certainly not something to be trifled with, but that didn't mean she would agree with Yamamoto's assessment, that she wasn't angry that he practically proved Shinji's words right.

After initially receiving the mission, and the wave of embittered distrust left her mind, she considered the very idea that Senna or Ichigo would be a danger to anyone, with the obvious except of Aizen and company, to be ludicrous. Unfortunately, this Hollow business quickly derailed her initial outlook and at one point even made her seriously question whether she would have coldly carried out her orders as 'expected of a Taichō'.

But now…it was okay. She was in a state of clarity and firmly resolute on her personal resolve on keeping her promise to Ichigo, nay the Kurosaki family. _'I will never doubt your path, Aìrén.'_

As she pushed past the doors, she took a moment to calm herself down, to ensure she truly buried her emotion on the matter. She had almost let her emotions get the best of her and brought down the masquerade back there, which would have put her loved ones in mortal danger. She'd need to be careful in the future.

"Captain." A voice called out as the double doors behind her closed.

Glancing to her left, she saw the boyish Captain, Toshiro Hitsugaya, leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. "Can I help you Hitsugaya-Taichō?" she then pointed her thumb behind her. "Or are you on your way to speak with the Sotaichō?"

"No, I wanted to speak to you about something."

The curious woman turned to him, wondering what it is he wanted to speak about. "Go on."

The short man pushed himself off the wall, "I was wondering if you'd care to impart some friendly knowledge to me." When the woman raised her eyebrow showing she was interested, he continued, "I've heard in the Onimitsukido, there is a technique that utilizes speed to seemingly escape death. The User leaves behind an afterimage to provide a distraction for an attacker, while they move to a more advantageous positi-"

"You speak of the Cicada technique." She interrupted, as she brought a finger to her lips. "How do you know about such a skill?"

"I can be quite resourceful." He answered cryptically, which didn't amuse the woman.

"Be that as it may, you are not a part of the Onimitsukido; therefore, I am not allowed to teach you those techniques." She said in an open and shut manner.

Toshiro narrowed his eyes, "We're at war Captain Soifon. I would think sharing abilities and communicating between divisions would be prudent. You saw firsthand how dangerous those Arrancar are."

The Captain closed her eyes, since he was quite correct in his assertion. "I acknowledge your point; however, I am not allowed to share these skills precisely BECAUSE I am in Onimitsukido. By sharing such information, I am subject to the punishment of sharing privileged secrets, hefty crimes by both the Organization's standards as well as Seireitei. Even if that wasn't the case, if I were to just go around sharing these abilities frivolously to any asker, Sosuke Aizen would be nigh untouchable by now."

"Are you seriously suggesting that I'd use it against Soul Society?" He said more as a statement regarding her opinion rather than a question.

The woman met his gaze with equal intensity. "I am suggesting that if I did not follow protocol before, after, and during a state of war, I would be responsible for prepping the next Aizen with a powerful evasion technique."

The white haired boy nodded his head as he thought over his words. The woman was about to turn away when she caught sight of him speaking again. "I didn't think I'd have to resort to this low." He stated coldly, pausing just long enough to make sure she was hanging on to his words. "However, I am more than willing to bring to light your illicit affair with one Kurosaki Ichigo, Captain Soifon."

While she didn't show it, the man's words had an effect on her. _'How in the world does he know about that!?'_ She asked in a scrambled panic.

For the couple, that information was currently the highest expression of their trust in another. Nobody, who wasn't extreme close to both Ichigo and Soifon, would know this information, as for the ones who were told, they were also expressly made aware that sharing such information, before the couple thought the time was right, would cause some serious backlash for them.

So, for him to come up and admit that meant either: He really knew, learning from some third party method, since Ichigo would have told her immediately, or…

'…_he's bluffing.'_

Playing it cool, Shaolin brought about her usual indifferent scowl. "You're trying to blackmail, Hitsugaya-Taichō? With that kind of groundless conjecture?" a mirthless chuckle escaped her lips, "My advice to you: Get a refund from whatever source you paid to get such information." She was about to turn and walk away when her body stopped at his next words.

"Subaru Kujo was quite detailed on her assertions." He stated. When he saw the woman freeze stiff, he inwardly smirked. "Yes, I'm well aware that your relationship has been going on for quite some time. Though I kept it to myself since I didn't see it as cause for concern, even during the 'Kurosaki rebellion'."

The man received a smoldering look from the woman. "And how is our relationship 'cause for concern' now?" she asked, her grey eyes cursing the man to a violent death.

"I'm not proud of what I'm doing, Soifon." He admitted plainly, hoping it would ensure some civility in future endeavors. "However, Ichigo is my friend, if I can learn this technique, I can better protect him. I would think you'd hold the same belief."

The woman turned her eyes away from him as she thought over his words. She could tell he was being sincere and while she was all for taking liberties with rules, especially when they concerned Ichigo and Senna, breaking what was clearly outlined for her was another matter. Gazing back at the man with corners of her peripheral, for a brief moment, she was reminded of Shinjiro and Subaru.

If taking their word as gospel, then what they did was what they thought they needed to do to protect Ichigo, her and the rest of Soul Society from destruction. While she would never admit it as her opinion as a Taicho of the Gotei 13, she personally still held out in believing in her friend's good intentions and that if Aizen was defeated the pair would surrender immediately.

The woman closed her eyes, her thoughts drifting to her current situation with Hitsugaya. _'Is this really so different then?'_ she asked herself, since she was in the same boat. Protecting Ichigo, even if it ran counter to her position and the position of others, to the very mission the Sotaichō himself charged her with carrying out.

The white haired boy waited with baited breath. He had played his trump card on her and was having difficulty telling whether or not it had an effect. While he was initially surprised with the revelation, he could see how Ichigo could win someone over, but now it came down to fact versus myth.

He watched the woman carefully, before she turned back towards him. "I am forbidden to teach you it…" she then turned away from him and took a few steps before stopping again. "However…" her solemn voice called back to him, from across the gap between them. "If I used it and you saw me doing it, I would not be wrong. Perhaps, if you had a Zanpaktou..." She trailed off.

The young man did as she 'suggested' and waited for her. "Sometimes, looking at the person's hips, and direction their body is leaning, will give you some insight as to whether the person is going to try cicada on you. You may proceed when ready."

Toshiro gauged her body language and her stance, noting that while she appeared to be standing straight, one leg was being favored in the same direction as her very slight body slant. Once he was finished with his initial evaluation, he gripped his blade before thrusting into her body.

A split second later, all that was hanging on his blade was an empty Captain's Haori; a small grunt escaped his throat at the phenomena. When his ears picked up the sound of footsteps lightly tapping against tile, he turned to his left and saw, as expected, the impassive woman walking up the stairs.

"I thought this left an afterimage." The young man inquired, as the woman reached the final step.

"I said this an applicated use, not an instructional example." She said flatly, as she approached his sword, pausing just long enough to look into his eyes. "It's your own fault if you were too slow to see it."

She then turned away and carefully pulled her Haori off the sword to examine the damage. A frown formed when she saw that the steel went straight through the squad symbol. That would definitely earn her an earful from Yamamoto later, a sentiment she was willing to let be known to the young man. "Besides, I don't have enough Haoris in my wardrobe to teach you anyways. So, I trust you can figure the rest out on your own?"

The boy sheathed his Zanpaktou and bowed slightly "Thank-you, Captain."

The woman returned the bow and was about to flash step off before she stopped herself. "By the way Hitsugaya-Taichō." she said in her professional tone, though the young man could tell it was anything but cordial. "This is just a friendly heads up, but if you try to blackmail me or Ichigo again, I'll murder you in your sleep. That's a surety."

She then disappeared leaving a bemused Hitsugaya behind. "Hmm, it seems she cares quite deeply for you Ichigo. I hope you know what you got yourself into." He chuckled to himself as he went off towards his division to reverse engineer the technique.

(4th division)

Coming out of a flash step, the Captain looked to her side and was greeted by the entranceway into the fourth division's barracks. She was about to take a step towards it, when from the other side of the entranceway the smiling angel appeared.

Retsu looked moderately surprised to see her, before relaxing again. "I was just about to go looking for you Captain Soifon. I was worried Yamamoto might be doing more harm than good with these debriefing; especially, since you were the last one to arrive."

Shaolin bowed respectfully, "My apologies, I was delayed." She then straightened back up. "Isane Kotetsu informed me of the purpose behind these medical screenings. What do we need to do exactly?"

"Follow me inside." She instructed as she turned back in to the building, the young girl following behind quickly.

As they walked through the building, the veteran Captain noticed her junior's serious expression and sought to rectify it. "You don't need to worry." She spoke, getting the woman behind her to shift eyes to her. "It's just a few routine health procedures: A blood drawing, to make sure there isn't anything wrong with the way your body's natural processes are working, an X-ray examination, to ensure no bones were broke or weakened during the struggle, and a couple of statements of how you felt physically and mentally after the struggle."

"Sounds…complicated." The Captain replied warily.

A small chuckle escaped Unohana's lips "Mmhmm, it's just sounds dangerous. It's really just a boring sit down and rest process for you. The test won't take more than two or three hours; you'll be in and out before you know it." The serene doctor replied as she led her to a room with a curtain screen, two chairs and lots of small medical equipment. "Shall we begin?" she asked, hand gesturing for her step behind the curtain.

(Vizards base)

The Kurosaki pair looked off from the rocky plateau they were standing on, at the large golden cube that tapered off a large portion of the underground area. They could see Hachi in the middle of it, stabilizing the barrier with his kido abilities until they were prepared to go. While neither knew of the true complexity behind it, they could tell this was meant to hold something in.

From the corner of his eyes, Ichigo saw the glasses wearing girl, Lisa, approaching. "Preparations are complete. We can begin immediately." She informed the initiates.

"So what do we have to do now Yadomaru-san?"

"We'll give you a moment to decide who is going to go first. After which go speak to Shinji. The one who isn't selected will assist us in keep the chosen from going on a homicidal rampage, while you battle in your inner world." She then turned around "Please deliberate quickly."

When sailor suit Vizard disappeared from sight, the siblings looked at each. "So you still want to go first?" Ichigo asked wanting to be sure of her resolve.

The girl nodded her head, "Yeah." She quietly clasped Ichigo's hand in hers "I just gotta be brave." The young woman smiled, as she got close to Ichigo and gave him a hug. "I'll see you on the other side."

The man wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hips, "You're not alone. I'll be with you every step of the way." He smiled as they stepped back "Now let's do this."

"Right!"

The pair then walked over to where Shinji was having a team meeting with the Vizards. Once the two approached closer, he looked in their direction. "So, whose going first?" the blonde man asked, a seriousness in his voice that reflected the gravity of what they were about to undertake.

"I am." Senna stepped forward.

"Gotcha." He then lifted up hand in front of her face.

The girl stared at it momentarily, wondering what he was doing, until she felt a silent wave beginning to radiate from him palm. She felt her body rocking back and forth, as if the ground was shaking underneath her, to her eyes it very well could have, as the hand before her started to vibrate and split apart, almost as if it was shifting between two spots rapidly.

Blinking her eyes to try to keep her body from throwing up, she finally gave in and closed them to prevent sensory overload.

Ichigo quickly grabbed Senna's body when she finally went limp. He kneeled down and placed her against the ground, before looking up at Shinji. "Why the sleeping kido?"

"Precaution." He answered, as the Vizards started to get close to the prism, "If I simply asked you to enter your inner world through Jinzai, you might have registered the pain during the transitioning period, which would wake you up and pull you out of where the real battle is being fought, causing additional problems. But, if you're unconscious-"

"Then you can't be taken out from the inner world by outside factors." Ichigo finished, causing Shinji to smirk.

"Glad to see you understand." He then turned towards the shining kido barrier. "Pick her up so we can get started."

(Senna)

Falling to her knees, the young priestess brought a hand to her face, covering her eyes. She stayed like that for a few seconds until the ringing sensation left her body.

When her hand fell away, she found herself staring at a rocky dirt road. Chancing a glance, she confirmed she was where she had left off on the mountain of her soulscape. The woman looked to her right, over the edge of the spiraling mountain path, and saw that the sun was beginning to set in her world. The lush green trees, the majestic mountain with a breath taking view, the clear rivers reflecting the light. It was all so beautiful underneath the orange and purple skyline.

Turning her head up towards the nearing summit, she smiled.

She would protect this world.

The woman took in a breath as she gripped her Shakujo that she had used as a walking stick. "I'm ready, Mirokumaru." And then started the final length of her journey.

It couldn't have been five minutes later that she came around the final bend on the spiraling road, which ended in a large flat area about 30 feet in diameter, a fitting place for a duel. Sitting in the center of it all was Mirokumaru. Not too far away from the priestess, was a mysterious door standing with nothing holding it up or seemingly beyond it's eerie glow.

Once Senna had taken in her surrounding, she walked over to the unarmed priestess, who seemed to be in the middle of chanting.

The spirit kept praying until Senna was less than two feet from her. Bringing her hands down from their ritualistic praying gesture, the woman got up to her feet. _"Greetings, milady."_ The good half greeted, with a respectful bow.

The woman's eyebrows raised, "Oh? I thought the other you would be here."

"_No. You are correct. You will challenge her."_

Senna let out a hum, as she looked away from the spirit to the ground beneath them, her eyes seeing the energy encased in the ground below. When she looked back up, she saw her spirit nodding her head in agreement_. "Yes, the other you plans on using the same technique…that is if you get that far."_ The Miko affirmed, as she pulled the brim of her hat to further conceal her identical face.

"I understand." The girl said with a bit of unease. Her eyes then went over to the door standing not too far away. "Why is there a door there? Does it have a purpose?"

The Zanpaktou took a step back and looked in the direction of the object. _"Yes."_ She turned back to the woman, _"It will first take you to a very special room in your heart."_

That got her attention. "What's this room exactly?"

"_This is your inner world Senna. A world where all is right. However due to the gravity of the situation you are in…I thought that you may wish to see the events etched in your memory that made you the woman you are today. To understand the path you have walked now and find strength in it for the journey ahead."_

Senna understood her meaning, "What's the second purpose?"

"_Once you are ready, you will begin the fight for your soul."_ She then stepped aside, allowing the woman to pass.

The Kurosaki walked over to the door and turned the knob, a white light shined through the crack she created. Steadying herself for what lay ahead she opened the door, as a bright blinding light engulfed Senna's body. When the light died down allowing her to see, she found herself in a small hallway that seemed to lead into a roundabout room.

The hallway was devoid of decorations, but the wood that made it up was beautifully polished, it looked ready to stand the tests of time. Step by careful step, she slowly made her way down the hall until it opened up to a large circular room with portraits adorning the wall.

Stepping to her left, she saw the first portrait in the gallery. It showed her father, holding the hand of her six-year old self, smiling as the pair walked by the riverside with fishing rods and bug catching nets. The tranquil river reflecting the fading rays of the setting sun.

She remembered this. It was after first hearing about fireflies that she pestered her father to help her go find the 'glowey bugs' that way she wouldn't have be afraid of the dark. After an hour, they had finally caught some, but her father tried to convince her to let them go, so that they'd light up the night. While stubborn at first, she relented when he promised to take her to the ice cream parlor and sleep in the bed with her.

The woman smiled as she remembered how amazed she had been to see the glowing bugs fly out of her jar and light up the nearby trees, changing the dark river hillside into a beautiful concert of light. Looking at the inscription at the base of the painting, she felt her heartache.

[He who would hold up the world.]

"(Sniff)" the woman wiped her eyes as she felt them getting misty. She walked to the next one, knowing that while she missed her father, he'd want her to stay strong.

The next portrait had a dark background with little yellow pentagrams hanging far above the center. In the center, wearing a green turtle suit was her smiling six-year old self. Across from her was a much younger Don Kannoji. The two of them had their arms crossed and seemed to be doing his traditional 'spirit be with you' laugh.

Senna's eyes widened as the memory that was depicted came rushing back to her. This was from when she was first allowed to go out for Halloween. After hearing all of his fanciful supernatural tales, Don Kannoji, at the reluctant agreement of her dad, promised her that he'd take her to his latest shooting for his show, when they met up outside of her home, Kannoji praised her saying she was the cutest kappa he'd ever seen. He taught her how to do his laugh, saying that every spirit wander beginning their journey needed to know the power of joy, to find happiness in the work they do.

Glancing down the inscription read; a calming sigh escaped Senna.

[A curiosity nurtured.]

Judging by the memory, and it's corresponding inscription, it seemed to be the first brief but solid step in the direction of immersing herself into the spiritual world. A step that would one day lead her to proudly declare her ability to see ghosts as an adult.

Side stepping as the joyful smile settled on her lips, she came across the third picture in the room. Her eyes fell on the Senna in this picture who was much older in comparison to the last picture; she was wearing her Tamagi Honda middle school sailor-fuku and looking back over her shoulder.

Glancing to her portrait self's right, she saw her friend Makoto Yakumo, calling after her, as they ran out of a store with a few brightly colored bags.

This was from the afternoon after her and Makoto first met. The two of them had been paired off to go against one another at the tennis team's practice session. Once the fierce match had ended in the Kurosaki's favor, the two had started to chat before going to the nearby mall for a small shopping session. The pair ended up getting so side tracked at the sweets shop that they almost missed the bus back home.

Senna smiled sadly, even though she was amicable, the green haired girl had been her only real friend she ever had. The combining factors of: her father being an undertaker and mortician, her house one floor above a mortuary service-home, her claim to see and talk to ghosts, and people's paranoia that she might be suffering from a mental disease, left her with lots of acquaintances, but no one her age that didn't occasional whisper things about her.

At least not until her.

Chancing a glance down, she nodded resolutely with the inscription.

[A true friend.]

As she continued to the next portrait in the circular room, she saw that this one was from a very recent event in her life. The background was of Yoruichi and Kisuke's secret training area in the Seireitei, specifically the area where the hidden hot springs were located.

In the painting, the her of then was sitting in chest deep water, filled with uncertainty, as she was staring at a serenely smiling Shaolin, who was sitting on the rock outcrop with her legs dipped in the water and a towel draping down, covering her front, her fingertips lightly brushing under Senna's chin, holding her gaze.

The woman closed her eyes as she remembered this incident. While the picture romanticized what had actually happened, she knew that this was from when she and the Captain had sat down and talked about their respective feelings for Ichigo. She winced as she remembered how she had tried to deceive and misdirect the stern woman then tried to make deals with her before criticizing her.

It made her sick.

She had acted like such a child. She was almost amazed the Captain hadn't reverted back to the colder ruder version of herself she had shown Senna when they first met, or that she didn't just mercilessly back hand her across her cheek, before calling her out on her despicable underhandedness.

Instead of showing righteous indignation at the betrayal, she showed patience, calmly and carefully coaxing her, getting her to see why what she was doing was wrong. She fearlessly regaled the eighteen year old with her own personal tale of harsh unrequited love that ended in the moral: That not only was she inadvertently belittling the happiness of the couple, but of herself too and that she deserved to value herself worth someone's love.

The hurt in the woman's words, born out of her genuine concern for the love-struck girl's happiness, broke Senna's heart, it made her cry, it made her disgusted of her selfishness, it made her wish she could take back every action she believed she may have committed against the understanding woman.

But most importantly, it was a wake-up call. A wake-up call telling her what she needed to do. The one thing she should have done in the first place with the woman, her sensei, her friend, the only person she knew who understood the nature of her affliction on such an intimate level.

Surrender herself and ask for guidance.

And when she did, she was grateful.

Opening her amber eyes again, she spotted the inscription that so described the scene, and the bond between them.

[Two people that share the same heart.]

Kissing her fingers, she gently placed them against the title, before moving unto the second to last painting.

This picture was also from a recent event. The background was the training ground of the second division, the white tiles and walls gave it away. In the center of the portrait was a depiction of both her and Ichigo.

The younger sibling's head was pressed against her big brother's shoulder, one of his hands cradling the back of her head, her hands clinging tightly against the back portion of his clothes, while the young man wrapped his free arm around the small of her back protectively.

Senna's felt her hand grip the spot directly over her heart. While at first glance it might have seemed romantic, she saw the tiny detail in her depictions eyes, the detail that revealed the truth behind the picture.

The tears.

This memory was from after learning her father was gone, when she thought he was dead and that after the war was over, she would return back home, truly and utterly alone.

At first, her mind was utterly blank; she didn't know how to take it, how she was supposed to take it. It seemed so surreal to her. She had come to this world knowing that she or one of the others might not make it back, and while the prospect of facing and submitting to her own mortality terrified her, she knew that it was the only way to save Rukia, which eventually entailed all of humanity.

But…her father…

Kisuke and his friend had assured her, that her father was completely safe in Kukaku's home. The fiery noblewoman would be more than capable of babysitting him until they returned, even in the unlikely event he escaped from her roof, the Seireitei was nowhere near her home, so given his lack of flash step, Kukaku and her servants would catch him before the sun set.

It was foolproof…

It…wasn't supposed turn out like this.

Which was what made it hurt so much more.

When she stepped onto the training ground several days later, she felt so dead on the inside. Life just didn't hold the same shine to her. She didn't want to be around anyone, she didn't want to feel the hurt of someone she cared about being ripped away from her again.

For a very dark moment, she considered that maybe Soifon's life choices, rejecting the people around her, preventing them from getting too close, might actually be a smarter way to live.

Then Ichigo, the last person she expected, came to her. He forced her to see that she was running away from reality. That she wasn't alone and more importantly, the people who cared about her were getting hurt because she was pushing them away.

He helped her heart grow, by taking her out of her consuming gloom and seeing that she could keep going, that: Her father, Don Kannoji, Makoto Yakumo, Kukaku Shiba, Isane Kotetsu, Retsu Unohana, Shaolin Fon, Ichigo. EVERYONE, she ever cared about, was standing beside her; trying to will her back unto her feet. Their hope-filled hands outstretched just before her eyes, silently telling her to. Not. Give. Up.

She just needed to be willing to reach out and accept it.

She recalled the words Ichigo had spoken to her, when he pulled her into the hug.

'_Senna, I beg of you, stop.'_ He cried out, his voice wracked with worry and terror. _'You're not training to stay alive, you're pushing yourself to die!'_ his terrified eyes, made contact with his baby sister's. _'This is how it starts: You neglect your feelings, you lie to yourself, then you neglect your conscious and start to push people away, and then you neglect your body and it's needs.'_

'_Ichigo…I…'_ she buried her face into his shoulder, ashamed of herself. _'[sniff] wahh…'_

At the truth of his words.

The man tightened his grip around her and whispered into her ears. _'Senna…Senna.'_ He cooed trying to coax to listen to his words. _'Senna, look at me.'_ When the wailing woman managed to calm down enough to do as she was told, the gentle man brought a hand against her soft cheek, his thumb rubbing away some of the tears that were still running down.

'_Look. You see…these are your tears, you're crying.'_ He showed her his wet thumb, as he continued speaking in a loving yet concerned tone. _'You're crying for help, I can hear you. I…we care about you Senna. Shaolin, Me, your father, everyone. Your happiness is our happiness. Your sadness is our sadness. I know you're hurting, sister, but don't ever think you're alone.'_ The man leaned in and kissed her tenderly on her forehead. _'We love you, so don't lose sight of that when life brings you down. I'm with you every step of the way.'_

Senna let out a calming exhalation. Despite the sad memory associated with it, it reminded her that life went on. That she could push on, so long as she kept the fire in her heart alive with the thoughts of everyone, who cared about her and wanted her to succeed with her life.

Kneeling down, she looked at the inscription of the picture and smiled gingerly.

[Manifestation of the Heart: Clarity and Salvation.]

Pushing herself off her knees, she approached the final picture in the room. This picture was by far the most distinct from the other paintings, in that it was completely black, no other colors or images were on the canvas.

Glancing down at the inscription, she saw that it was devoid of an epitaph.

The woman furrowed her brow, despite not seeing anything in the image, she could feel, deep down, that something was calling to her. Stepping closer, she carefully lifted her hand up and touched the blackened portrait.

A ripple soon emanated from her fingertip and began to slowly fill the painting with colors. Senna took a step back as the image was constructed before her eyes. Some peach. Some gold. Some purple. Some white. Some dark gray. And some black remained. All the different colors arched and straightened through the painting in it's own concerto until visible outlines began to form and be filled in with their respective colors revealing what had laid beneath the black shroud: Herself. A portrait of herself with her eyes closed in meditation as she held a weapon in each hand, sword in her left and Shakujo in her right, a variation of the Shinigami Jinzai.

The girl looked on in confusion, since while she knew of Jinzai; she had never actually performed the act. Her expression grew even more interested, when from the shoulders of the painting Senna, two wings extended outward. On her left shoulder with a red outline was a black feathery wing, which seemed to be held together by a malicious force. Across from it, surrounded by a small halo, was a white feathery wing, reminiscent to an angel or bird, an aura of relaxation seemed to pulse between the feathers.

"What is this?" She asked herself. The picture admittedly was beautiful, but she didn't see how this held some kind of meaning to her. All the other portrays were about events that helped shape her, her beliefs and mindset. This however…

A small flash of light caught the girl's attention. Kneeling back down, she saw that the once empty inscription now held words and with it an answer.

"Between right and wrong. Between light and darkness. Between life and death. I walk the path I choose." She repeated aloud.

"**Ya get it now?"**

Eyes snapping back up, she saw the Senna in the picture slowly opening her eyes, revealing golden irises. The woman glanced down to her hands and spun them so the sword would re-interlock with the top sheath, as she slid the metal back in, her form started to drain of color, quickly changing from the vibrant version of her into the pale Hollow self within.

As the Hollow got to her feet, the wings in the painting faded to black along with the room around her, leaving the two of them less than three feet apart in a void of nothingness.

"How long have you been there?" Senna asked, as the creature took a few more steps around her.

"**How long? I've been here the whole time."** The woman stopped and looked at her with a smirk **"Or rather...you never left."**

The spirit snapped her fingers and below Senna's feet, a smooth rock surface formed under her. It expanded outward as far as her eyes could see. Looking skyward she saw the darkness of space, lit only by the tiny stars that dotted it's expansiveness.

Turning her eyes back at her surroundings, she noted that she had never seen such a desolate wasteland before. "You said I never left. So why don't I recognize the area?"

"**Oh, that."** The creature stopped her gait and kneeled down. **"This will explain."**

Touching the ground with her hand, an intricate line illuminated as spiritual energy surged through it. The line ran from where Mirokumaru stood all the way between Senna's legs and past them before splitting apart and illuminating more areas along the ground.

That was all she needed to see to piece together what she meant. "We're still on the mountain summit." She then looked back at the Hollow. "We've shrunk."

"**Astute of you, my servant."** The monster mocked as she stood up, **"I can't very well go tearing up my domain over senseless violence. It's just unethical."** The creature then stabbed her Shakujo into the ground and leaned against it. **"Before we begin, I would like to congratulate you on making it here and for fulfilling your end of the wager."**

Senna nodded, "I know enough about myself and what I am, but there are still some things I don't understand."

"**I know. One of my purposes is to help fill in those blanks when you are ready. So let's begin with the basics."**

"My father Ein is actually Isshin. He's the father of Ichigo and husband to Masaki, an ex-Captain of the Gotei 13."

"**Correct."**

"Isshin…he has powers similar to a Shinigami, and was supposedly a nobleman, yet no one ever heard of him. Then I met an Arrancar, a Hollow that has taken human form. Which means if he was an Arrancar and had a child with a Shinigami, then I would have access to both Hollow powers and Shinigami."

"**Really?"** the creature said with feigned confusion. **"What draws you to this conclusion?"**

"It's what Urahara said: He said that you had to have been inside of me for a long time, several years even. If I were born with you, then you would always be inside me. When we first met I think you mentioned me never hearing your voice until after I gained Shinigami powers."

The Hollow smirked darkly as the girl continued, "Then when Ichigo was training to learn Bankai, I saw that other him. If all inner Hollows look like the person, then that solidifies that Isshin was a Hollow and that I was born in the Soul Society and came to earth as Don Kannoji told me."

"**Beautiful, Senna, simply beautiful. You understand who you are and where you come from."** The creature closed her eyes contentedly. **"What do you want to know?"**

"Why are you able to lend me your powers?"

"**As I said, Senna, I am you and you are me. Yes, I am a 'part' of you, but I am also a path of what you can become."** The Hollow brought a hand to her lips **"Recall what the other half of me informed you of? I –we- know what we are aiming to become in life and have reached that end. She seeks to give mercy and relief to those around even at the cost of herself, where as I sought no more than my own satisfaction even if brought misery to others. You on the other hand, you were still unshaped: Uncertain to what you wanted to become yet having the courage and naivety to remain malleable in either direction. You were capable of shaping yourself into anything your heart desired."**

A small chuckle escaped her. **"It's odd, seeing you now. You had some much opportunity and potential to fashion yourself after one of us, yet you have followed neither's path. Instead, you share traits of both extremes, but still you reveal yourself as a beautiful product of summation and choices. You take my advice, yet rebuttal my actions. You train under the other one, yet you lack her grace. It's perplexing yet mesmerizing."**

Senna's expression grew more serious "I don't see why you should be so surprised. I'm not complete yet and I still have a lot of questions." She then kneeled down and touched the earth, which illuminated the giant seal beneath them "Like how you can use this attack."

Mirokumaru's eyes drifted downward, staring quietly at the in line before her that spread in an intricate seal **"That attack is what kept me at bay for so many years. Your mother, Masaki, possessed an attack so devastatingly powerful that, if used improperly, would destroy worlds. So to prevent this power from falling into the hands of either Soul Society or any other, she sealed it away in one of her children, you."**

"This seal is one of her abilities?"

"**As I said, it is incomplete. She would never purposely endanger you, so she split the technique and chant into it's respective halves: Destruction and Restraint. The Restraint portion, sealed inside of you, would activate the seal and purge all malicious reiatsu and seal it within you, keeping such evil trapped helplessly inside of you with no way to escape, even in the event of your death."**

"And the other half?"

"**She kept destruction within herself, to at least have a trump card ability to protect her children from powerful threats…if she had enough time to prepare."**

The young priestess paused as she thought it over. "Why did she seal it inside of me though?" she asked

"**This instructions for the technique can be passed down from person to person; however, it seems only women have the capacity to use it. Masaki was a very cautious woman; she didn't want this power falling into the wrong hands."**

"The wrong hands?"

The spirit nodded **"Yes, on more than one occasion she was tempted to split this power between herself and her disciple: Retsu Unohana. However, being alive as long as she has gave her insight on the swaying of the human heart and with Retsu's involvement with Soul Society, she was hesitant to bestow it to her, for fear that someone might trick her into teaching it for evil."** The spirit smiled darkly. **"That's why she put it on you, shortly after your birth. She could watch over your growth, and if necessary let the true technique die with her."**

Senna paused trying to think of any holes in the story before asking, "How do you know so much about it? I thought you said it affected you."

"**Me and your brother's inner Hollow have been fully grown and sentient from the moment you opened your eyes to the world. The restraint portion fell upon me and severely weakened my connection with you, which was further hampered by your prevention of gaining Shinigami power and that Gigai with the Seki Seki rock. However, from the time of your first breath, I have been studying the seal to better understand it's fundamentals; that is where I learned only half of the chant that usher it's full power was inscribed in you."**

The woman tilted her head a bit, as if considering something. **"A part of me is your Zanpaktou spirit, therefore I am under obligation to try and protect you. That is why I tried to learn it as best as I could, so that one day I could reach you and if necessary take over your body."** The spirit shrugged nonchalantly. **"After all, what better way to guarantee your life then by slaughter and maiming anyone who gets in you and Lord Ichigo's way."**

"So, you wouldn't hurt Ichigo?"

The Hollow looked at her as if she was stupid for asking. **"Of course not. He would always protect you. Any other questions?"**

"Just one." Senna said as she raised her weapon, "Is it possible to learn the other half of the chant? In the fight against Aizen, we need any ability we can get."

The creature shook her head, **"No, not without seeking the source of the other half of the chant,"** the woman closed her eyes as a small sigh escaped her, a mix of melancholy and anxiety. **"but you already know she's dead. Besides, it might be for the best that the ability will never be complete."**

That statement got the girl's attention. It almost sounded like she was relieved that such destruction couldn't be harnessed. "You said if it was used improperly it could destroy worlds." Senna stood up a little straighter, as she even her stare. "Weren't you just trying to make a point of how destructive it could get."

"**I wasn't. I was being serious."** The dark Miko crossed her arms and frowned. **"The technique requires ample time to be constructed, each ward chanted to full power and then executed, but, when all is done correctly, it is more than capable of killing from several thousand kilometers away indiscriminately, the only ones who would be safe are those closest to Masaki's position, who would be caught in the small safe zone around the user, those in a different dimensional plane entirely, or those of such distance that Masaki seals away the attack before they are affected by it's influences."**

"How?"

"**Once the safety zone has encompassed the wielder, the circular seal opens up from the bottom creating a gateway for the effects of the technique to take hold. As I said, if used successfully, only the serenity of death await your victim, if used unwisely, you will be the only thing left alive, assuming you don't burn yourself and die from exhaustion afterwards."**

"And the attack itself?"

"'**Purgatory' and the 'Lightless World', restraint and destruction, the two halves that make up the whole: The Magatsu Mandala. An apt description for what the seal takes the form of." **

"Magatsu Mandala?" she repeated the word, "Magatsu means 'corrupted' and Mandala is a spiritual way of signifying the universe." The girl's eyebrows drew close. "So the seal corrupts the universe?"

"**Not quite. It does not corrupt the universe, rather it is a corrupted manifestation of the universe. A portend to the end."** Mirokumaru pulled her Shakujo out of the ground and readied in a battle stance. **"The Magatsu Mandala: An all-consuming Black Hole that will lead the world to the Apocalypse."**

The woman's widened at what she heard. "What!?" a shriek of disbelief escaped her. "The end of the world!?"

"**Yes. However, as I've stated, such an attack requires ample time to prepare and more importantly significant amounts of reiatsu, which you don't have access to yet. That is why the seal compensates by eating directly from your life force and cutting down the length of your life."** She explained calmly before letting out a chuckle. **"But that doesn't matter now, since it's time for you to go beddy-bye and for me to step into the light."**

"Just try it!" Senna yelled, defiant in her desire to stay in control.

The Hollow quickly surged forward, kicking up dust behind her.

The resonating ring of the Shakujo clashing against each other echoed through the air, as the respective halves of the same being pushed hard trying to overcome the other.

Twisting her Zanpaktou, Senna thrusted it down hitting the doppelganger in the knee. When Mirokumaru jerked, the girl jutted her shoulder forward, causing the ringed end to bash into the face of the Hollow.

Using the space created, Senna spun low sweeping her enemy's feet, as she rotated around she channeled some of her energy into her staff. A ripping gust crashed into the sternum of Mirokumaru, shooting her with cannon like velocity into the hard rocky mountain surface.

The young soul reaper kept her guard up as the resulting dirt cloud created cleared away for her to see her enemy. Unsurprisingly, the white cloaked monster returned to her feet though she had black blood coming from the side of her head and her lips, likely the spots where she suffered the most impact.

The white figure glanced at her servant girl, before relaxing her guard. Lazily bringing a hand to her head she wiped her bloody wound before staring longingly into lather of blood. **"Ahhha…"** a deep pant escaped her lips, as the dark Miko dragged the blood down the bridge of her nose and over lips, her tongue licking up the dark substance.

"**Beautiful..."** the woman moaned out as Senna started to become more unnerved by the spirit's unhinged behavior **"Delectable…Exquisite even!"**

Acting on instinct, Senna flashed stepped forward and using her burst of speed, slammed the hilt of her staff into the woman's stomach. Her eyes flaring with panic, at seeing the aroused expression of Mirokumaru, Senna flipped her Shakujo upward striking her chin before clocking her on the other side of her head.

Senna's eyes watched as Mirokumaru's body was tossed over sideways, but before she hit the ground, she threw her hand down and hand sprung back a step, her eyes still in a mesmeric trance.

The bruised figure fells to her knees and shuddered, thought it was most definitely not from pain, as the smile on the monster's lips continued to grow. **"Ohhh…Senna, such fervor! You've become a most excellent servant, capable of understanding her mistress's needs!"**

"What…!?"

"**Ahahahahhahaha! Oh, I felt it radiating throughout my very being. Your passion."** The Miko's malicious golden eyes fell on her **"Your love."**

"You're…you're getting off on this!?" Senna uttered disgustedly.

"**Oh, you don't get it? How odd. I was sure you would. I'm more than willing to corrupt you further with knowledge, so lets me start with the basic question then. Senna, do you know what pain is?"** The Senna look alike asked, as the blood on her face started to seep through the surface of her skin back into her body.

"Pain?" The real one re-stated in confusion, not seeing how her masochist tendencies of her warped enemy had a deeper meaning.

"**For living things: Pain is your body telling your mind that you are in danger; however, for those who truly understand it, it holds a much deeper meaning."** The Hollow pressed her hand against her chest and then extended towards Senna, her smile growing wider by the second **"Pain is merely an honest discharge of energy released from within the core of a being's body. It is distinctly our own, no other person can ever mimic it with such acuity. What makes it unique, amongst our internal energy discharges, is that it is the only such discharge that can be both externalized and transferred to another; in short, it is a small yet powerful connection between hearts."**

The Taoist witch sauntered back to her feet as she drew her sword from it's hidden sheath. **"Pain is a beautiful thing Senna. It is pure and innocent. The rawest of feelings. Your feelings for me that I find ~oohhh~ so pleasurable."**

In the blink of an eye, Mirokumaru disappeared in front of Senna. She didn't have a warning when the powerful back hand took her off her feet. **"So allow me to express my 'love' for you, SENNA!"**

As the pain of her skid ended, Senna let out a loud scream as she felt a hand puncture into her stomach. Her muscles locked up, when she felt the other miko's hand grab hold of a muscle. **"Yes, that's right! Feel it! Bleed for me, scream for me, DIE FOR ME!"** the hysterical woman yelled, as she straddled the other woman's body.

Leaning in close to her, Mirokumaru's slimy tongue lapped at the Shinigami's cheek before travelling the distance to her ear lobe. **"I'll rip you apart limb from limb and fuck your body till your soul crumbles to dust."** She whispered lustfully into her servants.

Defiant of her defiler, Senna turned her head and spat the blood in her mouth into the face of Mirokumaru, temporarily blinding her. "Fuck! You!" head-butting the woman, the young Kurosaki gained the leverage to raise her foot push her off her body, gritting her teeth as the intruding hand was forced out of her body.

"Mugen dai: Kyofu ken!" Senna yelled, releasing her own hidden sword from it's golden scabbard. Hopping to her feet despite the pain, Senna quickly swung her sword at the stunned Hollow and cut her across the torso, a large line of red forced off to the side.

Seeing a need to regroup, the Hollow rolled out of the way, as her forceful servant brought her blade down trying to impale her. Rolling back to her feet, she swung her blade forward, creating a crescent gale wave that crashed into the other gale saber.

Being forced back by the intensity behind the wind strike, Senna re-sheathed her weapon into Shakujo state. She knew the both of them were hurt and she might not get the opportunity to create the set-up again.

It was now or never.

Sweeping her leg back in tandem with her backpedal, Senna twirled her Shakujo around herself, gathering up large amounts of her reiatsu and creating a large gale around her form. As she brought the weapon to her side, she then brought it overhead and twirled it above her.

The large circle of air, tightened before surging upward as a unified tornado. From the outside, Mirokumaru was having a hard time maintain her balance as the wind speed of the vortex rapidly kept increasing, forcing her closer and closer to the cutting winds of death.

Slipping another inch, the Hollow desperately dug her sword into the earth, trying to anchor herself and weather the giant tornado.

From inside the vortex, Senna smirked when she saw the Hollow try to hold her ground. She had wanted that for her plan to work. Stopping her twirling of her Shakujo, she momentarily stabilized the storm around her before bring her Shakujo behind her frame like a ball player ready to hit one out of the park. "Go!" she cried as she swept the golden staff forward, hurling the storm towards her hapless foe.

The Hollow's eyes widened at the oncoming attack, before snarling as she braced for the worse.

As her flesh made contact with the raging storm, the dark half felt her body being cut into, as she was lifted off the ground towards the tower of wind's zenith, the blistering winds bit and ripped into her flesh the same way as her hidden blade did.

That was how this storm worked and why it was imperative to never get sucked into the vacuum.

If it had been an ordinary tornado, she would have been content in letting it suck her in and spitting her out. With her Shakujo, she could just ride it like a surfboard to safety, but this wind was the equivalent of a massive spinning buzz saw going into her at the speed of an F-3 tornado.

Prying open an eye, the bloody damaged Hollow was moderately pleased to see she was nearing the end of her ride, having huddled her body close to minimize the damage of the splicing winds.

However, something unexpected happened, just as she was sure to be spat right out and have the opportunity to re-orient herself, the biting winds died out, leaving her curled helpless in a ball high in the air; but what really surprised her was the sudden swelling of Senna's spiritual energy.

From her skyward box, the Hollow saw the rock surface that acted as their battlefield, light up with a blue light, as lines ran to and fro in an intricate pattern. She knew what was going to happen next, as she looked over her shoulder.

"Preparations complete." The bloodied teen stated, as the guard of her Zanpaktou was lit by four glowing gem, one red, one blue, one black, and one green, with a fifth white one shining from back of her blade's hilt.

Dropping to one knee, she placed her hand unto the glowing runes "Harken the angel summons; the true path shall guide you. Find peace in annihilation." The chanting mystic then stabbed the seal with her Zanpaktou as she glared up at the dark creature, who merely smiled contentedly. "Great seal of restraint: Purgatory!"

Receiving the final command, the lines of the seal glowed a pure white as they activated and spread outward. The flash of energy was so bright that not only did it blind both fighters, but it lit up all of the dark skyline in Senna's inner world.

(Real world)

As Shinji raised his blade to defend himself against the Hollow possessed woman's strike. He saw the golden iris of the monster flicker for a second, before losing all malicious intent.

Despite years of experience telling him to be wary of feints, he saw to his surprise that the monster's arms drop to their side, as if it were in a trance. "(Sigh) Damn that was close." Shinji muttered as he looked over her shoulder "Come on in guys, we got ourselves a winner."

The other Vizards nodded their head and approached when Hachi dropped the barrier, Ichigo smiled contentedly. "Way to go, Sen."

(Inner world)

Darkness.

That was what surrounded Senna. She couldn't see anything around her and she couldn't feel anything around her. It scared her.

Was this death?

Was this what dying felt like?

She tried to move her hand, but didn't know if it moved or not. The only thing that she did know was that she was lying flat. _'So this is the end? When we die…nothing happens. We just wait here for eternity?'_

Well…maybe it wasn't so bad, at least she could think instead of just lying there motionless till the end of days.

However, her saving grace was broken, when she felt a searing pain through her non-existent body. Closing her eyes, she felt her body being thrusted forward into some other place.

When she felt the pain leave her, the girl opened her eyes to see herself standing on an intersection. But at this intersection, a tragedy had obviously occurred as a large red semi-truck was halfway pushed into the intersection, a white van was radiating steam from it's broken front end, and a small red car was crushed on both the back end and left hand side, glass was everywhere on the road. A small crowd had gathered with a news crew covering the action.

Already knowing what this was, she felt her stomach sink as she morbidly walked over to the talking newscaster to hear his 'report'.

"…In case, you missed it, let me tell it to you again. We have a fatal car accident on the intersection of Omiyuki and Tsubaki," the man turned to his left and directed his hand to the red semi "apparently the driver of the semi fell asleep at the wheel which caused his car to rear end, the red passenger car over there, which got T-boned by the white van over there."

Senna closed her eyes sadly as she walked away from the man over to the upturned red car, though she could still hear his words as if he sadistically telling the story in her ear. "This intersection has had a lot of controversy, since Omiyuki has the highway exit ramp right next to it where people are known to be speed demons. It's been speculated that even if the driver in the red car had just gotten rear ended, she would have been A-okay since it was the second blow to the driver's side that killed her."

As Senna stepped through the glass-covered street to go around the car, she saw a large pool of blood. Swallowing the lump in her stomach, she kept going around until she saw it.

"The victim pronounced dead at the scene is: Thirty-one year old Senna Kurosaki. Kurosaki-san was born and raised in Karakura and works at Shiranui shrine as a shrine maiden, grounds keeper and spiritual healer. It's been confirmed that fifty-seven year old Don Kannoji, ex-star and host of Don Kannoji's wandering spirit's channel; who later directed big budget movies such as: 'bad shield 3' and his 'Soul Society trilogy', which has been compared to George Lucas's 'Star Wars trilogy' in terms of popularity and innovation, will preside and perform last rites on the young Miko."

Her eyes fell upon the broken form of her older self. Her upper body was sticking partially out of the window with the buckle that held the seat belt dangling just off the ground.

Her much longer purple hair was coated with blood and glass and flayed across the floor while her expression seemed to have been forcefully knocked unconscious. The girl fell to her knees, mouth covered with her hand as she tears formed in her eyes.

How long?

How long had she been like that?

Barely tethered to life, waiting for someone to save her as she slowly bled out from presumably crushed ribs, shattered arms and broken legs.

"Hopefully in light of this tragedy, new policies will be brought about to prevent future deaths like from occurring. This is Tanaka Mori from new channel 36, back to you."

A suddenly a powerful nauseating feeling washed over her body. The scene before her started to slowly spin and fade in color until it finally gray scaled. Covering her eyes as she felt the world spin around her, she started to take deep breathes in to try to stabilize herself, but it was all in vain, as she fell backwards.

Back into the formless, dark, nothingness, she started in.

'_Ughhh…I don't want to think about dying for eternity…'_

**w…**

Senna thought she heard something.

**Wa**

There it went again, but this time it was accompanied by a ball of light forming far above her eyes. Was it…the sun?

**Wake**

The bright light above her grew brighter and brighter until she closed her eyes. Wait, Close her eyes? She didn't have any form in this darkness.

"**Wake up, Senna."** The voice called again, this time much more identifiable, as the light blinded her.

Flitting open her eyes lids a bit more, the young woman found her head laying in the palms of Mirokumaru, who looked at her contented yet sad. Slowly tearing her eyes away from her adversary, Senna saw that the sky above her was dark and filled with beautiful stars.

"I'm…alive…?" her voice came out dry and raspy from disuse. Had she been lying there longer than she expected? She tried to move only to feel absolute exhaustion in her bones, it actual kind of hurt to breathe.

The inner Hollow stroked Senna's hair as she readjusted so that the woman rested against her knees rather than her hands. **"Good to see you're up, sleepyhead. I…feared the toll of the seal was worse than I expected."**

The girl tilted her head back to look at colorless face of herself "Did I win?"

"**I let you win."** The spirit answered indignantly, **"I would never kill my favorite slave girl."**

"Liar. Didn't…you tell me…to die for you?"

The spirit blushed, **"It was…an expression of love."**

"Sure…" the woman muttered to herself "What happens now?"

"**You won and you sealed me away, so now, I will disappear into the recesses of your soul and leave my power to you as you see fit."**

"You're going to disappear? I'll never see you again." Senna asked sadly, since while Mirokumaru was a lot of things she hated, she was still her.

"**You won't see me, The Hollow, inhabiting your Zanpaktou's spirit's form anymore. From the moment of your birth, you could have been either a Hollow or Shinigami, whichever path was decided the other's power and personality would be absorbed into the other."**

With that tidbit of information, now Senna understood why she said they were one and the same. "So if I was a Hollow…"

"**I would be in control and you would be the one getting absorbed into me."** The Hollow woman looked away disgustedly**. "Of course, that also means I wouldn't be the perfect, masochistic, Ichigo-worshiping, killing machine that I am now, since I'd have not one, but two goody-two shoes in my head."**

"Well…" Senna's lips curved up "at least fading from existence that way…guarantees me a spot in heaven."

Instead of a chuckle, the girl received a hard glare. **"Don't talk like that. I don't want you to die."**

"Why so caring? I thought I was beneath you. I thought…" her voice fell away as her eyes closed tiredly, fatigue finally taking her.

The priestess chuckled softly, **"Why so caring?"** she repeated, as she stroked the sleeping girl's cheek. **"It's because Senna-koi: I'm a narcissist."** She whispered softly. **"We are enemies, we are friends. One is the servant, the other the mistress. I am your lover and your guardian, same as you. Even if you can't see me, always shall I walk beside you and watch you grow."**

As she felt her body begin to break into reishi particles that slowly began to seep into her master's form, the Hollow leaned forward, taking one last chance to kiss her on the lips. Slowly inch by inch she crossed the distance until she stopped, hovering barely a centimeter from the sleeping woman.

"**Damn you, Senna. You lay there so innocent…so invitingly, but you changed me. I shouldn't have a problem taking what I want…but it is as you said. I want to do it on my own terms…your terms. If you don't remember, what's the point?"** she leaned back, looking skyward as her presence disintegrated. As a tear escaped her eye, she utter her final words before going to her final resting place. **"I'll capture your lips…someday."**

(Real world)

Feeling her body shake, a strange echoing groan escaped Senna, as if she were speaking through a school's PA system. Her eyes were focused on the ground in front of her, which had some kind of feathery substance that was quickly dissolving away and her blade on the right side of her vision. Lifting her line of sight, she was greeted with the Vizards and Ichigo looking back at her expectantly.

"**Uhh...hey."** she said, but quickly stopped when her voice sounded all weird. Bringing her hand to her throat, she felt a soft thin substance pressed against her throat and around her hand at the same time.

Pulling her hand in front of her face, she saw that it was coated in a pure white substance that resembled a glove, though it extended just past her wrist. Looking down her torso, she saw that her entire Shinigami outfit was gone, instead her skin was exposed save for the other white pieces of garments covering her.

Her torso and part of her throat was covered by a smooth one-piece leotard, which seemed extremely flexible, yet upon closer inspection were thinly plated in a pattern that resembled the feathered chest of a bird. Her legs were completely exposed to the open air with the exception of her feet, which had metal grieves which kept with the seemingly bird theme of her clothing, having two talons on the front end and the top where her covered ankle was, a pair of wings extending backwards.

She was about to see what this stuff could do, but stopped when she heard a faint rustling behind her. Turning, she practically squealed with delight when she saw a pair of grey wings extending from the back of her armor, feathers gradually falling from extension.

"**Oh, this is so cool!"** Senna yelled as she pumped her fists, ignorant to the Vizards who were talking amongst themselves.

"The hell is that?" Hiyori muttered

"I'm feeling Hollow energy off it but…" Shinji pointed out

Kensei was equally stumped "No mask. Just a mouth covering at best."

"Well, those two are supposed to be different." Hachi offered, "Perhaps, Urahara was unto something when he mentioned being to reverse engineer."

"You think it was supposed to happen?" Lisa questioned

"Possibly. Ours was forced, theirs was much more natural." The big man looked over his shoulder "What do you think, Mashiro."

The green haired woman face was puffed up and her body was shaking "I think…I THINK…!" the fell on her back and started kicking around childishly. "I don't think it's fair! Why does she get a cool super hero outfit with her powers!?"

Everyone sweat dropped except for Kensei. "Hey, either you stop flopping around crying or I'm going to give you a reason to cry!"

"Waah! Kensei hits women because he smells like seaweed!" she cried which earned a tick mark on Kensei's head

"You little-!"

An amused Ichigo watched as Love and Lisa forcibly restrained the man, while Hachi gave a small chop to the wailing girl's head. Turning his attention back to Senna, he immediately covered his nose as blood threatened to erupt. "S-senna!" he yelled, getting the attention of the girl.

Senna's scrunched her face up, when she saw her brother turn bright red and cover most of his face. She tilted her head to the side, confused "What?" she asked, her eyebrows momentarily raised after she spoke. "Hey, I sound normal again." She commented as she brought her hand against her throat.

Looking over his shoulder to see what was going on, Shinji's eyebrows rose in surprise, before he let out a long whistle at what he was seeing, much to Ichigo annoyance. "Looking good there, Hollow girl." The smirking man complimented "Reeeal good."

Soon everyone turned in Senna's direction and had very interesting reactions. Some blushed, a few even smiled, the others with more dignity darted their attention away, an ominous sign for to be sure.

The young Kurosaki closed her eyes, praying that the reason for their reaction was not for what she thought it was. Despite her pinning wish, when she opened her eyes and glanced, she saw the white armor she been wearing, the symbol of the Hollow powers she had fought to obtain, whittled down to it's last scraps. The tiny remains around her belly button dissolving into the ether and exposing her to all who would spare a glance.

Obviously, a cruel parting gift from her inner demon.

"KYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOO!" The woman screamed as she curled up, trying to cover herself up from the prying eyes of the crowd she'd been unintentionally flashing for who knows how long. "You! YOU!" the shaking red-faced woman roared.

"YOU PERVERTS!" she screamed before she turned around and sprinted off into the distance, a huge trail of kicked up dirt providing a smoke screen from those who tried to stare at her butt as she left.

Once Ichigo got over his shock, he let out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck. He was willing to wager that since his kid sister wasn't properly taught in using Hollow powers yet and her mind set had gone from a 'battle-ready' mindset back to a 'peaceful' one, her battle armor must have deemed itself unnecessary and willed itself away to save her energy.

Unfortunately, since her clothing had been destroyed when she went into that beastly Hollow state, it was the only thing still covering her body. "I'll go get her. You guys get ready for me next."

"I draw the line if I have to see you naked." Shinji commented dully, as the other Kurosaki, hoisted the girl's Gigai over his shoulder.

"Shut up and get the stupid barrier up." Ichigo shot back dryly, before flash stepping off after Senna.

(Ichigo)

Coming out of the flash step, Ichigo was quite surprised at the distance Senna managed to run. Walking over to the large boulder that Senna's spiritual energy was coming from, he leaned his back against it and looked up at the ceiling "You okay?"

"I flashed everyone." Came the depressingly meek response.

Ichigo cringed, "Yeah, I…I saw."

"And the worst part…" Senna pouted from her side of the rock. "I…I…" the volume of her voice dropped considerably, "I k-kinda liked it." She whispered

"What…?" Ichigo asked as he pushed his back off the rock, hoping he didn't just hear what he thought he did.

"NOTHING!" she screamed, though Ichigo did hear the whole 'oh god I'm horrible' added afterward. As Ichigo leaned back against the rock, Senna called back out to him. "Err…what brings you out here? I doubt there's Hollows down here, so I'll be fine…alone. Without you. Haha…" she laughed nervously.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "You're right. There probably isn't." he acknowledged, before going on to point out the obvious. "But I can't just leave you running around naked in the meantime."

Though he couldn't see it, he could tell that she was hanging her head in shame. "Oh…y-yeah." Her voice practically rang 'thanks for the reminder'.

The man scoffed amusedly "…and I was worried about you." He added, much more serious. "I don't know what it was like in there, but it must have been rough. I just wanted to make sure you were really okay."

Silence passed between them as Senna ceased to respond to Ichigo. The man drew in a breath and looked straight ahead over the battle worn landscape. It hadn't been the prettiest site, but after seeing how Senna's Hollow responded to the outside world, he was deeply concerned about how she was doing. There was even a couple of time; the creature shot him a glance in his direction behind the kido barrier, it was almost longing.

The man was taken from his thoughts when he felt a hand gently squeeze his wrist. Following it back, he saw Senna's peach colored arm traced around the rock's surface edging. "Thanks. And I'm sorry for worrying you."

Ichigo smiled as he relaxed. "No prob." He then looked beside him, where the Gigai he brought was. "Your Shinigami clothing got totaled in the fight, so I brought your Gigai. If you stay in there for about an hour your clothing should reform when you exit again."

The girl's thin arm went back around the rock and Senna stuck her head out from her end. "I-is anyone else there?"

Ichigo scanned the horizon quickly, "No. Just you and me." He answered

"Okay." Senna muttered to herself, nodding slightly more confident. "Then can you turn around."

The man quirked an eyebrow. "I've already seen you naked. Twice." The girl turned bright red and hung her head, also recalling that indeed he had seen her naked, by her own willingness.

Ichigo, spying the embarrassed woman's face, decided to tease her. "WELL actually now that I thiiink about it. This makes the third time." A grin split across his face, as he continued in his sarcastic tone. "So nudity is a hat trick when it comes to you, in that case no need for modesty around me! Just walk on by like nobody's business!"

As another layer of crimson covered Senna's face, her expression morphed from complete embarrassment to wanting to stab him in the face. Ichigo chuckled at the death glare he was receiving; it was right up there with Shaolin and Retsu's.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." The smiling man tried to appease. "I was just teasing you, I couldn't help it. I'll give you your privacy." He said as he covered his eyes and faced the rock.

Although, still slightly irate at being made fun of, Senna slipped from her hiding spot and after taking a moment to make sure he wasn't peeking, slipped into her Gigai. Pushing herself off the floor, she felt really strange being inside of it now, perhaps an effect of awakening to her other bestial half.

Sparing a glance to make sure nothing was amiss with her uniform, she was about to tell Ichigo she was done until she saw a beautiful opportunity for sweet, sweet, revenge.

"You almost done?" the unawares man asked,

"Alllllmmoooost." She swooned, as she silently tip-tied behind Ichigo. Once she was within her mark, she took half step back to give proper form, and with precise follow through, slapped the man on his butt with her hand.

"Dah!" the man jumped up, as the blow collided into his rear. Looking behind him, he saw Senna doubled over in laughter. "Why you little-!"

"Ahaha, that's what you get for making fun of me, Ichigo." She chirped underneath his smoldering gaze. The man growled at her before letting his anger subside.

This was far from over.

Coming down from her laughing fit, Senna looked back in the direction of the Vizards. "So I guess it's your turn next." She stated calm but concerned.

The man let out a breath as he walked next to her. "Looks like it." He then placed his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll make it too." He was about to walk off with her when he felt her clasp his hand. When he looked back at her, he saw the concern that she wasn't trying to show, in case it threw off his concentration.

"I-Ichigo." She said steadily, "I…" she looked down at their connected hands. "Can we hold hands?" she looked back up with a tender hopeful smile. "At least till we get back for your turn."

To her surprise, Ichigo returned her smile with his own. "Senna." He lifted their hand up to eye level. "You don't have to ask me if you want to hold my hand. If you want to grab them, then grab them. I'll never turn you away." He then nudged his body towards their destination "Alright, that's enough pep talk. Let's get my turn done with so that when we see Aizen's sorry face, he'll regret messing with us!"

A vibrant smile emerged on her face; equally sure that they'd be okay. "You got it!"

(Soifon)

After what felt like hours, the second squad captain sank into the chair in Unohana's office. The doctor had prodded her with needles, asked her to strip naked in front of an X-ray machine, took her blood, and a subset of other tests that she didn't care to remember.

From across the desk, Unohana lightly placed the manila folder that contained all her gathered data in front of her and offered a sympathetic smile. "Well Captain Soifon, you can relax, the testing period is finished." The elated doctor informed her weary patient.

"Finally, I was beginning to feel like a pin cushion." Shaolin wheezed as she rubbed her sore punctured arm. "Were all of those tests necessary?"

Unohana bowed slightly. "Again, I apologize for the inconvenience, but I could not leave any stone unturned, especially in your case."

"I see, well, I trust you. You're the best doctor in Soul Society." Soifon said, softening up her tone, since she was just doing her job.

"Aha, I appreciate the vote of confidence. Now-"

"How long before I can return to the world of the living?" the young woman interrupted. "I have a high priority mission to provide over watch on Ichigo and Senna."

The older woman looked at the clock. "Well, it's about noon now, if I put all my effort into properly getting this documentation through channels and get a rush order through for clearance, I can have you out of here by about nine or ten am tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" the dissatisfied woman repeated "Aizen's forces can be in Karakura town right now." She stressed

"I thought ahead on the situation when I proposed the recall. While we hold you and the others for the rest of today to make sure there isn't any lasting problem, we sent another team to serve as the vanguards." Seeing the woman still held her reservation she continued, "Don't worry. Captain Komamura is overseeing things and the rest of the towers are fully powered and fully alerted."

The frowning Shaolin spared her senior a glance, before she nodded her head, albeit somewhat forced. She'd rather be the one making sure that they were okay, a sentiment her body betrayed to the older woman.

"I understand you are worried, but you can place your trust in Ichigo. I'm sure he's quite alright." Retsu replied amused at the woman's dependency-anxiety, something her old self would have scoffed at seeing.

Seeking to further break her of her concerns, she playfully decided to tease her. "My, my, are you really so interested to returning to your husband's side?"

"Yes-" the woman said automatically, before clamping up immediately, eyes widening by the second. How had she known that? No one knew that yet, not even that snoop Toshiro. "H-husband…" Shaolin muttered fearfully, her face losing all color.

Knowing of the implication, the doctor quickly intervened. "You can relax. The Sotaichō does not know."

The breath-held girl sighed as she eased her posture "Then how did-?"

"Isane told me." When the other woman's eyes spoke of death to the lieutenant, the doctor playfully bobbed her head to the side. "Accidentally, of course." She amended.

The Chinese woman's furrowed her eyebrows, "Isane accidentally told you?" she asked. That psychologist certainly didn't strike her as a rumor spewing chatterbox.

Retsu nodded, "Yes. When she came to inform me that she had returned, we had a small chat about how the first team was. She mentioned that you seemed to have undergone a psychological change," she leaned in "which we both know why," then leaned back "unlike Isane."

The smiling doctor then pointed at Soifon's ring less hand, "She then mentioned a ring you were wearing and how Senna was teaching you human fashion. While she might have bought the story, I'm a little harder to fool."

The newlywed clenched her teeth to fight off her embarrassment and regret. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you. It was just so sudden and I couldn't risk the information getting out because of the way things are." The girl shook her head sadly. "I can't even wear the ring outside of the safety of my office and even then…"

The older woman nodded understanding of her predicament, but there was the obvious problem. "Well, you are going to have to come clean eventually, especially with your condition. By the way allow me to be the first to congratulate you for your and Ichigo-kun's accomplishment."

Soifon, thoroughly confused, tilted her head to the side. "While I thank-you for a clean bill of health, it's hardly an accomplishment; certainly not one Ichigo did much in. But, about that first part, 'coming clean' you said, why does that particularly matter?"

Now it was Retsu's turn to look at the girl with puzzlement. The woman looked at her junior's midsection before looking back at her face "Because of your condition…" she reiterated, hoping she'd get the hint of what she was talking about.

"You just said I was healthy." The puzzled woman restated what she was just told again.

The ladies sat in silent confusion for a few minutes until the epiphany hit Retsu. "Ahh…I see." She muttered with a hand over her mouth, apparently figuring out the miscommunication. Her eyes then went back to expectant Shaolin "I was congratulating you on what's inside of you." She clarified, figuring out that she didn't actually know.

To her surprise, instead of a look of joy from what she was now hinting at, the girl went rigid as she mechanically straighten her back as she lean back into the chair "Inside of me…" she repeated "As in" her eyes shifted downward "…a parasite…"

The doctor sweat dropped at her jump in conclusion. While from a certain perspective it could be considered a parasite, this was most definitely not the case. "Well, yes, it's growing inside of you, b-"

The woman didn't get to finish as the other woman leaped out of her chair and drew her Zanpaktou from her sheath, twirling it in her hands till it pointed downwards. Acting on pure instinct, Unohana jumped over her desk and knocked the sword out of the girl's hand, before she could plunge it into her stomach for an emergency C-section. "What are you doing!?" the panicked woman all but yelled at the doctor.

"That's my line!" she yelled right back "What are you thinking Soifon-Taichō!?"

"You just told me: There is a damn HOLLOW PARASITE GROWING INSIDE MY STOMACH with a damn smile on your face!" the freaked out woman reiterated with emphasis, as if the doctor didn't comprehend her own words.

"Para...wha..?" The incredulous doctor muttered in disbelief.

For the first time in a long time, Retsu Unohana felt her brain shut down. Never before had she been so dumbfounded by someone else.

Until now.

She knew in her heart of hearts, that the young Chinese girl was simply misreading the situation, which probably hadn't been helped by her responses.

However, right now, she felt the remnants of her old-self stir within her. The self she had been before Masaki intervened and transformed her from a 'Rukongai Yankee' into a 'Proper Lady'.

And, right now, she chose to embrace it.

"IT'S NOT A FREAKIN' PARASITE! YOU'RE PREGNANT, YOU CLUELESS MORON!" the fanatical doctor yelled at the angry and confused girl.

Instantly the play-doctor cooled her jets as the doctor's word sank into her. "I'm…" she glanced down at her slim stomach, cradling it with one of her hands. "Pregnant?" She looked back at the doctor, her expression asking for answers. "How long?"

The doctor, after reining in her youthful verve, directed the young mother to sit back down, and when she did, she began to explain the situation. "By my analysis and supplementary data from the lab reports, about two months. Forgive me, Soifon, I wasn't aware you didn't know till I told you."

"How did you find this out?"

"During your blood drawing I noticed that your HCG levels were unusually high. So, out of a fit of curiosity, to determine whether it was negative side effect of females coming in contact with Arrancar, I decided to undergo a few more test."

Soifon wrinkled her nose, since she didn't understand doctor terminology. "What's 'HCG' exactly?"

"HCG stands for 'Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin' (3)." The doctor stopped when the look from Soifon basically amounted to 'you lost me'. "Err...just think of as something your body produces naturally, like blood."

The woman nodded mechanically "Okay, so if it's naturally produced, then why is it a bad thing if it's 'unusually high'?"

"The reason I was so alarmed and underwent further diagnostic is because some cancerous tumors can also produce this hormone, which if added unto your normal amount leads to-"

"A much higher amount than normal. I see."

Unohana clasped her hands together. "Yes, I was concerned. However, once I had determined that it was not the case, I looked into the other possibility, which is pregnancy." The woman tilted her head curiously, "While it is redundant at this point, allow me to ask, are you sexually active, presumably with Ichigo?"

The woman went red in the face at being asked the question, but still she complied. "…yes."

The captain nodded her head casually, "Was any protection involved?"

While a little confused by the phrasing, she answered as serious as ever. "We had our Zanpaktou with us at all times and it was done in the safety of Soul Society, specifically in my bedroom, located in the second division barracks." She reported, sparing no circumstantial details.

Retsu, while mildly amused at her naivety, brought her hand up over her face. "No, Captain Soifon. That is not what I mean by 'protection'." She informed dryly, "I meant contraceptives. Safe-sex practices to prevent pregnancy like: non-vagina ejaculation, avoiding sex during ovulation, birth control medication, condoms and the like; not physical protection from harm." The woman removed her hand, but still held a smile on her lips. "Although judging by your answer, and presumably lack of experience, I'm guessing the answer is 'No, Unohana-Taichō'."

Soifon had the decency to look ashamed. While she knew how and where babies came from, it seemed that alone was not enough information to make her not seem sheltered on the subject.

"Next question: How often have the two of you engaged in such activities?"

The girl remained silent as she thought it over. "Maybe four or five times. Total, I mean. It's not a regular thing; we're very busy, especially with the war going on."

The woman nodded her head, "That sounds like enough plausible background information to support your current pregnancy. There could also have been some symptoms that hinted to your condition that you missed along the way."

That surprised the woman "These symptoms, what are they?" she inquired

"Morning sickness and nausea is one. Have you experienced the urge to or have you vomited excessively within the last two months?" she asked

Soifon's breath hitched in her throat. She remembered a whole bunch of times where Ichigo held her hair back as she emptied her stomach into the toilet. At the time, she was sure that it was just her body going through it's usual seasonal changes, but now that she could look back on it. She wasn't bedridden, or had a 101 degree fever, it was just the occasional bout of nausea and infrequent urge to throw up.

"Yeah, I've done that." She replied as her fingers dug into her thighs. "What else?"

"Have you experienced a change in eating habits?"

Again, the woman lowered her head and thought really, really, hard on the question. She was then assailed with another confirming 'yes', as she had been eating more food in general. She had always portioned herself as eating too much would make her style of high speed fighting much more difficult to perform. To further cement her eating habit change she had noticed that she was more receptive to meaty foods, while fish had always been her staple for protein, she had found her typical aversion to beef, chicken, and pork to have lessen considerably, in fact she almost looked forward to eating it.

With a sigh, the captain nodded her head as she leaned forward in her chair, obviously distressed. "How could I have not noticed these changes until now?"

The disquieted woman was soon uplifted when she felt Retsu's hand gently squeeze her shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up. While there are many similarities between pregnant women, there are exceptions. There have been cases where women, who didn't show any signs of being pregnant during the whole nine months, found out that they were pregnant only when their water suddenly broke. (4)"

The captain kneeled down and pressed her hand against Soifon's stomach. "Your abdominal regional has neither expanded nor shown signs of discomfort, symptoms also associated with pregnancy. Why, if I hadn't caught it here, you very well could have been one of the outlier women."

The doctor got up and sat on her desk, directly in front of her junior. Her arms crossed over her chest. "Since you are going to be staying overnight. I suggest you use that time to think on how to tell Ichigo. While I'm sure he'll be ecstatic, the two of you are going to need to brace yourself for the fallout once it comes to light."

"Yes, you're right." The woman replied demurely, as she seemed to be thinking about things. "Tell me how long before I'm due exactly?"

Retsu's eyebrow raised wondering where she was going with this, but complied nonetheless. "Typically pregnancy last about 9 months. 10 months at the latest and if born prematurely about 7 or 8 months. Right now, you are two months in, so you're still in your first trimester. If everything proceeds at it's continued rate, you'll have about seven months to keep your relationship secret, before it's exposed, unless your belly decides to expand of course."

A determined look flashed across Soifon's eyes "Can I still fight?"

Unohana hummed to herself as she looked out her window, understanding what she planned to do. It was risky to be sure, but sidelining her would not only remove a very capable soldier from the battlefield, but might draw suspicion from the Sotaichō.

"Right now, your child is about the size of a raspberry. It shouldn't impair your movements or fighting abilities at this point; however, you will need to be very mindful of where you are struck. While you could take a few blows to your stomach area, I warn you, that the chance of you suffering a miscarriage will be far greater. Be careful."

The young captain expression softened into a grateful smile, she was happy that the woman was understanding of her request. "Thank-you, Unohana-sama." She thanked as she bowed humbly to her superior and friend.

The doctor chuckled amused by the young captain "You don't need to thank me. We are friends and comrades, working together to protect those around us." Her eyes darted towards the smaller girl's stomach. "Life will go on, Soifon; your child is proof of that." She then got up and walked over to the door and opened it "Go get some rest. I have your clearance order that I need to rush through after all."

The woman got from her chair and walked towards the door. When she hit the hallway, a thought occurred to her. If she was pregnant then what about…? Turning to her senior, she decided to ask. "Tell me. Do you have a testing tool I can use to show that I'm pregnant?"

"Yes, but why would you need that?"

Shaolin did her best to keep a straight face. "I would like to show Ichigo when I get back." She smiled, "Action speak louder than words, right?"

"Ah, that they do." The doctor replied amicably, accepting her lie. Walking back to her desk, she pulled out a small plastic syringe and handed it to the expectant mother. "This is a very basic type. Just put the needle in around the stomach, push the top part in and pull it back. Simple as one, two, three."

"And how accurate is it?" she asked as she put the seemingly harmless needle in her ring holding pocket.

"Around 98.3%." She replied happily "While we may lack in the technological diversity of the twelfth division, when it comes to our specialty we are the true masters."

"I'm happy to hear." Soifon bowed once again "Thanks for everything."

The other captain nodded as she watched the fledgling mother walk back to her division.

(Ichigo)

Not too far away from the Vizards, the siblings were chatting amicably, Ichigo curious as to whether Senna felt any different and Senna happily answering his question. The jovial atmosphere between them was interrupted when the silver haired man of the Vizards approached. "Okay, were ready for you. So it's time for Shinji to work his magic." Kensei's eyes then fell on the new Vizard, "What about you? Do you think you can step in if we need you?"

Pushing herself up off the ground, Senna shook her head "I still have about fifteen minutes for my clothing to reform, but I'm good after that."

"Alright. Then let's go."

Returning back to Shinji, the man once again extended his hand towards the Kurosaki. The experience was certainly interesting from Ichigo's perspective, he felt like he was riding the surface of a wave in the middle of the ocean, it was both disorienting and relaxing.

When his eyes finally flickered closed, Senna caught her brother as he lost consciousness, before laying him down and looking to Shinji and the other Vizards. "You guys looked pretty worse for wear when I was done, was your Hollow experience easier?"

"Significantly." The gold haired Vizard replied, "Our Hollows didn't use their Zanpaktou abilities to fight and in your case, fly high above our heads and dive bomb the shit out of us."

"S-sorry." The girl apologized as she stuck out her tongue playfully.

"Yeah, yeah." He waved off clearly not buying it. Glancing back at the unconscious man, he made a gesture for her to follow.

It was time for more bloodshed.

(Ichigo)

Letting out a groan, the orange haired man opened his eyes as the wave like sensation finally left his body. Lifting his head up, he seemed to be laying on the floor of some closed ceiling place. Walls surrounded him on either side, which led into a fork in the road just up ahead.

Pushing himself to his feet, he shook his head to get rid of any cobwebs that might have hung around, before checking to make sure Zangetsu was still on his back, after all if this was supposed to end in a fight it'd be best to be prepared.

With a prepared exhalation, he trudged forward until he came to the split in the road. He glanced down both ways and saw no discerning difference between either selections, just another innocent looking hallway that branched off into another intersection.

Turning to his side, he started to walk down the left corridor, but he barely took two step in that direction before he stopped himself. Even though he had never been in this part of his world before, for some unexplainable reason, he felt like he was going the wrong way. A deep solemn expression crossed his face as he forced himself to take another step.

His foot barely touched the ground when again, he just felt himself disagreeing more with the direction he had randomly chosen. Turning back in the direction he came, he paused to reevaluate his choice, before deciding to follow his gut and go down the other way.

He walked down the bland corridor and when he came to the next intersection, he didn't pause in his stride as he made his left. It was like being on autopilot, but instead of the unawareness of it, he instead was in complete control, it was like having the right answer to a question before it was finished being asked.

He continued making his decisions through the closed labyrinth until it finally came to a service door. Putting his hand on the handle, he pulled down and found himself looking at what seemed to be a set of emergency stairwell, one-half going up, the other spiraling down.

Taking a few cautious step, he placed his hand on the metal railing and looked down towards the bottom. All he saw was an impenetrable black veil married by an ever downward descending set of stairs, tearing his eyes away from the void, he looked upwards and saw a mirror image of what he just saw, this time from the opposite perspective.

'_Who knows how long it goes.'_ He thought as he stepped away from the railing. As he glanced back, he wasn't very surprised to see the door he had entered from had disappeared, replaced by the same cold concrete wall that surrounded the rest of the stairs.

A confident smile graced his lips; he already knew what he was doing. How he was proceeding and more importantly why it was such.

He turned and rounded the corner towards the upper portion of the stairwell, he just kept walking never looking back.

It was test of how well he had paid attention to their words, a mix of both the Hollow and Zangetsu. A test to trust himself.

Despite looking endless from his previous point of view, he found himself at the end of the stairwell within a matter of minutes. Just in front of him was a push maintenance door.

Walking up to it, he felt a familiar sensation on the other side it was powerful and calming. Pushing up the door, a bright light seeped through the crack, giving just a little bit of light to the dark hallway.

Placing his hand over his eyes, he pushed through and stepped out of the service entrance.

When the light died down, Ichigo removed his hand and found himself on one of the many rooftops of his sideways city. Looking behind him, he saw that the door was a rooftop entrance, which meant he had previously been inside one of the buildings. _'Well, that's a first.'_ He thought to himself as he turned back around and saw his target laying nonchalantly at the rooftops edge, his middle three fingers impatiently rapping back and forth against his leg.

The orange haired hero took a few step towards the figure and only paused when the white specter removed his head from his propped up fist and adjusted his body to having his legs dangling over the side. **"Hey king. Been a while."** The Hollow greeted as he looked over his shoulder. Getting little rise from him, he continued. **"How did you find me?"**

"Instinct." Ichigo replied as he crossed the remaining distance and sat beside his Hollow "When I was inside that maze I thought about what you and the old man taught me."

The Hollow glanced back curious. **"And what did we teach you?"**

"To trust you and myself. The Old man always told me to move forward, you taught me to trust my instincts, my gut feelings."

A massive smile erupted on Hichigo's face **"Haha! Damn, bet you never thought that I'd be a profound motherfucker."**

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Yeah, you should write fortune cookies."

"**That's fucked up."** An un-flattered Hichigo shot back, but when he saw the smile on Ichigo's face, he sighed defeatedly, before getting up. **"You know king, we've know each other for a long damn time…"**

"If this is going where I hope it isn't going, I'm gonna leave right this instant…" the man said as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder, back towards the roof access.

The Hollow laughed, **"Nah, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just…"** the Hollow glanced back and Ichigo for the first time in his life saw not sarcastic smile, but somber look in the Hollow's eyes.

Like a parting goodbye.

"**We've kept in contact for a long time. I've been everything to you, from the 'boogeyman' that scared you when you were a little brat crying to your mom to the sword at your side when you actually grew up into a man."** The Hollow shook his head, **"I'm just sad that we part ways here."**

Now Ichigo got up and his expression mirrored the Hollows "Why? You're my Hollow power. Even if I beat you, you'll still be inside of me won't you?"

The doppelganger shook his head, **"No. You and I can't coexist at the same time. Our fate was decided once your body decided on a form."**

"Decided on a form?" The confused young man repeated.

"**Yeah. You could have ended up as either as a bestial Hollow who could gain access to the powers of a Shinigami or..."**

"A Shinigami with access to the dark powers of Hollows." He finished which his opposite nodded his head in agreement.

"**Whichever form was decided the other half would be absorbed into. That's the way this works. Why do you think I've only taken over your body when it meant saving you from an otherwise dangerous blow?"** He asked rhetorically, **"Because, I'm being absorbed into you. My power has been becoming yours since the day of your birth; however, if I were to take control I would still get absorbed by you, eventually leading us both into that cold embrace death's got."**

Ichigo's eyes narrowed at his dark half's explanation. "If that's the case then you knew that I was half Hollow, half Shinigami this entire time, didn't you?"

A sly smile spread on the Hollow's face as he scratched the back of his head, **"Yeah, I did, but you weren't ready to hear it or try and learn to harness it. The most you ever knew was that I could provide just **_**slight**_** boost when you needed that extra push."**

The Hollow shrugged, **"We both knew what would happen if anybody from Soul Society saw you with parts of my Hollow mask on your face, hell we're lucky Hanataro and Giant Devil didn't see it during that sparring session."**

Ichigo closed his eyes as he thought about some things, before glancing back at the Hollow. "Mother always told me that my father, Isshin, was noblemen. I know she was a Shinigami, so does that mean she lied to me about him?"

The Hollow nodded solemnly **"She did her absolute best to create the perfect lie for you, but she had your best intentions at heart.**

"Mmhmm, so then tell me, Isshin, he's a Hollow, isn't he? That's how I have you, right?" Ichigo asked to which a nod was given in response. He thought for a few seconds before asking something else. "Tell me Isshin, my father, and Ein, Senna's 'human-world' father, are one and the same aren't they?"

Hichigo nodded, **"Yeah."**

"Then how did this happen? The separation?" a fleeting hurt flickered across his eyes, for having blamed his father for as long as he had. "Mother's lie."

"**When you were a little brat a city-wide accident occurred that at the time me and your mother believed cost you: your father Isshin or Ein, whichever you prefer, and your sister, Senna. Course Masaki decide to do what she did, so you'd forget.**

"And how did my Mother play in this?"

"**Look, before you jump off the betrayal train of thought, let me tell ya, don't. Your mom was a seriously unequivocally good person that it was almost scary. Sure, she knew what killing was and could do it, but I really doubt she even understood, the freaking concept of unrepentantly evil, or just evil in general. All she ever had was your best intentions at heart. She was afraid that you'd grow up with that memory and believed that it would change you from the little boy she loved."**

Hichigo took a few steps to the side before exhaling deeply. **"So she decided to seal your memories of the incident. It was an easy lie to facilitate. Especially, since the only person at the time who knew of her earlier pregnancy was her successor, Retsu Unohana."**

"Unohana-san was in on this too?" the man quickly asked, his shock that she actually knew evident in her voice.

Hichigo nodded as he placed his hands in his pocket. **"When you and Senna were being carried inside her, your mom was living in Rukongai, far as I know, she seemed to have cut ties with Soul Society. However, even an ex-captain like your mother can't give birth on her own, so she entrusted her pupil with keeping her secret and helping her sneak in for delivery."**

"So then how do you know all this? I thought you said mom sealed my memory."

"**She didn't know about my existence inside you, king, she couldn't have. So the answer to your question is more a matter of perspective. From your end, you were too young to recollect these things, but for me, I've been capable of abstract thinking from the moment of your conception. I can see all the events in your life like a home movie, it's just that the incident that got sealed up is completely unviewable; however, she didn't think to cover up the sealing itself. So I can fill in the gaps, since I got memories of your life before and after the incident."**

"Why?" an angry snarl escaped Ichigo's lips, as crossed the distance between them and grabbed the Hollow by the collar. "Why didn't you tell me this then?"

The unthreatened Hollow, slowly placed his hands against his king's and pulled them off him. **"Because what could you do?"** he asked rhetorically, **"That event happened YEARS ago, nothing your present self could do about it."** A somberness fell on his face as he shrugged. **"Sides, I didn't know 'our' Senna was alive in the human word until you did. I was a bit skeptical and decided to not bring it up till I had something obvious to base a decision on. Gut feelings only go so far, no need to give false hope."**

"I see." Ichigo looked away now understanding why the Hollow kept to himself on the matter. This wasn't something that could be sprang up out of the blue, especially if you were sure that person was better off not knowing.

"Zangetsu…" the orange haired Shinigami muttered, just loud enough to catch the Hollow attention, since he was rarely addressed by that name. Leveling his stare at him, Ichigo smiled gently. "Thanks for looking out for me."

The surprised Hollow smirked wildly at the sincere gesture. **"Hey, hey, no prob."** He tried to wave off. **"I gotta say, being around you has been the ultimate non-stop party for me. You got chicks up the wazoo, power up the ass, and wannabe tough guys that need stomping! This is fucking paradise for me!"**

The white Zangetsu busted into an uncontrollable fit of laughter as Ichigo stared. Soon though, Ichigo felt his own lips turn upwards and he joined him in his mirth. The two partners sharing a final peaceful memory with the other.

As the Shinigami came back down from his high, he let out a contented sigh, before hardening his features. "I don't suppose there's any other way to do this right?"

"**Nah, king. Only one."** The Hollow muttered as he brought his sword around. **"Still I appreciate the concern."**

Ichigo bobbed his head rhythmically as he gripped his blade. "Before we start I got one question."

"**And what's that?"**

"You said that when I was born I could have my current form or a Hollow form right?"

The white monster raised an eye brow **"Yeah?"**

"You've always taken my appearance," a confident grin appeared on his face. "So I was wondering if you'd show me your true form."

The Hollow confused expression slowly morphed into a maniacal grin. **"Hahaha! You want it? You got it!"** he brought his Zangetsu around and pointed it at Ichigo, mimicking his Bankai stance. **"Don't complain when I kill ya king! Ressureccion! Abrir el camino, luna asesinato (Open the path, Slaying moon)."**

In an opposite fashion to the energy shot out by the extra release, the white Zangetsu expelled a white cloud-covering, engulfing the inner Hollow's form. Ichigo had to strengthen his reiatsu to maintain his stance when he felt the monstrous energy surge outward.

When the Hollow's energy dissipated, Ichigo saw the original form of his Hollow standing tall. The monster was the same height as him and managed to keep the white pants of the original, but after that the similarities seemingly ended. The Hollow's smooth skin changed into a boney armor that covered his entire body. His face had morphed from his own into a mask with red lines extending down over the eye sockets, a pair of horns stuck out from the side of his skull, while smooth long white hair flowed from the back. In his hand was a white Tensa Zangetsu.

The monster slowly crossed his arms over his chest before throwing them to the side as he let out a loud wail. His power surging outwardly again and shattering the glass of the building the two were on. Ichigo, while quite unnerved at seeing what he could have been, kept his head in the game and was going to match him point for point.

Bringing his sword around, he pointed it at the monster and yelled "Bankai!"

The black reiatsu flared towards the white monster who simple cut the energy wave in half with his Zanpaktou, giving him clear view of the young man in black standing defiantly as his energy finished rematerializing his power. The man's harsh scowl was etched on his face as he slowly slanted his body while raising his sword towards the Hollow, silently taunting the creature to make its move.

And made it, it did.

The horned monster surged forward, its feet destroying the part of the building it was on as it pushed off. Ichigo gripped his blade with both hands and intercepted the wild swing of the white sword, though the overwhelming force behind it sent him skidding backwards.

As his heels continued to scrape against the shell of the building, Ichigo took his eyes off the charging monster and glanced back, before back flipping once he came the edge of the building. Crossing the gap, Ichigo landed upon the adjacent building and sprung forward with intense speed himself. The bull-horned Hollow let out an inviting primal roar as the black specter raced towards him blade drawn.

As the two super charged blades collided with each other the resulting shockwave echoed throughout the inner world and shattering the windows of every building, releasing them into the air around the combatants only to be blown away when both opponents flared their energy trying to gain the upper hand.

The battle tested Shinigami was pouring all of his strength behind his weapon, which continued to grind sickeningly against the devil-masked monster's sword. Digging in deep against this power house, Ichigo let out a roar as he pushed the parrying sword to the side, allowing him to strike.

Swiftly reversing his sword without changing stance, he cut into the monsters' left arm, trying to take out one of the tendons to weaken the brute's strength.

The Hollow's finger's contracted back into a fist, giving a sign that he was at least hurting it. Glancing into the Hollow's golden eyes, he saw the surge of anger flaring, which gave way to the muscle movement in his sword bearing shoulder.

Releasing his grip on his blade to allow for more flexibility, Ichigo narrowly ducked under the reprising horizontal slash. Quickly reversing his edge, the man shot upward again, taking advantage of the opening and dragging his sword across the armor-like chest of the Hollow. Ichigo's eyes widened, while his attack did seem to be hurting it, it seemed to be very minute. As his blade left the chest and continued to swing upward, he took notice when the monster pulled its head back to avoid the sword collision with its horn. _'What the?'_ Ichigo thought to himself since that was much quicker than a reflex.

However he wouldn't have time to think as he was forced to brace his shoulder as the monster's right arm, which was fully cocked back was now rushing towards his prone-aerial form.

A penetrating crack resonated throughout the air accompanied by Ichigo's scream of pain as the bones were knocked out of place. But it was just the beginning, as the flinch provided the opening for the monster to grab Ichigo by his leg and swing him around in a tight circle. The momentum was jarring as he felt his leg losing blood circulation from the rest of his body.

After three revolution, the Hollow let him go flinging him off into another direction of the city, helplessly. A low growl escaped the masked demon's invisible lips as it pointed its arm straight at Ichigo and a red malevolent light began to form and expand at its finger tips.

Despite being slightly dizzy from the toss, Ichigo could clearly see what the monster was doing 'A doom blast huh?' he then jutted out his hand in front of his body. "Sprinkled on the bones of a beast! Pointy tower, red crystal, steel cartwheels. Move and make wind. Stop and make calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!" he chanted as he quickly pumped reiatsu into the golden glow in his hands.

"Hado #63: Raikouhou!" he yelled, as the monster's death beam finished charging.

Both spell and doom blast shot out of the hands of their respective casters and collided with each other. Each blast trying to overpower the other and annihilate the weaker attacker. Soon, the energy display of both strikes gave out, revealing a draw to both Shinigami and Hollow.

Using the breather he created, Ichigo corrected his body from its lopsided position into one where he could place his hand against the air to slow his backpedalling. Breathing heavily, Ichigo wiped the sweat off his brow as he kept his eyes firmly on the predatorial glare of the Hollow that re-stiffened his hand.

Already knowing what he was going to do, Ichigo raised his free hand in return but unlike before. He froze when he saw what the Hollow did next. The long white hair that fell behind the Hollow's mask rose up in thick strands and pointed directly at him, he could practically hear the smugness in his dark half's growl when every strand of hair and his arm, all started charging up ceros.

Each pointed at him.

The Bull-horned Juggernaut let out another loud roar as he unleashed his unending barrage of death. All across the sky-line red was the only color that could be seen, as the energy beam destroyed everything in its path. Nothing would be spared, not the sky, not the buildings, and certainly not Ichigo.

The crimson wave soon started to shrink after two minutes of concentrated fire. Allowing the indomitable beast to view the damage it had created. Gone were all the building in the general direction it had been facing, the sky-line was a dark mutated black, as if the atmosphere had been punctured, and floating downward was a scrap of black, which to the Hollow's delight was the dark cloth of Tensa Zangetsu's gi.

The monster raised its head and let out another triumphant roar, unknowing that just a few building behind it Ichigo was pressed against its steel trying to catch his breath. _'Un…(pant)…unreal.'_ the man thought to himself as he placed his hand over his heart to calm it down.

Right now, more than ever, he was glad that his Bankai specialized in speed as opposed to the overall power like others, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to dodge that blast. Sure, running around to circumvent it, while hiding behind the remaining buildings, in the shadow of the blast, might have been a rather tiring endeavor. But better a little tired than a little dead.

Slowing his gasps, Ichigo sidled to the side and peered around the corner, staring into the back of unaware creature. _'Shit, he looks like he's got energy to spare.'_ The carrot top thought to himself as he examined the practically unfazed creature. He closed his eyes as he recalled all his attacks thus far. _'It's like he the opposite of me, kinda slow, but he can take beating and keep going. If I keep fighting him head-on like this, I'm gonna have a hard time winning this thing.'_

Seeing the creature move its head, Ichigo ducked back behind the building. _'I guess he noticed that since nothing's changed, I must still be alive. Damn.'_ Taking another second, he poked his head back out and saw the monster scanning the horizon vigilantly for movement.

As Ichigo continued to observe, he saw the horns on the side of the monster's head crackle with electricity as if further aiding the monster. Soon a thought occurred to him, as he remembered the strange evasion the monster performed to avoid his slash. _'Maybe those horns are amplifying his abilities.'_ He thought to himself _'The mask of a Hollow has always been its weak point and their attached to them so maybe…'_

His thoughts were put on hold, as the devilish Hollow flared out its spiritual energy and raised a hand above its head. Bringing his eye brows together, Ichigo looked on as he observed the creature. His eyes then widened when he saw a purple ribbon manifest in its grip. _'A spirit ribbon!'_ the panicked man thought, since that was a Shinigami technique that did the one thing he really didn't want.

The monster quickly wheeled around Ichigo's direction, the ribbon pointing to his hiding spot. "Shit!" Ichigo yelled as the monster charged it's devastating beam barrage again.

Using his speed again, Ichigo jumped to the third building away as the beam punched through the building he had been behind just a second ago. He knew that he couldn't keep playing this Russian roulette forever.

Taking a second to concentrate, he quickly took in a sharp inhalation, before launching himself out of cover. "Getsuga Tenshō!" he yelled, as he quickly launched the moon fang at his distracted opponent.

The Hollow quickly cut off the energy to its Cero to at least protect itself from the homing slash. The black wave crashed over the white monsters form, the Hollow slid its leg back behind it to give better stability, but found the strength behind the attack to be lacking to do any true damage. Seeing the end, the monster threw the rest of heaven piercer to the side with its arm.

The yellow eyes of the masked creature widened when it saw that that speedy nuisance of a Shinigami had disappeared again. Raising its hand up it was about to summon another spirit ribbon, when it felt the surging of Ichigo's spiritual pressure behind him.

Turning around it could do nothing against the oncoming blade. **"GRAAAAHHH!"** the monster shrieked as the black sword cut through one its horns, while dark black blood shot out from the wound. The Hollow clutched its head wound trying to stifle the pain, but the young swordsman would have not of it.

Quickly pivoting around, Ichigo threw his weight forward to continue the attack. "GETSUGA" he yelled as another coating of black energy flared around his blade "TENSHO!"

The moon fang drilled the war beast directly into its mask, while the creature roared in pain. The young Shinigami smirked when it saw the monster's white legs stagger backwards under the force of the technique. Closing his eyes, Ichigo let out his held breath and took a moment to breathe. He took his hand off his sword and wiped his sweaty forehead, as the energy wave dissipated.

For once, he got a good sign.

The unflinching beast that his inner Hollow was, finally looked as if it was hurting. The other horn he had been aiming for with the moon fang was destroyed and in response, the mask and the creatures entire upper torso, was riddled with crack as if ready to shatter from the light touch.

The one horned monster continued in its stagger as it fell backward unto its knees, also trying to catch its breath. The devil's body was wracked with unimaginable pain. The monster lifted its head as it stared at the swordsman who was getting back up to its feet.

Was it going to lose? Was this…defeat? Was it going to be consumed?

The monster lowered its head as the image of the charging man fell from its sight.

Consumed…by this man?

The Hollow's golden eyes flared as the grip of his hand against its kneecap increased exponentially. The Hollow locked its head back up. It wouldn't let itself be consumed, not while it still had life in it.

With a beautiful mix of agility and proximity, the brittle monster threw itself forward, its bulky white arm grabbing Ichigo by his face and sweeping him well out of his coup-de-grace. Wheeling its head around, the monster turned and threw Ichigo into one of the building behind him.

The black swordsman didn't even get a chance to bounce from the recoil when he felt the enraged creature sink its fist into the side of his face.

The frenzied Hollow just kept striking over and over as the man's body recoil with each hit, denting the steel inward further still with each earth shattering strike.

After a good minute of wailing on the creature with one hand, it slammed its Tensa Zangetsu to the side of thoroughly beaten man and raised both arms high above its head, before slamming down and punching Ichigo all the way through the building, down into the building behind it.

Another roar escaped the creatures lips, as the man's form grew smaller and smaller in the hole it had created. Grabbing its entrenched blade, the monster held it in front of its body for a few seconds before pouring the last of its energy into it.

Slowly a white aura encased the blade, while the creature kept its eye on its target. **"GETSUGA! TENSHO!"** It screamed out a guttural roar.

The white beam split the building in half as it ran to meet its target. Ichigo seeing the unavoidable strike, closed his eyes and curled his body up, as the attack screamed forward.

The Hollow watched in delight as the attack struck home and left a size able cut in the building behind the one it had shot through. However its joy was short lived as placed its hand against some floating debris, a lizard-ish hiss escaping. Shinigami techniques seemed to be much more taxing than Hollow ones.

The Hollow turned its head upward, expectant of change. If something happened that meant the fight was over and it had won, otherwise that meant Ichigo was still alive and this battle had not concluded. It stayed perfectly still for a few more moments, until it felt a spiritual energy below it.

Diverting its gaze back down, it saw a bloody, near nude Ichigo pulling himself out of the crater he had been put through. A growl escaped it as it wonder what it had to do to kill this son of a bitch.

Escaping from his metallic tomb, the youth closed his eyes as he popped his shoulder back into place, followed quickly by a slight twist of his trunk to dull the throbbing pain he felt there just a second ago. He'd really seen better days. All along his chest, dirt, burns marks and bloody cut marks ran down him. His Hakama and gi were destroyed beyond salvage along with his sandals, barely a loin cloth of black remained around his hips to his knee caps.

Taking in a breath, he quickly spat out some blood from his mouth as he raised his skyward and saw the monster still standing, albeit with support. "Maybe…(pant) maybe I should have been a fucking Hollow." The man wheezed, "Least fighting Aizen would be easier."

The Shinigami took a few more breathes as he assessed his situation _'I'm almost out of juice. I could use a few more Getsuga, but it doesn't seem to be getting a lot of return, sides he'll avoid it at this distance. Can't use healing, it'll make that bastard come at me harder.'_ He then raised his sword, gripping it with both hands. _'I need to catch him off-guard but how?'_

Suddenly he recalled the Cicada technique and the times he had used his Bankai speed to outmaneuver the monster. The Cicada had only been used once, so he doubted the creature could counter it just yet and his blinding speed could allow for easier evasion against attack as he closed the distance. The man gritted his teeth, as he pondered the predicament.

'_Shingetsu!'_ It occurred to him the technique the Hollow had taught him. It would get its attention and if he played his cards right. _'Gotta make it count.'_ He thought to himself as he breathed in and out, steadying his spiritual pressure. "Here goes!" he roared trying to psyche himself up.

Releasing his left hand from the hilt of his sword, he raised the blade in front of his face, his fist shaking violently, as the black spiritual energy started to coat around his sword and begin to envelope his body. After a few seconds of charging his energy, he let out a primal roar, as slashed the blade in front of him and held it at his side. The spiritual energy that had been trapped around him, exploding into a swirling sphere around his frame.

Slowly the desperate man brought his free hand in front him, extended mockingly at the white Hollow and upon closing his fist, the surrounding area of spiritual energy swirled around him menacingly, while the winds of the atmosphere sucked like a vacuum.

The masked beast eyed its prey carefully, silently wondering what it was doing encompassing his body in the little spiritual energy he had left. He then tilted his head curiously when he saw the metal surrounding the gaping crater begin to twist inwardly towards the swirling dark energy. That's when it felt it, the slight tugging of its body, lurching it half a step forward.

A myriad of thought flew through the creatures mind, how had he done that from that distance. Was it the closed fist that the man was holding out? Yet again, the white creature felt its body slowly sliding forward accompanied by the vast debris surrounding the both of them.

As a twisted piece of metal came in contact, with dark energy it twisted up as if under intense pressure before breaking apart into reishi that just fed the swirling energy around the Shinigami.

Upon seeing what the Shinigami had done, the word 'Shingetsu' flared into the mind of the creature, who now understood what he was doing. Digging its sword into the air behind it, The Hollow expelled its own reiatsu to anchor against the attack. It knew how the Shingetsu worked since its humanoid form taught him it. It pulled in the target close using the shot out energy to swirl and create a vacuum that would suck in nearby reiatsu, crushing anything weak caught in the death field, while impairing the movement of the strong with its thick pull.

Then it would transfer all the energy created into the blade itself. Unlike its cousin, the 'Getsuga Tenshō', 'Shingetsu' could not be fired out and would dissipate quickly, wasting all the gathered spiritual energy, hence the need to draw the target it, however despite the drawback it more than made for it with sheer destructive cutting power. Still, while this would work on any other opponent, it would not work on it.

Holding its free hand in front of it, another cero began to form in its hand. It knew that while approaching it was dangerous, the user couldn't move lest he relinquish any untapped energy, which left the Hollow's doom blast an easy target to attack and shatter the Shinigami's technique.

As the monster eyed in delight that its rapidly charging cero was almost ready to fire, an ominous shudder ran down its spine, when the battered and bruised Shinigami smirked, as the energy around him rumbled some more. Then, before its very eyes, the image of the man in black along with the swirling energy around him, began to dematerialize, slowly fading apart into the ether until all that remained was blank, expansive gap between it and the world before it.

The monster depowered its cero as it looked frantically in front of it. There was nowhere for him to hide, all he could do was charge him, yet he disappeared as if becoming one with the air itself. But how? Had he burned himself out of existence trying to kill him?

A horrified thought occurred to it. Had he…had he denied him? Faced with defeat and the knowledge that he couldn't do anymore, had he opted to kill himself and drag the Hollow along for the ride? The monster white brittle skin shook in rage until finally an outcry of fury escaped its lip.

"HYYYAAAHH!" the familiar battle cry rang in its ears.

Turning behind it, was the image of Ichigo leaping towards him with his sword gripped in both hands. The usual onyx hued blade was now coated in a blood-thirsty red aura. The monster's golden eyes briefly locked with hardened brown ones and for the first time, the creature closed its eyes contently.

The Shingetsu infused sword didn't even stop as it cut right through the anchoring arm of the monster before slashing into the upper rib of the Hollow as the man passed by the creature. The crimson energy dispersing any resistance, breaking whatever skin it flayed into reishi particles.

Once the swordsman was finished passing by, the remaining upper half of the monster consisting of only its head, left arm and just a piece of its left upper pec, fell down towards the nothingness below it, while its bottom half burned up into nothing.

As it fell, the cracked mask of the creature finally gave way, revealing the contented look of the doppelganger's face. His eyes were squinting as he tried to keep them steady on the form of the death god, as he fell to the void that would embrace him. His lips parted as he saw the near-naked man vanish from his spot.

Then he felt the remains of his body halt. It was no longer falling instead, he found himself cradled in the arms of the wounded swordsman, who gazed at him sadly. It was regretful. The eyes not belonging to a killer, to an animal, but to a man.

A slow yet beaming smile graced the Hollow's lips, proud that his king was strong and compassionate. Raising up his only good hand, he grasped the man's shoulder. **"Thanks for the save."** Hichigo winced as a pained cough escaped him **"Though, I'd have preferred it, if you saved me from being cut in half (hack) instead of the fall, King."**

Ichigo took in a startled breath, before exhaling amicably "Smart-ass." He replied with a sardonic smile.

"**What I do."** He answered with a pained grunt **"How did ya get me?"**

"When we were fighting you used spiritual ribbons, a Shinigami technique, to locate me. So I thought to myself, you might have some memories about techniques and how they were used. I used Shingetsu (tran: New moon), the technique you taught me, to get your attention." He paused to let his words sink in before continuing,

"We both knew it was a powerful short range technique that could draw you in. That was part one of my plan. I wanted you to hold your ground and focus you attention on keeping yourself alive. Then I fooled you, using my Cicada and speed increase with my Bankai, I left a long standing afterimage that gave me plenty of time to full charge my sword and get behind you."

Hichigo leaned his head back in a semi-understood nod. **"That's why you looked like you broke into nothing. The afterimage was fading, along with the energy that had long dissipated."** A scowl crossed his tired face. **"Lost to a fucking distraction. Damn, not the way I thought I'd go out."**

Ichigo's lips pressed into a frown as he diverted his eyes shamefully "I'm sorry it came to this, Zangetsu." He whispered, as his hand rested against the remains of Hichigo's chest.

The white demon closed his eyes and shook his head in disagreement. **"Don't be. I went all out, you got the best of me, way it goes,"** the devilish smile returned to his lips **"Just thought I'd be good enough for a mutual kill, King."** His smile was cut short by a surge pain thorough his body, **"I-ichigo."** He gasped out, starting to feel himself fade. **"This…was always gonna happen. Don't worry about it. Just use my power…your power."** The white Hollow's body began to shake as tears started to fall from his eyes. **"Don't…ever stop walking forward, King. If you freeze up…if you hesitate, you'll die. Protect…"** the Hollow closed his eyes as he began to fade into Reishi. **"pro..tect…your…happin…ess."**

Before his eyes, the dying white creature, slowly stopped breathing as his body surrendered itself to the flux of energy that tore his physical form apart. Ichigo's arm shook as grief filled his body, when the Hollow that had walked with him throughout his life, finally disappeared in his arms, not trace of his body remained.

Slowly standing up, Ichigo looked into the dim colored skies as tears fell from his eyes. "I will." He muttered to himself, as he felt a drop of rain fall down and hit him on the forehead, the sun barely visible behind the clouds, like a summer rain. "I promise my friend."

(Vizard training ground)

Senna's form stumbled under the culminating exhaustion in her body. Having fought her Hollow not too long ago, occasionally fighting the lizard-Hollow form Ichigo had taken, and making emergency evacuation of severely wounded fighters, left her more than a little winded.

Glancing behind her, she saw Shinji struggling to get Kensei back to his feet, one of his eyes was forcibly closed as he spat out blood from his mouth. Turning her attention back to the foe in front of her, she braced herself in case it tried to attack again.

This was another of her tasks.

It was discovered relatively early on, that this Hollowfied form of Ichigo, held back considerably when attacking her. Oh sure, she received her fair share of broken bones, cut marks or slams through rocky protrusions like the others, all of which Hachi was kind enough to heal, but it seemed to be rather hesitant to go full force like it had with the others. Although, nobody was really sure if that meant some part of Ichigo was still in control or if the Hollow itself felt a sense of kinship with her, since her spiritual energy was so close to its own.

Of course, the theory that it was just a sadistic monster, who enjoyed fighting and seem to understand that as long as she was out here the others could rest, thus prolonging the fight, still stood.

The swishing white tail of the Hollow slammed against the ground behind it, as its golden eyes widened in surprise. The young woman carefully eyed the creature until it dropped its arms to its side, lowering its head submissively.

Chancing a glance, she looked back at Shinji, who let out a relieved sigh as crashed to his butt, Kensei still leaning on his shoulder "Holy hell that was close."

With a twitch at her lips, Senna looked back towards the monster and sure enough, she heard the sound of something hardening up. All across the body of the creature, lines started to form, before slowly chipping off, revealing flakes of peachy skin underneath.

The layer of white fell away until all that remained was the white mask with a red lines going down the side. Sheathing her hidden blade back into her Shakujo state, Senna called out to her brother. "Ichigo? Can you hear me?"

The man's shoulder twitched at her words, indicating awareness. Slowly, he bent one of arms and brought it up to his face. Clasping the side of the mask, he put some pressure against it, and watched it crack before their eyes, revealing the very drained face of Ichigo Kurosaki. "Loud and clear." He replied tiredly, before his body started to fall forward.

Using her flash step, she caught him before he hit the ground, wrapping her arms around his body, to give him a tight hug that told volumes of how worried she was and glad he was back. Turning his head up to meet Senna's face, he nodded as he wrapped his sore arm around her back, returning it as best he could.

Their moment was cut short when the hobbling frame of Hirako Shinji came up behind Senna "We are never gonna do back-to-back awakening training again. Ever." He stated, as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. Kneeling down, he stared into the face of Ichigo and sighed. "You were a pain in the ass."

It took a little effort, but Ichigo managed to work a smirk unto his face "If I'm not…I'm not doing my job." He then placed his hand on to his knee and with a little help from Senna, got to his feet. "So what now?"

"Well…" Shinji took a step back to let Ichigo see the damage he had inflicted.

The first thing he noticed was the golden barrier that had encased them was long gone, either destroyed or let down he wasn't sure, but from the gasping form of Hachi, he was willing to wager violently. Not far from Hachi was a healthy looking Mashiro who was slapping Hiyori in the face in order to bring her back to the world of the living. Hiyori's red tracksuit was missing its sleeves and the sandals she had been wearing were gone, leaving her barefoot.

On the far side of the stairwell, Lisa was leaning against the wall with her hair down and a broken pair of glasses in her hand. She silently folded them up and placed them on the ground before reaching down and grabbing another hair band. Less than two feet away from her was Rose, who had his arm in a sling as he rotated his body trying to pop his rotator cusp and relieve the tension.

Love came next as he was on his knees trying to catch his breath as he leaned against his spiked mace for support, his green track suit was covered in dust, dirt and dried blood. Finally, Kensei who looked like he'd been through a street brawl, busted lip, swollen eye and clothing partial torn, was trying to stand up on his own two feet, but his form was shaky.

"Well, rest first." Shinji continued having fully surveyed the damage. "We'll take two or three hours to rest and eat, recover our strength, then we can train the rest of the night."

Senna felt worry in heart at pushing so soon. "Are the rest of the Vizards going to be okay doing that?"

Shinji nodded the he did appreciate the concern. "Yeah, we already finished the hard part. What we'll be doing next is just teaching you how to call up the power." He then looked back at the pair "Since you two can naturally use Hollow powers, I have a hunch this'll be way easier for you guys to learn to control and use it at will, then we did."

"If you say so then after you." Ichigo muttered,

The blond man nodded his head before walking away "Yeah, but first rest. Hope you know how to cook, cause we're tired and hungry."

The calm expression Ichigo had on his face turned into disappointment "Let me get this straight: Not only did I have to risk my life, but now I have to cater to him?" Ichigo groaned, "Man these powers better be worth it."

Senna giggled at his sarcasm, "It's okay, I'll help you cook, Ichigo."

Amused by her breeze offer, Ichigo scratched her on the top of her head playful "No, it's okay. You were working hard too. Sides, you cooked for me and Shaolin yesterday, time to return the favor."

The woman's eyes lit up and then embraced her brother once again. "Thanks." She said, as she slowly tightened the hug, but not hard enough to hurt him. "And welcome back."

The carrot top chuckled as he stared ahead, "Already told you. I'm not going anywhere, Senna."

(Squad 2 barrack: Soifon)

"Made it." The captain breathed a sigh of relief, as she entered into her office, after having snuck through the entire barracks undetected, something she wasn't accustomed to doing.

On a normal day, she would proudly stroll through the halls of her barracks making sure that everything and everyone was functioning at expected capacity.

Her expected capacity that is.

Therefore, she broke-up physical and verbal disputes between Shinigami, she worked everyone to their limits in the training field, she stomped on the slackers who loafed around, she administered both punishments and rewards, and she consolidated any paper work that needed reported and submitted, before it was buried under more files.

However today, she wanted nothing to do with it. It wasn't only because of the quick to build backlog of paper work: Which wasn't helped by the HUGE gap in ranks stemming from: Her absence on the Sotaichō's mission. Her Fukutaichō doing his Vizard training. Her third seat currently MIA/Defection. Her fourth seat left vacant do to the original's status as KIA. Lastly, her fifth seat having less than half a decades' experience being forced to accommodate the rapid pile-up.

No, the real reason why was because she had a lot on her mind. Granted, most of it personal reasons, but it was about, what concerned not only the present, but the future of, herself and her relationship with Ichigo.

This was something that was rather unexpected, so she needed all the time she could muster to consider, since she needed to tell Ichigo soon.

Another sigh escaped her, as she locked the door behind her. The woman decided to at least unwind first, before she short-circuited herself from stress build up.

Turning away from the door she was about to enter her room, when she saw a letter on her desk. The blue haired woman quirked an eyebrow as she walked over to it, she didn't remember leaving anything on her desk. Picking up the small yellow envelope, she glanced back at the door. "I better lock up when I leave next time."

Flipping the yellow paper over, she ran her finger across the back to break the seal. Pulling out the paper within, she unraveled it to see what it contained.

As soon as her eyes hit the first Hanzi (5), her quiet confusion morphed into utter contempt. She didn't waste a second more on the letter, as she quietly folded it back in half, and began to tear it down the center pausing just long enough to flip it on it's side and repeat her tearing.

This was not the first time her clan had sent her a letter trying to get her to comeback. She had received several letters since her 'self-imposed exile' -as the first letter called it- so she understood _why_ the family was trying to reach her.

The reason being: She was the last _'living'_ relative of her father, the previous clan head. Because she had no offspring _before_ she left, effectively preventing an heir for the process of direct line succession, the family fell into a succession crisis, where smaller families within the clan would try to provide legitimacy for their right to rule over all of the Fon family.

Now, while the contention was tense, but civil, only the ones who threw in their lot for a chance to rule ran the risk of being killed, either by assassination from a competitor or the trials set by the elders to determine who could succeed, typically, one-on-one combat matches; it was still a very violent affair to be sure.

Hence, where she fit in to their little plan. If she were to return to reclaim her place as head of the family, all of the other usurper's rights would be null and voided, as the rightful heir had returned, which the elders would gladly back. Furthermore, her right wouldn't really be challenged.

Due to the families Darwinist philosophy, all challenges would one at a time -with ample time for recuperation for the winner- be settled on the training field, something few Fon assassins could say they matched her, a captain's strength, in a fair fight.

However, the problem that once again the members of her clan failed to realize was, she wasn't coming back. Reason being, she was still quite furious with them. Not only because they tried to force her to marry Omaeda. That was just more of an annoyance, but was easily solvable, once her and Ichigo's relationship was in the clear and the war ended, and if she got a chance to actually explain the situation to them, as well as explain why Ichigo was the better choice in the matter.

No. She was pissed because they tried to manipulate both her and her father. When she constantly shot down marriage proposal after marriage proposal with acknowledged agreement of her father, they sought to slowly poison him behind her back, while she was busy with her duties to Seireitei.

When that plan ran it's course and she was at her weakest, unsuspecting of treachery and no longer protected by her bi-law, they struck, trying to elevate the clan during the time of reconstruction and unrest.

She still burned when she recalled seeing the pitiable weakened 'undesirable' form of her father dying on his bed, wishing her well as she plunged her Zanpaktou into his body, in an effort to end his suffering.

That was the reason why she never responded to their letters. That was why whenever a Fon messenger or trainee came to her office to convince her to return, she turned them away with polite but cold professionalism.

So, while she freely acknowledged that she bore some responsibility for the misfortune that befell her erstwhile clan, she chose to live by her father's words and make her own choices and accept the consequences. That was why she wanted no part of her former clan further after breaking ties.

She made her peace with her older brothers, received the blessing of her father, and chose to believe her deceased mother and grandmother would understand.

The day she left that compound -with Ichigo and Senna at her side- was the day she stopped being a code-designated Fon assassin and became Shaolin Kurosaki.

Taking a few steps around her desk, the annoyed woman opened her hand and dropped her letter-turned-confetti into the waste bin. "Figure it out, yourselves." She coldly spoke, not letting the latest attempt rile her mood in the slightest.

Dusting her hands, she walked away from the trash and decided to head to her bedroom to return to her original task.

Pushing open the door located to the side of her office, the martial artist rotated her joints as walked through the door to her room. Removing the jacket with the hole off her shoulder, she closed the door with her shoes, so she could place the soon to be tossed overcoat unto her dresser.

As the door loudly closed behind her, her eyes briefly locked on the half balled-up jacket in her hands.

Thoughts that she had long buried in her mind began to stir again, disturbed by both the letters from her family and now the news of her pregnancy.

Eyeing the perforating hole through the center, an introspective groan escaped her throat. In a strange way this Haori symbolized the life –the dream- she had wanted.

Slowly, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to think back on the days long past. The days where she spent every waking moment: Studying the interlocking history of the Shihoin clan and hers, to protect the twenty-second heiress: Yoruichi Shihoin. Being out in the training fields trying to prove herself the best Shinigami warrior, princess or not.

Back then, she had trained herself to be the ultimate bodyguard the Fon family had ever seen. She did it for honor, family, respect, for every right and every wrong reason.

But, that alone wouldn't be enough, it wouldn't be nearly enough for what fate had in store for her. Nothing could have prepared her for when her world was flipped upside-down by Sosuke Aizen.

He pushed her towards her breaking point, allowing her to manifest her Bankai in righteous indignation against the woman she had lived her life trying to protect. Later, with the Haori and pressure from Soul Society resting on her shoulders, she came face-to-face and blow-to-blow against Ichigo when everything in her world seemed to be falling apart.

Every action in her life, both the good and the bad, was tailored into this jacket.

She slowly placed the cloak back down, her eyes flittering down to her core.

With what was soon going to be introduced into her life, she supposed this was the sign that this tumultuous yet important chapter in her life was slowly and definitively coming to a close.

Shifting her body, the woman was surprised to see yet another relic of her past sitting on the far side of the dresser.

Still feeling reminiscent, she walked over to it and swept it up in her hands, smiling all the while.

Her thumb ran over the surface of the black memorial stone, the kanji of the name lodged between her fingers. "Masaki." The woman whispered to herself lovingly, as she gazed at the Ihai that remained in her room.

Unlike the jacket, which had shown her the path of the warrior, exploits brought on by fate, and the tragedies that shaped her outward persona to most the world, this memorial tomb held quite a bit of significance to what lay deep within her heart.

On the forefront of it all, she had gotten this as both a token of respect for her deceased mother-in-law as well as a gift to Ichigo, since that event heralded the change between them forever.

After that when the false aspersion ploy succeeded in driving her to a rage, it had been Suzumebachi reminding her of memories of both Ichigo and Masaki, that made her realize that despite what had happened, how they betrayed and used her, she was glad that she got to feel -to experience- them in her life. That revelation would go on to later serve in solidify her allegiance to Ichigo above all others.

The third time it played in her life was when she tried to present it to Ichigo, shortly after breaking ties with her family. She smiled as she remembered how she acted. At first, she had been all set what she was going to say, having called him to her office to give him something, but she made tactical error of giving it to him first, _before_ properly setting the mood or reason for the gift, leading him to ask her if he unknowingly pissed her off.

When she realized the implication all too late, it completely shot all her confidence, reducing her to a sputtering, stumbling, mess, as she tried, and failed, to explain why in all the seven hells she had given such a grim gift to the person she supposedly held so dear.

However, after several awkward minutes, the bright red woman finally managed to return to a semblance of coherent reasoning. She told him that she loved his mother for raising a son as wonderful as him, telling him that even though they only knew each for a brief while, she was glad to be her friend.

Ichigo nodded in understanding of the gratitude she held to her. He pulled the smaller older woman into his embrace and thanked her for such a wonderful gift. He then placed it on her dresser and told, they'll keep it in her room. When she asked why, he cheekily replied that his mother would probably want to keep looking after her daughter-in-law.

Although her reaction was delayed, she soon laughed alongside Ichigo, getting the joke about Masaki's prediction that the two of them would get together, back when she accused him of lying about their relationship to his mother.

The final time the Ihai had helped her was when she got the chance to ease the burden on Senna. Shortly after the girl returned to her more cheerful self, she brought the girl into her office and showed her the statue. Shaolin calmly told her the story about how and why she got it as well as who it was dedicated to.

The young woman was taken aback, but bowed her head, giving her heartfelt thanks that her sensei was kind enough to share more on the mother she never knew. Soifon merely pulled her into a hug and softly told her that she may or may not meet her reincarnation, but she knew the lively woman was extremely proud of her daughter.

Of course, once the tender moment had passed, she also decided to playfully tease her, offhandedly saying that she wasn't sure if Masaki would be pleased with her choice in suitor.

This caused the girl to go flush, before promising to get her back for that, which she had, by falsely spreading rumor at the next SWA meeting by saying captain Soifon never slept with undergarments on and that she also had an entire closet devoted to S&M gear.

For her part, Soifon decided to be the metaphorical bigger person in the argument and chose to ignore the false rumor about how she slept nude; however, her curiosity was piqued by the second part of her claim, since she had never heard the terminology that apparently the two letters and the word 'and' made when combined.

Once the good captain's initial confusion on the meaning of 'S&M' was cleared by resident databank Nemu Kurotsuchi, she decided to stop being the bigger person and responded by violently 'Izuna dropping' (6) the rumor spreading Vizard through a table. The raging woman would have gone two for two had she not been physically restrained by all the other members except Unohana and Isane, who were busy healing the swirly eyed teenager.

When faced with trial by the SWA court for one count assault on a fellow member during meet, her plea of 'temporary insanity' was found lacking by the judge Nanao; although, because it was found that Senna had lied, another crime by SWA standard, the both of them ended up serving a small punishment.

Both girls left with a funny personal memory that brought them closer.

The smiling girl continued playfully stroking the mortuary monument. A pleased sigh escaped her lips as she set it back down on the dresser, still holding her low angled gaze, she placed her hand over her stomach. "You're going to be a grandmother, mother." She muttered wistfully, somewhat hoping her words would reach the woman's soul.

The girl continued to stare lovingly at the Ihai, until she felt a sudden lurch in her stomach. Slowly her eyebrows furrowed and her eyelids flickered, as she felt a returning sense of nausea wash over her. "Auugh…" she groaned, trying to grit her teeth and keep the bile from rising any further.

Her effort proved to be useless however as another gag forced her to close her mouth, as she forcibly put down the Ihai and sprinted past her bed into the bathroom. Not a second after kneeling over the bowl, did a mouthful of digested paste spew out of her mouth into the pristine waters below. Only after about three seconds of continuous streaming did the woman receive a chance to catch her breath, her right hand braced against the lid, while her left arm was clutching her stomach.

Shaolin let out a groan, "Ughhh…mmmph!" the woman closed her eyes, and leaned her head back over the bowl another time, as an unexpected second helping of half-digested gunk violently blew past her lips.

As the much smaller helping of liquid food settled into the toilet, Shaolin took a few extra breaths, before spitting out the bitter acidy taste that clung to the back of her mouth into the soupy mixture, that vaguely reminded her of yesterday's dinner.

"Damn (huff) (huff)," a token smile emerged across her lips, as she wiped away whatever food particles had stuck to her lips. "I'd take my seasonal sickness any day over this." She joked airily

Pushing herself from her toilet, she glanced weakly back at the black tablet. "I guess that settles it, huh?" she said sardonically as she flushed the toilet and it's putrid contents away. _'Me…a mother.'_

Walking to the sink, she turned on the water and began to wash her hands with soap and water to get the gunk off her hands. Her head was in the clouds the entire time. _'Unohana says I should think about what to say, but…what do I say? Do I just go "Ichigo, I'm pregnant"?'_ she considered as she absentmindedly, lathered a second layer of soap between her fingers. _'Should I try to ease him into it with casual conversation?'_

The woman shook her head as she cut the water off and dried her hands. Her eyes fleetingly looking into her large mirror. Her eyes drifted to her reflection's stomach and imagined herself with a giant bulge. A playful smirk adorned her lips. "He'd probably think I got fat, if I didn't tell him." She considered, as she touched her sides with her hand.

As she was musing to herself, she could have sworn that she heard a voice. Looking back into her room, she saw no one there. She stayed perfectly still until she heard the distant echoing noise a second time. "Who's there?" she barked in her authoritative tone. She really didn't want to deal with anyone's stupidity. "Are you deaf or stupid!? Show yourself!"

Again, the silence was what greeted her, but she knew something was off. Clenching her fists, she scanned the room until…

_Look…_

This time the voice came from her right. Quickly pirouetting, she came face to face with her battle ready reflection. The two stared unflinchingly at the copycat, before the original eased her stance. "I must be losing it." She muttered, as she brought hand to her forehead, a sentiment her image seemed to mimic. The woman was going to exit the bathroom to get some much needed rest, when she saw that her reflection was slowly fading away until it was replaced entirely by Sosuke Aizen, bowing his head as he held Kyoka Suigetsu in his hand.

_Ninchi Shinjitsu_ The reflection muttered

Acting on instinct, the woman threw her fist at the mirror. The strike connected with the glass sending cracks all throughout the mirror, but that was only the beginning, as the cracks gave way revealing a swirling void beneath it, pulling her in.

Shaolin couldn't do anything as was sucked into the void and falling further and further away from the location of her bathroom. Her body kept tumbling and spinning further and further out of control, until her world went black.

* * *

Post fic banter:

Mayuri: We've got some more products. For you ladies out there we've got 'aphrodisiac'. Put a little of this on and you'll-

Yoruichi: SMELL LIKE A SEX GOD!

Mayuri: That's right. With this you won't need to worry about having a man ever. You can watch for you amusement by putting on a little sex appeal and-

Yoruichi: BLOWING MEN'S MIND INTO A CATATONIC STATE!

Mayuri: Back to you rage-a-holic out there who find appeal in-

Grimmjow: BEATING THINGS UP WITH YOUR FISTS!

Mayuri: We've got concentrated-

Zaraki: ZARAKI SWEAT!

Mayuri: This concentrated dose of testosterone poisoning is good enough to make a manly man out of you!

Yachiru: EVEN MIDGETS LIKE TOSHIRO!

Mayuri: We scientifically proved it by putting a drop on a goldfish and watched it turn into a-

Zaraki: GODDAMN BULL SHARK!

Mayuri: Which could only be explained as working because-

Zaraki: IT'S AWESOME!

Mayuri: Back to you lovely ladies out there. I'm sure you've got your moment where you need to release your anger! Kurotsuchi emporiums has your answer with all new-

Yoruichi: FEMALE RAGE!

Mayuri: That's right. If you down this drink, Not only will you have the strength of twenty men-

Yoruichi: YOU'LL MAKE THEM YOUR BITCH!

Mayuri: Exactly. So now that you've seen just a taste of our magnificent wares, don't buy from that ass-hat at the shoten. Buy from us: at 1-735-569-7685, that's also 1 looks like the letter I-Sell-my-soul on your phone pad for you textie people out there. But wait there's more! But now and we'll double your order, all for the low, low cost of one spleen and an arm! Buy now or-

Zaraki: YOU SUCK DONKEY BALLS LIKE URAHARA! BUY IT NOW! (1)

(Commercial ends)

Ichigo:…(curious) Is SS really hurting for money?

Shaolin:…(troubled) I feel conflicted of supporting that advertisement…

Urahara (crosses arms): Well Mayuri…I hope you realize this means war.

Senna:….{pulls out cellphone} one-seven-three…

Urahara: TRAITOR!

Uryu: Until next we meet.

* * *

Guide post of the soul:

1. For those of you who have watched either 'Brawndo the thirst mutilator' or 'Powerthirst', this was created in homage to it. I only hope it brought as much of chuckle as the original. For those who haven't seen it, go you tube it. You'll know when you see it.

2. Portal 2 character and reference. Enjoy your chuckle. For those who don't know, just search cave Johnson, lemon rant.

3. Yes, that is what it's called, and the scientific explaination given further on is also true…to the extent of my knowledge. I do try to research these kinds of topics, but when it comes to science we learn new things everyday.

4. As BS as this sounds, it's actually true. Yeah, I know, I was really shocked myself. Also, the 'cravings' that women get, 9 times out of 10 it's nothing to anime extremes. It's usually small changes, however there are outliers whom could consume bleach, glue and paint-thinners, so men, watch your wives, women, be careful during this time period.

5. Hanzi: Literally translates into Han character. Which is a form of writing in china. In the context of reading Chinese, the various strokes make different words and meaning. Hence in what was said, Soifon just had to read the first word. Thank-you Leon Tasume!

5. Zhōngwén: Literally meaning written Chinese. In the context of what is put on paper, Zhōngwén is what Chinese writing is called. So the style of writing that Soifon is reading. Thank-you Leon Tasume!

6. The Izuna Drop's origin began in the 1969 manga called Ninpu Kamui Gaiden OP (The Legend of Kamui). Kamui learned this move from watching birds attack each other. An Izuna Drop is a move used in many videogames mostly used by Ninjas. This move consists of both fighters being in the air after one fighter knocks the other up into the air. After launching the target, the attacking fighter grabs onto the other and continue to drop head first (Both fighters are going down head first) while spinning. The move ends with the fighter on the receiving end getting major head and back injuries and the giver to get away unharmed (even though he/she was also going down head first).


	31. Ninchi Shinjitsu: Percieved truth

(Author's acknowledgment)

This chapter will also have scenes depicting adult problems and scenarios (nothing explicit, so no worries), that some may find a bit unnerving (IE hits close to home). After all, this fic didn't earn it's M rating just because of sexually explicit material, violence and language (although that did have something to do with it, haha).

But genuinely being serious, I would kindly request that viewers please be as respectful as I have been both in regards to foreign culture, lifestyle and those who know people with some mental issues (You'll only see it if you know what to look for). So again thank-you for your show of maturity.

Reading note: This chapter might seem like a bit of mind screw. So I would like to remind you, that **we are following Soifon's perspective**. Just FYI.

Side note: Originally this chapter was supposed to be part of last chapter, but I didn't want two super huge chapters back to back (it was already long so...). I know it's a pain, so sorry about that. Upside, it let me really edit and fine tune this chapter for you. So thumbs up!

(Author's acknowledgment end)

* * *

(Author's credit giving.)

The setting for this…chapter I think it might have been influenced by an old fic I read that I found both heartbreaking and bittersweet. So, to both err on the side of caution and to happily give credit where credit is due, I would like to give a huge shout out to Highlord Cross (formerly Highlord Cross the Bloody) and his/her fic 'The Islander.' You rock.

Let see what else…I also freely admit to having semi-loosely based two characters with similar personalities to another. One of which is Eleanor Lamb (of Bioshock) and the other FeMorgan (of FE:A), so again giving credit, thank-you Intelligent system and 2k respectively. You guys also rock.

Also last chapter (totally forgot) Ichigo's Shingetsu was greatly inspired by Star Ocean: Till the end of time's Fayt Leingod's Dimension Door/Blade of Annihilation. Again, totally forgot, so Tri-ace (company), credit to you.

Final note: I don't own anything. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and all rights and…I don't know all the other stuff that goes in the disclaimer. It's been too long, since I last did one so I kinda forgot what to say. Anyway, Tite Kubo owns everything…I guess?

(Author's credit giving end)

* * *

(Author's acknowledgment to the unknown review)

To unknown reviewer known only as: MasterDog

Firstly, thank-you for that and yeah, thing should be a lot better…hopefully. The second part…

…

…

Foreshadowing…?

(end author's response to unknown reviews)

* * *

Prefic banter:

A small line of individuals are standing at attention. They are Hanataro Yamada, Ganju Shiba, Jirobo Ikazuchi, Hollow Ichigo and Hollow Senna.

Blackout2010: Gentlemen!

D. Miroku: Ahem!

Blackout2010 (ceases pacing):…And sex addict. (Resumes walking, Miroku glares.) You all have one thing in common in this story. Do you know what that is?

Hichigo: We have nothing in common?

Blackout2010: No.

Jirobo Ikazuchi: We had very little screen time?

Blackout2010: Close, but no.

Ganju: We're dead.

Blackout2010 (points): Exactly it. You my friends are all the known Shinigami related characters who have perished in the line of Fic that people actually gave a damn about. (looks at jirobo) except maybe you, but you made the cut because your a Canon character. (turns back) However, just because you are dead does not mean you are no longer needed.

All: Really?

Blackout2010: Yes, we need plenty of extras in Aizen's Arrancar army. It's too small to be considered an army. (points at Hanataro) starting from number 19, you are number 19, Ganju you are 20, Jirobo you are 21, Hichigo, you are 22, D. Senna you are 23, and you will continue counting off in Fibonacci sequence until a sizable size is reached.

Hichigo: But…won't people recognize us? And why are we doing this in the first place?

Blackout2010: Because we don't have enough for CGI inserts, we make no money off this what so ever. (Throws hand forward) So, go forward my loyal minions. Show them the power of the dead!

* * *

Chapter 30: Ninchi Shinjitsu: Perceived Truth (1)

Darkness.

Black impenetrable darkness.

That's all Soifon saw around her after being sucked into her bathroom mirror.

She didn't understand how or why it happened, well, she did understand _why_. It was because Sosuke Aizen did something to her. Whether it was a mental trick by Kyoka Suigetsu, that she wasn't accustom to being subject to, or the man himself breached Soul Society and trapped her in another world, she didn't know.

But, all the same, she swore to herself, that once she undid whatever the hell that bastard did to her, and the chance to get her hands around his smug neck presented itself, she'd make him pay dearly and enjoy every second of it.

However, setting her vendetta aside, she was at a loss.

No matter which direction she turned her head, she couldn't see anything around her, no objects, no people, and no color, just a sea of black. On a more worrying note, she couldn't even tell if her own limbs were still attached to her. She felt like a disembodied emotion-feeling ghost; that was neither standing nor floating.

The only thing that came even remotely close to describe how she felt right now, was when she had asked Tosen to use his Bankai on her, so she could test her assassination training in an environment depriving her of her ability to use most of her five senses.

She was glad that she had that experience in her resume. Because, if she had been dropped into this void with no ability to feel anything at all, she would have had a major panic attack from the resulting disorientation, stress, and concern for both the well-being of herself and her unborn child.

After all, if you can't see anything or feel your body, that's a sure sign that you weren't long for this world.

Swinging her view to the left and right, she was stuck pondering what it was she should do to escape this prison, if she could call it that.

The lack of color and movement at least eased her to believe that she was alone and wouldn't be ambushed by an assailant, but at the same time the nothingness was literally her enemy, as it provided no clues and no clearly defined restrains to suggest escape.

Before she could get too involved in the all-encompassing problem, her salvation ironically came not from the darkness around her, but from within, specifically a muscle response. It was a small-agitated twitch. The muscle spasm every ten-fifteen seconds in what Shaolin supposed would be where her bicep was located, if she could see it. Her theory was further confirmed when she felt a cool breeze wash over the top of the muscle twitch in a narrow rectangular spread.

Soon the feeling spread out and seemingly encased her body. She wondered if something was blowing on her. If so, then what? A fan? The wind? A Zanpaktou? She didn't know, but the twitch in her arm prompted again, this time her hand flinched following the pulse.

Her fingers were interwoven between something soft, thin, flexible and sharp, while her thumb was slowly scraping back and forth against something both hard and dusty. _'What's going on? Am I alive?'_ she pondered to herself.

A sudden surge of heat that ran across the top of her skin answered her question. The warmth was quite hot, almost oppressively so, especially in her chest and thigh areas. "Ugggh…" she found her voice to work, which meant that she was alive, but she still couldn't see anything, only feel a collective of different sensations against her body.

Soon the full power of her hearing returned to her, which faintly allowed her to make out the sound of something that was rustling off in the distance, it was close but at the same time far away. "ooohmmm." Another grunted escaped, as the darkness around her changed colors, from the darkest of black to a more reddish center with black corners.

'_This is all in my head. I'm okay.'_ The woman thought to herself, spending a moment to rationalize everything that happened so far. _'Maybe…maybe my eyes are closed, that's why I can't see.'_ She considered, it would explain her situation thus far. _'Okay, so let's try to open them.'_

Concentrating on the lightening darkness, she tried to force her eyes to open. _'Open.'_ She commanded. All she got was red aura to lighten a bit more, before returning to its crimson hue. _'Open.'_ She willed again.

Another groan escaped her lips, but this time she could see her eyelashes flitting opening, replacing the darkness that had trapped her was a sheet of light blue and sunlight. "ooohh…" yet another groan escaped her, as she shifted her arms, one of them dragged through something dusty and hard while the other met resistance to something soft and itchy.

Moving her eyes to the left, she brought her hand to match her line of sight. Her unobscured view allowed her to see it run across a small rocky outcrop with dust and sandy residue on it as it settled down where she wanted, silently await her next command. Shifting her focus to the side, she saw that her arm was entrenched in green grass that was prickling the exposed under-half of her arm and shoulder.

Balling her hands into fists, she brought them in close to her sides and used them as anchor to push her upper body off the ground. As she sat herself up, happily noting her legs were still there, the captain looked upwards and once again saw the eternal streak of blue that she now recognized as the sky. "What am I doing here?" she whispered, _'I was in my bathroom a moment ago.'_

Another gust of wind blew across her body ruffling her hair, but what caught her attention was the same rustling sound from earlier echoed again, this time in a loud but distant chorus. Her curiosity piqued, she slowly got to her feet and walked to the visible edge not too far from her, where she was sure the echoing sound must have emanated from.

When she reached the edge of the land, her eyes nearly popped out her head, as she fell on her butt in fear. "W-w-w-" she stuttered,

"WHERE THE HELL AM IIIIII!?" her voice echoed over the plateau that dropped down to the ocean, whose waves crashed against the side of the cliff.

Soifon quickly backpedaled several steps with her hands, as she put as much distance as possible between her and certain death.

Now as much as her reputation suggested that she was a fearless Shinigami captain, who had come blow to blow with a Menos-Grande and lived, was one of the few practitioners of Hakudo who mastered the Shunko technique, and could exhibit a cold attitude that could put even the ice dragon Hyorinmaru to shame in terms of frigidness, all of which was true. There was only _one_ thing that would put her in such a state of absolute terror that she would abandon all hope and forsake the mission.

Deep water (2).

The reason for her fear was both in part of her lack of certain skills and her training in assassination. The Soul Society lacked extremely large pools of water, where one could dive and swim freely, so she grew up having no idea how to keep her head above water, a necessity given her short stature of five feet even. This inability, coupled with the fact that she knew first-hand what it was like to be choked out via strangulation, left lasting childhood traumas.

In most situations, people would never know, since she'd be just fine approaching even wading into waist deep water, but once the water got to about her shoulders, you'd see it. Her eyes would glance down ever so nervously, the telltale signs of her heart quickening in anticipation, and rarely the chattering of teeth behind closed lips.

And now, from what she was seeing, the bounty of the ocean stretched on until sky met sea.

"Oh no." the terrified woman muttered to herself, as she got up on shaky knees.

Right now, this place was a prison to her and to make matters worse she wasn't sure if she was in a Gigai or not. To her knowledge, the plane of Soul Society did not have scenery like this, which meant she was in the human world. Sure, she was wearing her Onimitsukido gear, but she didn't feel any spiritual energy radiating off her body, which just further begged the question.

"Oh, my god." She whispered again, as she brought a hand over head to shield herself from the sun's rays and extend her vision.

From what she was seeing, there was good and bad news to her current situation. The Good news: There was a beach that had a forest in the center, which meant: if she could gather supplies, or better yet find inhabitants, she could escape. The Bad news: If that expanse of water actually was the ocean, and it wrapped around the other side of landmass, then that meant she was on an Island. An Island that was surrounded by water of drown-able depth in all direction, as far as she could see.

The woman slumped her shoulder, as she placed her hands on her hip. It was only then that she realized her Zanpaktou was not on her back. "Great." She whispered to herself. Here she was, stranded with no abilities outside of her hand-to-hand skills, which might not even be helpful, trying to find some way to escape this possible death trap from god knows where. "Juuuust great."

Another sigh escaped her lips, "Well, at least I'm properly dressed." She half-considered.

In most places, it would be fall turning to winter now, meaning bone-chillingly cold temperatures. However the warm sunny weather was working quite cooperatively with the nature of her outfit, which revealed copious amounts of skin and breathed quite well. The only downside about her Onimitsukido master uniform was that it was black, like most Shinigami attire, which meant that it would trap in extra heat around her chest, abdomen and legs. Still, if putting up with that slight discomfort meant the elements wouldn't be her enemy, then it was a small complaint that she could live with.

Seeing nothing more to see in her current direction, the woman turned around and was surprised at her luck at discovering a medium two-story cottage, which sat a little ways further up the cliff.

"Huh, I guess people live all the way out here." She mused thoughtfully.

Glancing back to her side, she had to admit that it was a spectacular view of the seaside and nearby beach from up here; she could only imagine what it looked like at sunset with low hanging clouds or at night when the stars were out, perhaps that was the reason for choosing to live so secluded.

Putting the scenic vacation thoughts on the backburner, the captain turned back to her objective and began her trudge up to the door. She would need to refocus her thoughts on her first steps to getting out of here: Acquire her location.

Coming up to the wooden door, she tapped her knuckles against the frame, however when her hand made contact, no noise was emitted. While puzzled by the phenomena she never the less tried a second time, only to get reconfirming results. The woman lightly bit her lip, _'Well, so much for politeness.'_ She thought to herself, as she gripped the doorknob. Turning the metal knob, she tried to pull the door open only for it to rumble in place. "Are you kidding?" she cursed to herself as she considered her options.

On the one hand, she could try her luck and explore the island below in the hopes of finding humanity, or she could try to rip the door off its hinges with her strength and pray that there was a map of some kind and the owners weren't home.

Looking behind her to the downward path that lead into the opening of the forest, Soifon scanned her eyes over the tree line for a few seconds. _'No, I don't see a village and I don't know if there are any hazardous wildlife to be aware of.'_ She reconsidered as she turned back to the door in front of her. _'Even if I piss off the inhabitants at least I can talk to them without them trying to kill me.'_

Twisting her arms to loosen them up, the woman reaffirmed her grip on the knob, and once she turned it to the side again, she summoned all her strength and pushed herself back. The door creaked loudly as it hit the end of its frame, pulled forwards with unimaginable force. However, just as before, it refused to budge under the captain's strength.

Gritting her teeth, Shaolin tugged again, but all she got was another weaker creaking against the doorframe. "Rrggh, damn it!" the ninja cursed, as she let go of the knob. The woman backed away from the door, a scowl adorning her lips.

Moving her gaze away from the door, she saw the wall of the building run about fifteen-twenty feet, before smoothing out into a corner. "Alright, new plan." She said, as she started to walk along the wall. If this place really was a home for someone to live in, then there had to be a nearby window. Turning around the corner, she smirked when found a small circular one.

Peering into the inside of the house, she saw directly on the other side of the wall seemed to be the kitchen, as a sink was just below the window and a lots of cabinets lined the surrounding vicinity. Across from the kitchen was a large circular wooden table with about eight wooden chairs and two bar stools, the centerpiece was a golden crown. Shaolin considered it must have been the dining room. Looking to the left of the table, past the counter top, there was another room with a long black couch that partial obscured the TV in front of it.

'_Hmm…at least people do live here.'_ she thought to herself, as she leaned more to her right to see what else was inside.

Just beside the kitchen was a set of stairs that obviously went up to the second floor of the building, there was also a door barely visible, on the far wall of the staircase. _'But where are the people?'_ the assassin thought to herself.

Readjusting her sights, the woman saw on the other side of the house there were two more portholes for her to look through, one behind the TV in the couch room and one by the table at the dining room. Smiling to herself, she backed away from her peek hole. Perhaps from a different vantage point she could get someone's attention.

Walking back around to the front, the woman got about half way to the other side when she was forced to jump back to avoid the door that suddenly opened.

The woman's body was tense as she landed back on the grass, her eyes darting straight ahead as someone wearing a sky-blue sundress exited the home. The person's wooden sandals clacked against the dirt as the person extended their bronze-skinned hand to close the door, while they adjusted their straw harvester's hat.

Despite only having seen the person's back, she could tell that the person exiting the abode was a woman, because of her long dark knee length hair and choice in attire. The mysterious woman was about her own height, _maybe_ just a smidge taller, and her visible skin was quite tan; although, that was probably because of where she lived, which had an abundance of sunlight.

Shaolin stared at the woman, as she pulled down on the brim of her hat and started walking away from her. Back in the direction the captain had come from.

Finding her voice, the stunned captain called out to her. "Excuse me, Miss!" she hailed as her arm reached forward in front of her, as if willing the other woman to turn around. When no answer was given, she tried again. "Hey you, halt!" This time she called much louder, and to her irritation, she still received no answer, leaving her to conclude: either the woman was deaf or she was purposely ignoring her.

While she would give the benefit of a doubt to the former, due to the seemingly isolate location of her home, the combination of her being in dire-straits and annoyed at lack of headway made it easier for her to believe the latter alternative.

"Enough of this." She huffed hotly, as she stormed around the strolling woman, ready to give her a piece of her mind. Cutting off her path, Shaolin quickly turned on her heels to face her, mouth open to speak…but no sound came out of her mouth, as she stared into the face of other woman.

After a few seconds, a dull croaking sound escaped from her throat as the once strolling woman stopped walking, and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Ma…me?" Shaolin croaked out as her longhaired duplicate, scanned the nearby area, skipping over her completely, and only stopping when her eyes fell on the distant sea.

"Huh?" the sundress-wearing girl muttered, "Could have sworn…" she momentarily fell silent, before shrugging it off. "Must have been my imagination."

The woman then resumed walking, passing straight through the stunned captain's body, briefly pausing to suppress a strange shudder than ran down her spine.

For the real Soifon, she turned back around to the strolling woman, confusion and disbelief etched on her face, as she tried to put together what had just happened, what she just saw. "She…I…" she looked at her hand and opened and closed it a few times, reaffirming to herself that it was solid, before looking back up. "What…what the _hell_ is going on?"

Her question only received discomforting silence as the answer. _'She didn't see me, but I was standing right in front of her? And why does she look like me?'_ she paused, as she tried to think back on her situation_. 'Did Aizen do something to me? If this was an illusion by Kyoka Suigetsu then why make it so obvious?'_ a chill ran down her spine, as she thought, _'Maybe it was so obvious, because he changed everything I perceive.'_

She considered the option, which if it was true, meant that since she hadn't moved too far from her original position, the bathroom, in fact she might still be in her room or at the very least in her barracks. That wasn't a bad thing, but it still left her under his control. A dissatisfied grunt escaped her lips, perhaps if she quickly broke the illusion she could regain control of her senses, before he commanded her to do something damaging to Soul Society.

"He's never tried anything like this before, so I better keep my guard up and get out of here now." She reminded herself, as her eyes went back to her only clue, the other 'her', who was waiting patiently several meters ahead of her. "I only hope following her can help me break this illusion."

With a plan set, the woman quietly caught back up to her body double, who was busy looking skyward. Approaching the distracted woman, Soifon's curiosity got the better of her, as she walked around the side of her to get a better look at this older her.

Staring into the face, she saw very little difference between them. The other woman had the same grey eyes as her, though notably softer indicating she seemed to be at peace with herself. Her lips were a shade pinker than her own and seemed to shimmer in the light for some indiscernible reason, Soifon could only suppose it had something to do with the increased sun, as her skin was no longer pale and cold, but a beautiful healthy bronze and her chest was noticeably bigger than her own.

Eyes darting to her right, she noticed the other apparent difference aside from this other her's strange clothing, that long, free flowing, navy blue hair.

While Soifon herself did have long hair, though not nearly as long as this girl's, aside from taking a shower or soaking in hot springs she hardly ever let it down, especially out in the open. She'd been trained for the longest time to always be prepared for a battle against Hollows; that was reason number one why she kept her long strands bound in the wrapping paper, unless she knew for certainty that the area was safe.

Which brought her to her next conundrum: Her choice in equipment.

The blue one-piece sundress, sandals, and straw hat were in the Shaolin's mind tactically sound choices, as they obviously were for protection against the climates extreme heat and for blending in more easily with humans. No, her problem stemmed from the fact it was completely impractical AND unnecessary.

Forgetting the fact that she didn't have any discernable way to get into her Shinigami form, she had no pockets which to hold any important items she might need, like a communicator, or a phone, or keys to a door. Nothing. Just a smooth shimmering blue cloak wrapped around her body. Which speaking of was a poor choice to try and perform hand to hand combat in, since it offered very little in the ways of protection, unlike her Master Onimitsukido uniform, which could be reinforced and used in tandem with Shunko.

Plus, the whole reason for stealth and blending in with humans, would be a very odd decision to say the least. In her Shinigami form, she had both the strength of a captain and was completely invisible to the average person. But, if that alone wasn't the problem, next came in the fact that suppose she WAS in Shinigami form. This 'her' wasn't carrying her Zanpaktou with her, limiting her battle potential considerably, since it sealed her power and there was only so much she could move around in a dress.

Yet, despite all of this, the woman before her didn't seem to have a care in the world aside from cloud watching apparently. "I don't get it…" the truly perplexed woman muttered, "Has she any sense of self-preservation? Better yet, why would Aizen make such a flawed representation? I don't normally look like that."

"Where are they?" the woman in question asked herself, as she continued to scan the horizon for someone. A hum escaped her lips as she swiveled her gaze back around. "Ah," a please smile emerged, "there they are."

"They?" the ninja muttered confusedly, _'She's waiting on people from the sky?'_ Looking up in the direction the other girl was facing, she scanned the clear skies looking for what she had spot. _'Is she waiting for other Shinigami?'_

It wasn't long before she spotted the person the other her had been seeking.

Descending from the sky, carrying some strange long tombstone like objects with two different color towels draped over the ends, was an equally tan woman with dark hair and white wings spanning her arm-length. Her body was shimmering in the light from the water particles on her skin and she was almost completely exposed to the sun, save for the white towel hanging around her neck, the dark red bra encompassing her D cups, and equally red panties protecting her modesty.

Although in Soifon's opinion, the small clothing wasn't covering anywhere near enough, as the assassin forced her eyes to look somewhere else, an embarrassed flush on her face. It was one thing to be dressed for the weather like herself and…_not herself_, but it was another thing _entirely_ when you _freely_ chose to walk around in public with your ass hanging out, giving a free peep show to any passerby willing to look.

Some people just had no sense of common decency.

Pushing the thoughts out of her head, she returned her gaze back at the descended woman, who landed a few feet away from the pair. The mysterious woman smiled brightly as she waved, before walking over to them, her sandals clomping against the dirt.

That was when she saw what was behind the woman.

Two little girls hoping off a floating golden staff.

The taller of the two girls had bright orange dome shaped hair that ended in black tips.

She was wearing a modest one-piece swimsuit that had a cartoony design wrapping around the side to the front of a penguin enjoying a blue Popsicle. Her expression while trying to remain reserved had the faintest hints of a smile, as she extended her hand to the smaller girl, helping her to get off without injury.

The probably younger girl had pure black locks of hair and a big infectious grin on her face that seemed to lighten anyone's mood. She was wearing a cute two-piece swimsuit with numerous red flowery prints. She took the other girl's hand and disembarked the staff that Shaolin immediately recognized.

"That's…" she whispered knowingly, as her eyes went back to the approaching woman, realization dawning on her. "Senna!?" she asked, as the wings sprouting from this older Senna's back disappeared, as she hugged the other her.

Turning the surfboards up, Senna planted it in the ground. "Sorry about being late." She apologized, as she wiped the seawater from her face with her neck towel, being careful not to knock off the pink flower situated in her hair.

The other 'Soifon' huffed playfully, "You almost had me worried. Dinner's ready."

The taller woman nodded agreeably, while the two smaller girls approached the conversing women. The taller of the two children walked forward, her expression stoic and fierce, as if trying to appear brave and unaffected to the other 'her'. "Mother." The brown-eyed girl spoke with instilled obedience.

Shaolin's eyes nearly exploded out of her head at what the little girl had called the other her. An act confirming that what she said was true was demonstrated when the other 'her' leaned down and stroked the girl's round orange hair lovingly.

"Hey Yuna," she greeted softly, a contented look in her eyes. "Did you and your cousin have fun at the beach?" she asked, as her eyes moved to the other little girl with dark hair, who was cutely clinging behind the surfing mother's leg.

The stoic child nodded slowly, "Yes, Mother." She looked back at her cousin, who skipped over and hugged 'Soifon', her shyness quick to fade.

"Yeah, we had tons of fun!" the girl gushed, a stark contrast to the other girl's self-control.

"Oh, really?" she asked, interest piqued. "What did you do?"

The smaller girl went starry eyed at being asked the mother of all question. Really what didn't they do? "We, we, we built this HUUUGE sand castle with mommy, like really huge. It was, umm…" the girl held her arms out as far as she could stretch them. "Thiiiis big!" the motor mouth shouted

As the real Soifon looked on stunned but attentive, the duplicate her smirked in the same way that she did, when things went her way. "Wow, that big?" she baited, before letting out a small-annoyed tsk. "Darn, I wish I could have been there. I can't believe I missed you two becoming princesses of the beach. So what else?"

"We surfed." Yuna piped up next.

"Oh yeah, you should of saw." The other little girl exclaimed, as she pointed at Senna. "While we were riding the waves with Momma, a shark's fin popped out of the water and started circling us. The shark was like 'Oh, omnomnom, I'm gonna eatcha!' and it scared me and Yuna-"

"I wasn't scared." Yuna interrupted quickly, "You were the one screaming her head off, saying: 'It's over! We're all gonna die'." Yuna corrected, as she had nearly gone deaf at the volume her cousin's voice could reach, before her mother silenced her.

The cousin stuck her tongue out defiantly, before returning to the story. "So like I was saying, we were scared-"

"I wasn't-" the other girl started up again, much to her mother's amusement.

"Fine! **I** was scared, killjoy." the girl corrected, hoping to put an end to the interruption. It was her story damn it. "But anyway momma, momma wasn't scared. She just slid off her board and dove under the water. And do you know what she did next?"

The girl's captive audience shook her head, amusement written on her face. "No, what happened next?" she asked, the young storyteller.

"When it came close she just released her spiritual energy and glared at it, like 'oh yeah, come on you dummy fishy. I'll punch you like pow! And you'll be all like oww, no stop!' And then the fish was like 'oh no, don't hurt me, Mrs. Momma. I'm sorrriiiee!' And then he turned around superfast and swam away, it was awesome!" the girl explained, before exploding into laughter at the adventure. The other girl's joined too.

While the two children were still wrapped up in there post adventure chuckle. Shaolin looked over at Senna appreciatively. "So, is that what happened?"

"Err…yeah." Senna smiled wryly, as she twisted her sandal into the dirt embarrassed. "Don't worry about it. We didn't hang around the area for too long. Didn't want to press our luck with another hungry Mako."

Soifon agreed with her decision to err on the side of caution. "Still, I'm glad you're okay though."

"Yeah, well, we all can't be sea monster scaring terrors like you and Ichigo." The chipper woman replied.

The smirk on Soifon's face grew, "And what's that supposed to mean?" she inquired of the challenge.

"Nothing, Ms. Leviathan-emasculator." The woman held up her hands trying to placate her. _'To think for a long time you didn't know how to swim till me and Ichigo taught you how.'_ She quietly thought to herself as she turned her attention to one of the girls. "Hey, Yuna-chan," she called, causing the girl to spare a glance at her. "Why don't you tell her what else we did at the beach today?"

The small girl turned back around and thought about what else they had done. She was silently pensive until a frown came at remembering what she had done.

Having been taught to always tell the truth to her parents, she bowed her head in penitence as she spoke. "I'm sorry Mother," She said with audible regret. "but I…I used what you taught me to hurt someone."

"To hurt someone?" both Soifon's replied, the real one confused while the fake one was slowly shifting in attitude. Getting up from off her knees, she stood up to her full height of five feet and stared down the child. "Yuna Xing Kurosaki, what happened?" She commanded authoritatively, as her eyes glared fiercely at the girl, daring her to try to hide any of her misdoings.

The girl bearing her deceased grandmother's name bowed her head, eyes locked at her feet. During these types of discussions, this was the only moment the parent's gave to the girls, to consciously decide what she was going to tell her them.

Either own up to the facts and tell the whole truth, which might get a scolding or spanking, depending on what they did. Or she could press her luck against the human lie detectors and try to hide something, which if she succeeded let her off the hook scot-free, but came at the risk of the adults finding out the _real_ truth, which, if discovered, ran a punishment far, _far_, harsher than a spiritually empowered spanking from Mother and/or Father.

With schooled discipline, she raised her gaze to meet her expectant mother; although, from the second Soifon's perspective it looked like she was giving her a defiant death glare, rather than coming to give her a serious answer. "When we were at the beach, a boy came up to Masaki." Yuna started from the beginning.

"A boy?" she questioned, that told her to keep going.

"Mmmhmm, I don't really know him, except he went to our school. He said something." she glanced over her shoulder towards her silent cousin.

Despite being a social butterfly and motor mouth, she was very easily frightened, especially when someone might be angry with her. The adults around her more so, since they tended to show no mercy to whatever villager that ticked them off enough to resort to violence.

"It made her unhappy." She explained

"Unhappy?" she repeated, as she looked over to a nervous Masaki, who slowly nodded her head, obviously worried that she might get mad and scold them both, before taking away privileges when she caught wind of the girls wrong doing.

"Where were you?" she asked, the question obviously directed at Senna.

The woman tilted the surfboard for indication. "I was getting the boards and packing up, so that we could get ready to leave. I didn't see it till it was all over and by then he was already running back across the dunes."

After hearing that troubling tidbit, the ex-assassin stony face grew starker. "What did she do?" she demanded near emotionlessly.

Having spent many years around the woman, she knew that despite becoming a mother and awakening her maternal instincts, she did have shades of her old commander-subordinate mindset from her days as a Taicho and leader. While it didn't affect her relationship to other adult, the catalyst for the reaction was unfortunately the girls themselves. Their understandable dependency on adults was similar to a low ranked Shinigami looking to the higher ups for guidance.

Therefore, Senna understood and knew what she had to do, in the rare instance the older woman relapsed to her old ingrained mindset. A small nudging reminder from her loved ones was all it took to help keep Shaolin's mind in true prospective of the situation and the actual people involved.

"Don't be mad, she was crying earlier." She tried to assuage, since her daughter did it with the best of intentions.

True to expectation, Soifon's eyes imperceptibly flitted over to the young swimmer, who was doing her best to seem as neutral as possible. But she couldn't fool the captain, who saw Yuna's fists lightly clenched at her side trying to hold in her fear and guilt.

The mother let out a sigh and eased up on her glare, "Go on." She said in a low hushed tone. It was a tone reserved for when she realized that she might have acted a bit hasty in her judgment and was now ready to listen to another's suggestion.

Senna smiled briefly happy that she took her advice, before she grew serious. "Apparently, the boy was teasing Masaki, because he and his family think I do evil witchcraft," she informed, while Shaolin let out a low grunt, it wasn't the first time they received such an accusation, but she didn't expect it from a kid towards one of the children.

"So he called her a…well…" the girl closed her eyes and thought on the words. She didn't want it repeated again, for fear that they'd learn what it meant or upset them further. "He called her a Guówài zhòumà niángmen (foreign cursed bitch), that's what upset Masaki."

"I understand." Both Soifon's said albeit with varying levels of contempt.

"Yuna saw her and the boy, so she told him to stop teasing her and to go away. He then started to make fun of her, but she took it without saying a word." A deprecating smile flitted across her lips, "But that all changed when he called her the P-word."

"P-word?" the outsider to the conversation muttered to herself, while her counterpart let out a knowing grunt.

She would soon learn the dreaded word when the child let it out somberly. "P-pumpkin head…" she said, as she grabbed a lock of her orange and black tipped hair, disappointment in her eyes.

The captain sweat dropped. This girl, her daughter, was apparently willing to take all kinds of verbal abuse, but the moment some boy makes fun of her hair, she snaps? Her eyes went down to her stomach, where the unborn Yuna dwelled. "Does this mean I'm going to be a bad mother?" she asked herself, her question stemming from the strange mix in priorities.

The mother 'her' sighed to herself, easing up the tension on the situation, before dropping back to her knees, to be eye level with the girl.

She knew that Yuna was very proud of her heritage, of who her father and mother were, but the color of her hair that proved who she belong to also made her stick out and were a constant source of teasing. Whenever she got teased about it, she took it personally, viewing it as an attack aimed not only at her pride, but on how she viewed herself on being able to fit in, which was the reason why she lashed out against others. "Look, pumpkin. You hit him right?" she asked, using the affectionate name that got morphed by others into an insult.

"I knocked him down after punching him in the eye, Mother." She clarified, which earned her another sigh from the woman. The girl squirmed uneasily, since that was a nonverbal sign that told her she wasn't helping her case.

'Soifon' rubbed her temples to throttle her temper. After spending a moment to think over her words, she said, "Look, you did it for your baby cousin, right?" She surmised her intent.

The girl nodded, since that was what had started the situation. To her surprise, instead of a cold promise of spanking and talk with father later, the six-and-half year old received a soft pat on the top of her head and a serene smile. "That's okay then. You were just trying to protect Ma-chan, so I'm not mad at you. In fact, your father and I are proud that you stood up for her, but next time don't resort to violence so quickly. Got it, pumpkin?"

Yuna stared intensely into her mother's face, no emotion aside from cold control. Although, after having her hair ruffled by her mother's fingers for a bit, a blush crept across her cheeks, despite Yuna maintaining her serious disposition for a prospective ninja. "Thank-you, Mother." She replied reverently, appeased with her fair merciful judgment. "I won't fail you or father's expectations of me again." She promised as she bowed her head.

"What the?" the viewing Shaolin muttered to herself, confused by the shift in attitude.

This other her was condoning her for hurting someone else, over such a slight? Granted, she could understand the circumstances behind it, having seen how Ichigo occasionally acted protective around Senna, but…she had expected the older her to scold the child, at the very least tell her to continue to shrug it off and walk away with Masaki…

It's what she would have done.

'_Yet.'_ The woman thought to herself as she bit her lip, still observing the interaction. Looking into her twin's face, all that was radiating off her was pure love towards the girl, who she was all too willing to discipline and reprimand.

Her heart clenched tightly at the thought of raising her hand and slapping the girl for her behavior.

In her family, the way she had been raised, strength and obedience meant everything, the strong would survive and the obedient would bring glory and honor. Therefore, corporal punishment was not only a standard practice, during every Fon-assassin's days of field training with the masters, but it was actively encouraged, as a means to instill discipline and reassert one's authority over unruly subordinates.

A practice she had happily implemented during ninety-five percent of her tenure as a Taicho of the Gotei 13.

So, for the captain, she didn't know what to think. It…it _sounded_ right in her head, but for some reason her conscience, her _heart_ told her otherwise. _'Will I change when I'm a mother?'_ she asked herself, still puzzled by this different style of upbringing this other her demonstrated.

The other 'her' seemed to remind her of how Ichigo described his mother, kind, occasionally stern, but always fair. _'Maybe, my outlook on life isn't the only thing those two have changed.'_ She silently thought, as she absentmindedly rubbed her stomach.

Sweat dropping at the subtle implication, Senna spoke up, breaking the touching Mother-Daughter heart-to-heart. "I wonder what the parents of the kids who attend your dojo would think, if they found out your daughter hurt someone with her bare hands." She playfully wondered aloud, attempting to lighten the mood.

'Shaolin' huffed confidently, as she stood back up, her tone brimming with pride. "Simple. I would get more students, since the parents will obviously see my martial arts classes _do_ provide children with mean of self-defense."

The older Miko sighed defeatedly, "Like Mother, like Daughter. The Tsundere bloodline continues."

Although, she tried not to let the playful nickname get to her, 'Soifon' still couldn't help but feel like she spoke just a bit more defensive. "A-and what is that supposed to mean?" she challenged.

The longhaired woman shrugged, feigning indifference. "I'm just saying Yuna-chan takes a lot after her parents. She constantly shifts between your cold serious yet awkward self and her dad's fiery protective leader self."

The girl's mother brought her thumb to her lip, as she considered the accuracy in the woman's insight. "Well…I suppose you have a point. She did inherit more than her father's hair." She then looked at her product of love, who was trying to suppress her smile at the mention of Ichigo. Apparently, Yuna was doing her best to emulate the cool confident assassin, her mother had once been.

An assassin that did not have room for smiles, cookies, penguins, booboo kisses, story time and affectionate nicknames.

The mother thought it was adorable, the dissimilarities the girl tried to overcome to win her approval. Approval she would freely give. "I've noticed that you've been training more with your father lately, my precious Yuna."

The girl, despite her best attempt at suppression, smiled contently as she spoke. "Yeah, he teaches me Jujitsu when he has the time. He says that your way of fighting, Hakudo, isn't really meant to protect someone, but to hurt someone."

"Oh, I see." Soifon's eyelids dropped into a glare at Yuna's words, while Senna let out a low 'oooh', at Ichigo's perceived fighting words. "I'll be sure to have a talk with your father later on." She stated coldly, trying to keep her temper in check. Her eyes swiveled over to Senna, who was trying to stifle her laughter.

"And why are you laughing?" she snapped, a twisted smirk reappearing on her lips. "Aren't you the local shaman? Should you really be playing around at the beach or wasting your time on those videogames during the day, when you almost always have a line of people at your shrine desiring your services?"

"Trying to turn the subject on me? I laugh at your attempt, _ha_!" she loudly declared, "Shaolin, I'll have you know, that at the fine age of twenty-five, I am firmly on top of my duties. I also just so happen to like taking the odd break here and there, I'm not a workaholic."

Shaolin rolled her eyes and scoffed, "You seem to do it more frequently lately; perhaps, you're a 'lazaholic'."

"Ha-ha, very funny." The younger adult placed her hands on her hips annoyed. "I always fulfill a quota. That way I don't feel guilty for closing up shop early to spend time with my family." She then shrugged, "Besides, the request for me to use my 'demon magic' to heal the injured will still be there tomorrow."

Back on the outside of the conversation, the real Shaolin was confused again. _'Demon magic? She doesn't mean…'_

Her horror came to fruition when the other 'her' just nodded her head knowingly. "Well, your healing kido (3) does work and you charge far less than any hospital or doctor." She commented freely.

This sentiment was not mutual.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" The invisible captain screamed aloud, nearly having a heart attack at the revelation. It was bad enough that Senna was using unauthorized healing kido to heal _living_ humans, but for the other her to not only be okay with it, but allow it, that was conduct unbecoming of a Taicho.

"Soul Society would kill us for such blatant misuse of our power." She panicked, her words reaching no one but herself. "We're not supposed to do it for profit and were definitely not sup-"

That was when a thought occurred to her. Senna had just mentioned her age to have been '25'. That was seven years older than the Senna she knew, and both girls had shown no regard for Soul Society, did that perhaps mean…that Soul Society was no more.

A chill ran down her spine at the implication.

Had Aizen won?

Had they turned to helping humans find relief as a way for atoning for their failure to save them?

Were the two of them so unconcerned, so unassuming, simply because they gave up? That they knew the end of days would soon be upon them and that they could do no more than enjoy what little time they had left before oblivion took them?

"No…" she muttered to herself, shaking her head in disbelief. "They mentioned Ichigo. He must still be alive. This…this isn't real." The woman closed her eyes and took in a few calming breathes. When she opened her eyes again, the four females were still chatting amongst themselves. "Don't lose sight." She told herself as she re-listened in on the conversation.

"Yeah, though, I wish all those worldly travelers and News crew looking for a scoop would just stop harassing me. They're always either trying to pay me off, so that I'd share my 'secret shaman healing abilities' to the world, or interrupting me when I'm doing my job at the shrine." A disgusted groan escaped as she remembered one man in particular.

"But they don't compare to Javier. He just doesn't know when to quit. He's always following me around with that stupid camera of his, through the village, around the shrine, everywhere. It's like I have my own stalker."

Soifon frowned, "Have you told Ichigo?" The concerned older woman asked her junior. "Or would you rather that I bring it up to him?"

The woman shook her head, "No, no. I'll do it. Just maybe later. Thanks though." The beautiful woman sighed again, her honey hued eyes closing halfway, reflecting her pensiveness. "Anyway, long story short, I do get there are some people who really want to help the world with kido, but most just want to use it as a get rich quick scheme. Not that they can actually use it."

"Well," Soifon started, as she extended her hand to the visible landmass below the cliff. "we are lucky that most of the people of this land are very superstitious. They protect and keep our identities secret from outsiders and leave us in peace for the most part, since they seem to be able to sense our spiritual energy radiating from our home."

"That's true. Nobody bothers us up here, only in the village." Senna conceded as she moved a handful of wet hair strands from her cheek. She was going to continue, before a thought occurred to her. "Hey, I just remembered you were poking fun of me about playing videogames."

Soifon tilted her hat back as her eyebrow raised, "What of it? They're designed for little children to play." She lowered her hand towards the two little girls beside them. "Or have you forgotten the purpose behind it."

The Miko stared dully at her. "Uhuh, so, then, remind me again, which one of us was up late last night, playing assassins creed 6, constantly muttering to herself 'I've got time for one more mission.'?" she placed her index finger against her forehead, pretending to think hard, before eventually pointing it at the blushing captain. "I…I think that was you, wasn't it?"

"That…I…you!" she stuttered over her words, while the two little ones snickered, as it was rare moment when Mother was actually at a loss for words, it only seemed to frequently happen around Father or Aunty Yoruichi.

After sputtering for a second, she regained her composure and tried to explain herself. "First of all Senna, I was not 'playing' that game. Playing insinuates that it was done under the pretense of frivolously messing around with no thought of consequences."

The woman shook her head resolutely, "No, what I was doing was a virtual simulation of assassination techniques that I could try out in a safe environment. A different perhaps even advanced form of visualization training, if you would."

"Oh!? Really? That's what you were doing? And that's the story you're gonna stick with?" the surprised woman chuckled at her eloquent but flimsy justification.

"Yes! I can't exactly go trying out my theories in battle without some kind of ground concept. THAT is what I was doing. As I said, it's training, not messing around." She argued, crossing her arms over her chest, almost daring her to challenge her words.

"And the one more mission thing?" Senna threw at her offhandedly.

The woman closed her eyes, "Simulation of different scenarios, obviously." She answered perfectly.

"Wow…" Senna breathed out, the sound of disbelief echoing in the word.

'_That's one way of putting it.'_ The third adult deadpanned to herself, rather surprised by how childish, or was it carefree, she wasn't sure which word best described, future her had become.

From beside her cousin, Masaki heard the gurgling of her tummy. Agreeing with the noise, she walked over and pulled light on her mother's arm to get her attention. "Momma, I'm hungry."

Looking down at her daughter, she lovingly stroked the girl's cheek. "Oh I'm sorry about that sweetie." She apologized; she hadn't meant to get so wrapped up talking with Shaolin. "Tell you what, why don't you two go on ahead while the big girls talk, okay?"

She then looked over to Yuna, "Yuna-chan, can you do me a big favor?"

"Of course."

Senna smiled at her enthusiasm. "The both of you need to wash off the seawater first and then change clothes before you can eat. Yuna, can you make sure this happen for me?

"Yes, of course." The assassin's offspring said, willing to undertake the mission.

"YES! Foooood!" Masaki hollered, as she ran towards the house. "Race you, Yuyu-chan!" she yelled back at her startled competition.

"Wha-? Hey, CHEATER, CHEEATEEERR!" the girl yelled, as she ran after the girl, her age finally catching up with her.

The two mothers laughed merrily at the children's antics. It was yet another sign that life, while substantially more peaceful, was anything but dull, and for one of them, it was a sad reminder that it all could have changed in an instant. "Life really is precious." Senna said, as she gazed sadly in the direction of the two girls. "I'm really lucky to be able to watch her grow up."

That statement caught the attention of both Soifon, who shifted their attention to the young mother, her hands softly placed over her heart. While it was confusing to the real Soifon, the action seemed to have some significance as the other her grimaced. "If it wasn't for Yoruichi konsoing me to the fourth division barracks, I would have died seven years ago after getting my heart pierced."

A dry sardonic chuckle escaped her lips, "Of course, even after getting my condition stabilized, the post healing rehabilitation cost me my previous life amongst the humans in Karakura."

'_What Senna almost died?'_ Shaolin thought to herself, surprised by the revelation. "That…" her words died in her throat, as she felt her arm start to shake with fear.

While she had absolutely no clue as to what this whole thing was, a strange flinging into the future or elaborate scheme by Aizen, it was most definitely a sign that things were going to get ugly.

"Senna…" she whispered, she was about to say something when she stopped herself, remembering that neither of them could apparently hear her.

To her pleasant surprise, her weird irresponsible-self showed her compassionate side, as she walked over and wrapped her arms around the taller woman, her forehead pressed against the woman's large chest.

"Senna," she whispered calmly, face concealed by her hat. "We all could have died that day." She tilted her head back, grey eyes meeting amber. "But we didn't. We persevered."

The other Shaolin took a step back and extended her hand towards the home near the end of the cliff, where the children were entering the cottage. "Masaki is wide-eyed and spirited. If my daughter takes after me, then she certainly takes after you."

A bright kind smile emerged on the ex-assassin's lips, giving credence to her words. "We all made a lot of sacrifices to get where we are, let's give them the life we never had, so that they can grow up in a better world."

The older Senna was at a loss of words for what her lifelong sempai told her. Soon enough, the truth in her words melted away the concerns on her mind. 'What ifs' and 'What could've', just caused needless worry, especially when the outcomes had turned out as bright as it had. "You're right, thanks for that." She said with her usual radiant smile. "I love you, Shaolin."

The Chinese woman huffed playfully at her infectious enthusiasm; it was one of her most endearing trait. "I love you too, Senna." She replied, before she leaned in and pressed her lips against the taller woman.

The third party watching the scene unfold quickly went scarlet in the face. Her eyes darted towards her sandals when both girls started to wrap their arms around each other's waist deepening the kiss, letting out a few seductive moans.

The two women exchanged a few more pleasure-filled kisses, before Shaolin pulled away, her eyes tender and loving. "Come on, sister." She cooed with a soft humor in her tone. "Let's go back, before those two drive Ichigo insane."

Senna giggled as she licked her lips, savoring the taste of the honeybee. Running her tongue across her lips once more, she reached out and clasped the woman's hand, her fingers interlocking with her equal. "Okay, _big_ sis (4)." The Vizard replied with a small play on words, that wasn't lost on either Shaolin.

The two women then slowly turned and walked in the direction of the home, both continuing their conversation, unaware of their stalker. "Tell me, Senna," she started, about to ask one of few questions that had begun to weigh more heavily on her mind, as of late. "when exactly do you think would be a good time to tell the girls about…us?" She requested

Senna's mouth whipped from side to side. She knew this discussion would be brought up, she knew almost as soon as she found out she was pregnant.

"Masaki is only five, so I doubt she'd understand, and even though Yuna is really mature for her age, I think it might confuse her too." She replied matter-of-factly.

Shaolin's eyes darted to the corner, "True, but we are going to have to come out eventually. They need to know the whole truth, and I don't just mean the truth about them being half-sisters as well as cousins. I mean the truth about our family, our polygamous relationship, about you and Ichigo's familiar relationship."

She paused trying to find the words that would convey her meaning. "I just…I don't want to confuse them when they get older, about who they are, or the happiness they can pursue, or what we'll think of them." She glanced at her lover softly. "And it's only a matter of time, before they accidentally catch us kissing one another and not their father. I just think we should be prepared for it."

"Well, yeah, I guess I see what you mean. Personally, I don't think we should force the subject, but you have a point. It couldn't hurt to have a sit down discussion with Ichigo later tonight when the girls are asleep. An ounce of prevention an all that." The shaman conceded, before turning the topic in a different direction. "Speaking of Ichigo and the girl's futures, have you two come to an agreement yet on Yuna's Shinigami training? I wanna know so I can follow suit."

"We're going to wait till she's at least fifteen, before we even consider trying to push her past the Asauchi state, although she has stated to have met her Zanpaktou, apparently a graceful woman who overheard and agrees with our concerns." She looked back at her partner "What of Masaki?"

"Ehhh, well she met her spirit too. His name is Sun Wukong; he's a monkey that rides on a cloud."

Shaolin's eyes nearly jumped out of her sockets. "She heard her Zanpaktou's name!? At her age!?"

"Errr…kinda." Senna bit her lip, "He said that Sun Wukong wasn't his Zanpaktou name, but one of his titles. Ma-chan described his as playful if mischievous guy…I looked him up on the internet and well…" she sweat dropped, "Let's just say she going to be a handful growing up."

While thoroughly confused, Shaolin decided to let it go. "Any word on her inner Hollow?" She changed the subject.

Senna pressed a finger against her lips, "Mmm, Masaki met her. She pouted when she told me the other her thought she was annoying and sickeningly sweet." The girl sighed. That was another problem that would rear its ugly head once the girls grew up.

Hopefully, they'd be more like Ichigo's then her own. "I haven't fully told her about the situation, but she knows I only want her to talk to her when Wukong is around. I don't trust her meeting her dark side on her own yet."

Yuna's mother nodded her head, after hearing of how the siblings Hollow's were like, it was very sound advice. "Yuna has also encountered her inner Hollow. Apparently, she has the mindset of a primitive hunter; she constantly stalks Yuna and builds traps."

A look of concern marred Senna's face, deeply reminded of her dark half. "It's stalking her…"

Shaolin tilted her head, her lips pressed to one side; it wasn't quite how she made it sound. "Not quite. She follows her, but not persistently. She keeps her distance. However, whenever Yuna approaches, she just ignores her presence, but she does listen to her when she talks." The woman scratched her head, since she didn't know how make head or tails of that situation. "I guess every inner Hollow has their own personality."

"Well…I guess it depends on your point of view. Ichigo told us his Hollow went from being antagonistic to friendly over his lifetime, whereas mine was mostly antagonistic…" she paused, "And very odd." She added with a sweat drop, which Soifon shared.

The captain had heard Senna's stories about her inner Hollow, as well as Mirokumaru's colorful comments about what she thought of her AND the rest of the SWA club, and what SHE would have _done_ to _each and every one of them_, if not for Senna's impressive willpower.

The woman shook her head dismissively. "Either way, they can change, but it won't happen till there adults."

"And by then they will need to fight them." Shaolin finished, knowing how it would go. Either they would gain a new 'perfect' Vizard to 'defend the world' or the mothers and father would end up burying the children they loved with all their hearts.

As they reached the house, they decided to let the matter drop; it was a grim subject that didn't need to invade the happiest moments of their life.

Releasing her hand from Senna's, she gripped the door and opened it, stepping in tandem, allowing Senna to pass, who nodded appreciatively, before entering herself. The other Soifon, who was a few steps behind, quickly ran forward, trying to catch the door before it closed, to no avail, the lock clicking into place. "Damn it." She cursed, as the door once again wouldn't budge under her strength. Her mind quickly cycled through her options, before he remembered the window.

Without a seconds pause, she let the handle go and ran to the side of the house. As she peered through the circular hole, the woman caught sight of an older version of Ichigo, who was smiling at someone that seemed to be retreating up the stairwell. His body like the other two women was darker in complexion, but his bright orange hair and brown eyes still told her who he was.

Shaolin's quirked an eye brow in appreciation for this new him. His hair was slightly longer and he had small stubbles of hair on his chin indicating an incoming beard. Also like the other version of Senna and herself, he wasn't wearing the clothing of a Shinigami, instead he was wearing a white muscle shirt that was fitting tightly on his more muscular physique and tan cargo shorts that went to his knees.

Shaolin's felt her face heat up at seeing this very attractive version of her love, however she quickly squashed that train of thought with a shake of her. She had to refocus on why she was follow them in the first place. To find a way out of this world, not get frisky with how he might look in seven years.

Inside the home, the man heard the door opening, and turned his head in its direction, catching sight of the ladies who had stepped out earlier. "Yo! Welcome back." The man lifted his hand to greet them.

"Did our guest leave?" Soifon asked her husband, as she hung up her hat at the coat hanger rack near the door.

"He's in the room in the back. He'll join us later, once he's finished a few business calls." He informed, as he pointed behind him. His eyes then went over to Senna, who was neatly placing the boards against one of the walls. "Hey Sen." He said in a harder tone.

The girl perked up at the sound of her name. "Yeah, what's up?" she asked, eye brow quirked.

"You left your 'toys' laying around again." The man informed with mild annoyance.

The woman tilted her head confused. "Left my toy-OH!" it clicked to her as a heavy blush fell across her cheek.

"Yeah, 'oh' is right." He replied sardonically, barely able to resist rolling his eyes, while Shaolin smirked to herself. "You left them in the guest room, so I had to put your leather collar, 'kinky'-cuffs and 'Nine-tails' whip in the storage closet, before our guest arrived." His eyes zeroed in further on her form. "I didn't think I'd need to say it, but please, we really don't need any weirder rumors about our family." He overstated.

"S-sorry, Ichigo…goshujinsama." The ultra-M girl squeaked out, adding the goshujinsama under her breath, though Shaolin caught it and her smirk grew.

"You're such a masochist, it's almost sad." She huffed dismissively of her antics. "I hope Masaki never sees that side of you." She added with an air of nonchalance.

The Miko turned her head and glared at the petite woman for pouring salt on the wounds. "You sadist." She hissed.

The smirking woman shrugged "But I thought you liked it rough." She teased, leaving the Miko to gape at her.

_Ding!_ Shaolin 1, Senna zip!

Ichigo turned his attention over to the smug woman and decided to level the playing field "Don't go getting cocky yourself Shaolin." He folded his arms in front of him. "I believe I already reprimanded you for your sexy costumes."

"Sexy costumes?" Senna said with a smirk, while the girl went quiet.

Ichigo saw the pleading look in his first wife's eyes. She pouted her lips, trying to curry favor with him, doing practically everything short of verbally begging him not to bring up that little secret in this discussion.

The man smiled to himself darkly before opening his mouth and continuing, getting an absolute charge with messing with both women. "Oh yeah, didn't she tell you? Or did she conveniently forget?" he looked over at an excited Senna while, Soifon's eyes filled with terror. "Ehehehe, let me tell you Senna-koi, you'd be surprised at what Shaolin-koi does when the kids aren't home."

_Ding!_ Shaolin 1, Senna Zip, Ichigo 1!

He raised his fingers and started counting them off. "She's done the 'naked apron' when cooking complete with the standard lines, the 'extra sparring practice' in her karate gi, the one-piece swimsuit with her name on it, a much more erotic reenactment of our first date with the red Kimono that Unohana gave her, and she occasionally dresses up as a seductive maid when 'cleaning' the house."

Now it was the Chinese woman's turn to burn with embarrassment at having a secret exposed, while the other woman laughed mirthfully. "Oh really!?" Senna voice sang out, as she wrapped her arms around the smaller woman's frame.

"Does little Lin-chan want to escape her world for a bit, perhaps, experience all the different things she could have been in life?" she asked in a sickeningly sweet tone, only to pout. "Aww, I don't remember you doing any of that with me? Where's the looove?"

The smaller woman turned even brighter. "I…I…" she pursed her lips while her eyes darted to the corner. "I didn't want risk getting by caught by the kids." She admitted with a luminescent blush. "I'm sorry, my love."

Senna paused, her heart freezing in place at her confession. Her went starry as she squeezed the Chinese woman even harder "Ooooh, I forgot how cute you can be!" she then leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm falling in love all over again!"

_Ding!_ Shaolin 1, Senna 1, Ichigo 1!

Ichigo held his hands up smugly, "Well, at least you both admit you have your pervert moments." He said, as if he were the resident saint.

Her mind exploding with embarrassment, she quickly bounced into 'Tsun' mode. "S-shut up! The both of you!" the woman turned fiery hot. "I, er, yo-, MY CLOTHES WERE IN THE WASH!" she roared the first justification that came to mind that actually made sense. "That's why I was wearing those 'costumes' as you said. I just didn't have anything else to wear!"

_Ding!_ Shaolin 2, Senna 1, Ichigo 1!

"Wow!" Senna crooned, as she looked over at her beloved. "Did you hear that Ichigo-koi?"

"Yes, I did." The man chuckled to himself.

The Chinese woman gulped at the seemingly hint the two of them got that she obviously didn't. "W-what?"

Senna was happy to oblige her. "I can't believe you wore those outfit with no undergarments underneath." She informed, which made the ex-captain blush and sputter more gibberish nonsense as she tried and failed to explain. "I thought I was bad, but you, you're extreme. A walking wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen, have you know shame? Or maybe…ahaha, or maybe you wanted it to happen! Ahahaha!"

_Ding_! Shaolin 2, Senna 2, Ichigo 2!

Shaolin face ran the gauntlet of emotions, before settling on cold rage. She was about to bring up another of her wife's dirty secrets, when she stopped and allowed her eyes to travel over to her thoroughly amused husband.

Then it clicked to her. She had seen what he did. Fine then, two could play at that game. "Hey Senna." She started, a cruel smirk on her lips.

"Yeah?" the woman replied, as she let her grip on the woman go.

"Don't you see what he'd doing?" she insinuated, "He's trying to pit us against one another."

The woman in the red bikini straightened up and considered her senior's words, and smiled seeing where she was going. "You are sooo right." she then shrugged uncaringly, "I guess it's just his way to compensate for our living arrangements." She added unto the slowly building fire.

Ichigo dropped his hands to his side, skepticism written all over his face. "What?"

Shaolin looked at her taller companion, nodding her head appraisingly. "Yeah, I hear you Senna-chan. I bring home the bread and you bring home the bacon." She then turned her attention to Ichigo "That leave you wiiiith doooing…what exactly do you do?"

"Wha-awww, come on, low blow!" The man cried foul, since while he wasn't the one bringing in the money with medical services, or teaching ancient marital arts skills, he was the one that fished for food on the sea and partook in building and construction work to supplement income.

"Assaaassiiin." The Bluenette sang the title of her occupation, the word serving as all the explanation she needed to give. "Besides, You know what they say, Ichigo."

"All's fair in love and war." Senna chirped just as happily.

_Ding!_ Shaolin/Senna 3, Ichigo 2! Game match!

The two smiling women erupted into a roar of laughter at the comical mix of astonishment, frustration, and annoyance plaster on Ichigo's face. After a few moments of deadpanning at their frankly audacious actions, he started chuckle himself and joined in their mirth.

To the woman observing the situation from the window, the dynamic of the trio reminded her of certain habits that existed with the Ichigo and Senna she knew. Small teasing, diverted eyes, offhanded jokes, and bright smiles.

For a moment, she almost felt back home.

As the laughter died down, the grown-up Ichigo calmly walked over to the women and placed an arm over each of their shoulder, wrapping them in a protective hug.

Glancing to his left, he saw Shaolin returning his gaze with equal joy. Leaning in, he planted a soft tender kiss on the lips of the beautiful assassin. A pleasurable hum escaped her throat as she felt the spark of his love whenever their lips connected. Breaking away from the still wanting woman, the man turned over to his other wife, who had delight in her eyes. A passionate kiss was her reward for surviving another hectic day in there strange life. Feeling especially greedy, she gave tongue to her man, who returned it just as well.

As his lips parted from his second partner, the two blushing women returned their shared husband's hug with unrivaled verve, pulling him in close enough were he could practically feel their love pulsing from their hearts, desperately trying to reach his, to convey their thought without words. A smile slowly etched itself on his face, as he bowed his head to touch their own. He could feel it. One pulse that was proud and happy, the other innocent and joyful. He only hoped they could hear his.

The happiness in his heart for the two of the four, he would eternally protect.

The trio stayed like that contentedly for a few seconds, before the man pulled away and directed their attention to the nearby dinner table. "Anyway, why don't you two get settled in; I'll serve your food." He then walked over to the stairwell and looked up. "HEY!" he yelled to kids upstairs. "YUNA-HIME, MASAKI-HIME, DINNERS READY! SO COME ON DOWN, BEFORE IT GETS COLD!"

"Yes, Daddy/Father." Echoed both girls from the upstairs bathroom.

As the man approached the stove that was near the window, Shaolin was finally able to get an up close and personal look at the man. It seemed that despite the supposed seven-year interval and presumable strife in between, his eyes still held the same light of kindness in them.

Shaolin continued to stare mesmerized, she barely even noticed when she felt her hand touch against the warm glass. "Ichigo…" she muttered longingly, already missing her husband.

Her breath hitched when the man stopped his stirring of the pot and looked up to her hiding spot. His lips shifted to one side, while his brow hung half raised, an unassuming but disquieted curiosity about him.

The ambient moment between them was violently interrupted when the ground beneath the assassin's feet shook with such intensity it knocked her clean off her feet unto the nearby patch of grass behind her.

"What the hell?" she asked herself, as she tried to get back unto her feet. As she struggled to balance herself against the shifting world, the magnitude of the quake kept increasing forcing her back half a step more to readjust her stance. It kept systematically inching her back until by cruel fate, her heel slipped backwards over the drop off, sending her spiraling over the cliff's edge in the deep sea below.

Knowing that she could not swim, nor reach the bottom before running out of air, the woman let out a ghastly wail in a final desperate attempt to gain someone's, anyone's, attention as she plunged all the way down into the dark waters below.

Her terror-filled scream echoed far and wide over the land, magnified by the acoustics of the location, but in the end her shrieks fell on deaf ears.

When she was about to hit the water, she closed her eyes and when she pierced through the surface, her body rattled against the pressure change, but instead of one shaking pulse it kept continuing over and over again, accompanied by a faint voice.

After a few seconds of holding what little breath her lungs had, she finally opened her eyes and found herself staring back at the last thing she expected.

Her bathroom mirror.

"Hey! Soifon! Krrsh, Soul Society to Soifon, come in Soifon, stop being a zombie, over, Krssh!" the familiar voice of Yoruichi called out to her again, as she shook the petite captain's still frame, obviously having been trying to get her attention for some time.

"Uuuhh…" the dazed girl groaned out, as her eyes drifted from the images reflected in the mirror to her sensei and ex-commander at her side.

The cat girl smiled cheerfully, "Welcome back to the world of the afterlife, space cadet." She then moved her wrist close to the girl mouth. "Here, let me get that for ya." She then wiped away a small trail of drool that had seeped out of the corner of the captain's mouth. "Had a good dream or something?"

"Yoru…ichi…?" Soifon's puzzled mind pieced together. "How…how did you get here?"

"Me?" she repeated, before she dug into her pockets and pulled out an old looking key. "Spare key. You never changed the locks apparently, so I helped myself in. Heard you were in town and I wanted to see ya." She then lifted her hand that the girl's saliva. "Didn't expect to see you drooling into a mirror. You alright? The people in charge aren't working you too hard are they?"

"Uhhh…" a groan escaped the protégé's throat, unsure of what exactly to say.

Had this been a trick of Aizen? Apparently not, since he wasn't here and there was information in that 'Dream (?)' he just couldn't have known, like their inner Hollows or Senna's interest in Ichigo. Her eyes drifted back to the side, where the silent mirror reflected her uneasy expression. "I guess it was just a weird daydream…" she answered none too sure.

Not knowing any better, Yoruichi chuckled to herself. "I can't believe it. My little bee was having a day dream that didn't involve me or Ichigo." She then leaned and whispered into the girl's ear "Or were you thinking about us, little bee."

The close proximity to her mentor sent the girl into full panic mode "I-I, no! I mean. I wasn't thinking those kinds of thoughts, Yoruichi…" the ebony woman smiled knowingly, "…san." Came the forced ending.

Just like that the goddess of flash deflated. "Damn, you were doing so well. You actually said my name." she tsked.

"Sorry, Yoruichi…san. Some habits are hard to drop." The woman said mournfully. She with the help of Ichigo, Senna, and Yoruichi had made great strides in breaking her of her over formality…this was just homestretch to a mission accomplished.

"Hehe, oh well, one foot in front of the next." The cat woman tilted her head to the side, curious. "So, you feeling alright? You had me worried."

"Apologies, I've got a lot on my mind."

Yoruichi nodded, understanding it might take a little coaxing to get her to talk about it. Lifting her hand up, she brushed the woman's hair. "You know we're gonna be fighting some tough enemies up ahead." She slipped one of the braids around for both girls to see. "I don't mind cutting it short for you."

Shaolin eyed the white band, momentarily, before nodding her head. "That'd be nice." She said with a warm smile.

As the girls turned around to leave the bathroom to catch up with each other, unbeknownst to them from the other end of the mirror, stood Sosuke Aizen standing in his own bathroom in Hueco Mundo, the man was smirking to himself. He had hoped to use his 'Ninchi Shinjitsu' ability to learn some valuable battle plans that Soul Society would employ, but what he got was far more pivotal in tipping the scales in his favor. "Thank-you and Congratulations, Mrs. Kurosaki." He thanked sincerely, as he sheathed his sword.

Stepping out of his bathroom, he put on his coat and stepped outside to his throne room. As the door closed behind him, he glanced at his side where his loyal fraccion Loly and Menoly stood at attention. "Good evening ladies."

They saluted their master. "Good evening, Aizen-sama!" then brought their hands down. "Have you finished strategizing?" Menoly asked

"Yes, I have, but I will need your help." He said which caused the eyes of both women to light up. "Firstly, Menoly, I wasn't you to go get Harribel and Luppi, I have a mission for them in the human world."

"Yes, Aizen-sama."

He then turned over to black pigtailed fraccion "Loly, I want you to go to Szayelaporro and request a holographic communication pad and bring back to me. If there is time, find out he and the Primera are doing on the reconstruction of Grimmjow's arm."

Loly flinched at the mentioning of Grimmjow name, which Aizen saw. He knew she would do it, but still he needed the task done quickly. "Be at ease, she is also with the both of them. You'll be perfectly safe, under her watchful eye."

Loly turned bright red, misinterpreting Aizen's concern for her. "I...ah, yes Aizen-sama!" she saluted, while Menoly just glared at her in annoyance.

"Very well. Dismissed." He ordered. The two disappeared in a burst of Sonido, while the overlord made his way over to the throne. He sat down in his chair and breathed out a sigh, as he looked over the empty throne room. "Ruling as far the eye can see." The man propped his arm up and rested his cheek against it. "It's funny; I'm so close that I can taste it." He closed his eyes a peaceful smile on his lips, "So why do I still think about my past?"

* * *

End Fic banter:

Blackout2010: So kiddos what did we learn in this chapter.

Shaolin: I learned that in seven years' time, I will have jokes…and problems.

Senna (ashamed): 'Like it rough', huh?

Ichigo (contemplative): Lady Darwinist...

Blackout2010: And you Senna?

Senna: I learned that in seven years, I will surrender my heart to darkness and become [blushes] a naughty girl.

Ichigo: That's...[sweat drop]...no, no comment.

Shaolin (matter-of-factly): Considering the original line in the script was 'Whips and Chains excite me', then yes, I agree with that summation.

Blackout2010 Ichigo?

Ichigo (depressed): I learned that in seven years, unless I'm married, I'll live in perpetual poverty.

Senna (hopeful): Well there are plenty of action heroes that don't make money!

Shaolin (curious): Such as?

Senna (happily): The Terminator! He doesn't even start with clothing half the time. [tilts head to the side] What? Why are you staring at me like that?

Ichigo/Shaolin:...

Blackout2010 [gives thumbs-up]: AWESOME! See ya next chapter!

* * *

(Author's informative to the audience)

The following chapters after this chapter are written in such a way that they interconnect along the timeline of events. This means that we will be seeing simultaneous events that must be viewed, because if it's skipped, you, the audience, will be left somewhat in the dark.

Hence the timeline I've provided.

Aizen force: 33a, 32, 33b (link)

Time: 29 (split)xxxxxxxxChap. 34 -) continue into next Arc.

Ichigo for.: chap.30 and 31 (link)

For easier convenience into understanding how to read, I'll provide a different but easier way to visually explain it:

Imagine two guys living in the same house: Joe and John.  
At 8 am:  
John is heading off to work/Joe makes himself some coffee  
At 10 am:  
John is sitting in his cubical/Joe turns on the TV and watch the news  
At 12:  
John is eating lunch [at work]/ Joe is eating lunch [at home]  
At 2:  
John is at a meeting/Joe does exercise  
At 4:  
John is driving home/Joe starts making dinner  
At 5:  
They both eat dinner.

I hope it helps explain. PM me for any question in trying to understand. (Don't worry I'll put this at the end of the following chapters for convenience.)

(Author's informative to the audience end)

* * *

(Fun trivia)

For those wanting some last minute entertainment, I decided to pose a question regarding something in the chapter. Now if you choose to play, you can't look back up, when you make your guess, as it's a test to see if you were paying attention. Similarly, if you chose to forgo the question and re-read, you'd obviously spoil it for yourself. It's a one-time only.

Now for the question:

[Insert jeopardy music]

In the BTAT fic what is the name of Shaolin's (Soifon) mother?

[Conclude jeopardy music]

Now for those of you who got it, awesome job. And those who didn't, always next time.

* * *

(Guidepost to the soul.)

1. Ninchi Shinjitsu translates into Perceived Truth, hence the colon. This goes back to what I said earlier about following Soifon's perspective. Recall, Soifon has already been stated to be HYPNOTIZED by Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu. If you look back last chapter, you will see Aizen said 'Ninchi Shinjitsu' before Soifon get sucked into the mirror.

2. I can't remember where, I think it might have been an old data book, but it was stated that Soifon doesn't actually know how to swim, so I believe that is Canon fact.

3,I point this out to working because it's semi-plausible. In Canon, during the SS arc, Chad, Ganju and Uryu were captured and being held in the fourth division for medical treatment. All of them received injury of some kind. Here's where I make the deduction: SS wanted them alive to be taken for interrogation, so they would need to be healed up, as quickly as possible for transportation, thusly Healing Kido would be used on them to speed up the healing process. Chad and Uryu were both injured and they were both alive. The pair did not leave their bodies back in the human world, hence they were in them the whole time (although it did get explained to have been converted to Reshi) so that is how I reached my conclusion that Healing Kido COULD (in theory anyway) work on living humans.

4. This is actually a double layered joke and culturally correct term. So to explain the first layer of the joke. Senna would call Shaolin 'Little Big Sister', while Shaolin would call Senna 'Big Little Sister'. The joke is based around their respective heights and ages (although I didn't actually make them call each other that due to obvious reader confusion). Senna is much taller but significantly younger than Shaolin, whereas Shaolin is much older than Senna but shorter in stature. It's basically a reversal on the taller person typically being older, incidentally they are also sister in laws which brings us too...

4. The culturally correct parts comes from this. Under the way of Chinese Polygamy, depending on whether it is a Sororate marriage (in which a person marries a relative of their spouse as well), an instance of multiple spouses with equal rights, or the gaining of a concubine: Wives and Concubines address each other as 'sister' in accordance to their respective age (older then younger) and rank (Nobility status [Royalty then Noble then Minor Noble then Commoner], Relationship status [Wife then Concubine], order of engagement [1st, 2nd, 3rd], ect.). Hence the first woman married (Shaolin in this case) is treated as the 'Head wife' (no exceptions.) and is referred to as 'Big Sister' by any of Ichigo's future spouses/concubines (there won't be. This just for posterities sake.). Hence as Cl4P-TP would probably say 'So when I said 'Sister', That was literally the funniest thing ever said!'

* * *

Final PS:

To ViperChar:

Despite the massive amounts of Lesyay and wincest (lol, the names people come up with), I hope I provided at least enough implied Ichi/Soi fluff for you, to tide you over. I try to fulfill requests when I can.

To KuramaFTW:

If you were particularly observant, you will notice a certain phrasing that you once used during an earlier conversation with me. I...it got added in last minute. So props to you as well, if you don't recall, it's the whole: Soifon the 'ice-cold woman that would put Hyorinmaru to shame in sub-zero temperatures' comment from our 9/4/2013 conversation. Enjoy your personal chuckle.


	32. Life and Death: True worth

Pre fic banter

Sosuke Aizen: So blackout2010 why have you called only me out here today?

Blackout2010: Well that's because today…I wanted to thank-you.

Aizen: Thank me?

Blackout2010: Yeah, for all the shit that I put you through here and the static I give you in fic. I gotta thank-you because without you then there wouldn't a major antagonist in this story. (smiles) so seriously Aizen, thanks for being the villainous douche bag we all love to hate.

Aizen:…(turns away) I…(sniff)…

Blackout2010: So this chapter is a love letter to you and the events led you to be the guy you are today. [looks to crowd] stay tuned for the end fic banter for a special advertisement.

* * *

Chapter 32: Life and Death: True worth.

(300 years ago)

Light filtered through the various holes in the wooden structure that the young man laid in the previous night. His eyes flickered open due to the brightness of his surroundings. The boy's mind felt hazy, light-headed even, as he turned his attention to nearby window sill, the accomplice of the invading new dawns light and disturber of his rest.

The boy placed his arm behind supportively, propping himself up off the floor. His eyes scanned the nearby area for the woman he'd vaguely remembered through his bouts of consciousness last night. Removing the straw mat placed on his body as a makeshift blanket, he saw that the bloody wounds he had gotten yesterday were no longer there.

Curious as to his body's condition after last night's emergency medical procedure, the young man touched his chest and recoiled in pain, a hiss escaped through his teeth. The man clenched his fist a few times to fight off the pain, while it seemed that his wounds were healed, they were still quite tender.

After taking in a few deep breaths, the boy let out a sigh as he got up from the floor carefully. It seemed, despite having his life saved from the hands of oblivion, he was abandoned back to the worthless life he lived, a constant struggle day in and day out.

He wasn't feeling particularly thankful all of a sudden.

Looking to his side, he saw his tattered moss-green jerkin lying on the floor not too far away. He could see many rips and holes ranging from the usual wear and tear of daily life and climate to the occasional fights against other Rukongai survivors or hungry Hollows he barely evaded. _'Oh well.'_ He thought to himself, as he walked over and slipped the damaged clothing over his head.

Compared to others: At least it was something.

Once it was on, he heard the sounds of something warbling. Looking down, he noticed a small sheet of paper settling down against the old wooden floor. The man quirked an eyebrow surprised that the woman had actually taken the time to write him a letter; instead of, say robbing him blind; although, he didn't really own anything, except for his shirt and trousers, which she probably wouldn't want since she wore very clean durable black clothing belonging to a Shinigami aka a noble. _'I guess she left it on my clothes to make sure I'd find it, before she headed home.'_ He concluded about her whereabouts, before turning his attention back to the paper in his hands.

Opening up the folded sheet of paper, he saw that the characters used were very simplistic in their writing, to the point a child could read it and understand most of its contents. He supposed that she went out of her way to use the most recognizable kanji, so that he'd have a greater chance in understanding it.

[Dear young man.]

[If you are reading this, then that means your life is no longer in danger and that you can move around okay.]

[And for that I am relieved]

[I am sure this must seem so strange to you. Having been at death's door, bleeding to death, only to wake up hours later in the same health you were, before what happened to you yesterday.]

[That is because I saved your life.]

[The other day…when I saw you throw yourself against those men in the streets; it tore at my heart when they struck you down without a hint of remorse. I stood up for you after that and chased them away when no one else would help you. But, when I turned to you, I saw a most frightening sight.]

[Your eyes…they lacked the will to live.]

[I want you to know that if I had not been pass through there, you would have died.]

[I know it may seem like I am talking down to you, preaching even, and I do not want it to seem like that. I…admit I do not know of the pain in your life. The pain that would drive you to kill yourself, commit suicide. I could not fake an understanding of it if I tried. I know that I am lucky, privileged, to be where I am today, but…young man, I beg of you:]

[Do not throw your life away.]

[Big or Small. We humans have a special talent: The ability to become anything that we set our minds too. From great villains to righteous heroes, the world revolves around those who act!]

[Be something more, young man. Believe in something.]

[I believe the strong should protect the weak. That is my belief. That is what I hold in my heart and what gives me strength to act. That is why I saved you.]

[It is my hope that you would see this yourself and in turn grow strong, protecting those who are weaker than you are.]

[I believe that is the foundation for a fulfilled existence]

[I am sure, that from your point of view, it may seem like an impossible challenge, a fool's errand. Something I, a Shinigami, have no business to impose on others, whom I know nothing about.]

[But…but I know you can be strong; because, you have the strength of heart to take your own life.]

[To challenge death and your own mortality.]

[With courage like that, do you not think that you change the circumstances you are in? (●´ω｀●)ゞ]

[Just think about it for a bit, you will see that I am right.]

[I wish you a good life, young man.]

[Sincerely,]

[The Shinigami who saved you.]

[(*●⁰ꈊ⁰●)ﾉ]

[PS: Sorry, but healing kido doesn't work on clothing, and I've never been good at mending them either. I always prick my fingers. o(╥﹏╥)o]

[I left some money for you in your pocket. (＾＿－)≡ ]

"Hmm…" the man hummed to himself, as his hand absent-mindedly dipped into his pocket pulling out a few golden coins. The man's eyes widened, at the treasure trove. If he spent it wisely, this much money could feed him for a month.

His astonishment soon gave way to concern, as he looked back around his 'lodging'. Did he really want to continue living like this in Rukongai? Living in old dilapidated homes that he didn't own? Keeping his head down amongst thousands of people who'd try to kill him for what little he had, if any reason at all? Living without any real proof that showed he, the boy without so much as a name, had existed in the first place?

He glanced back at the coins, his hand lightly shaking them as they let out a nice jingle. The money was a godsend, but it would dry up eventually, putting him back where he started.

On death row.

'_Miracles don't happen twice.'_ He quietly thought to himself. He knew that if he tried to kill himself again, there would be no angel of mercy coming in to save him at the last possible second; he would simply slump to the ground and die, the scavengers would pick his rotting body apart, leaving him nude for the flies or beasts to devour.

The young man scratched his unkempt brown hair, as he made his way to the door. His eye wincing briefly, as they tried to adjust to the brightness of unshaded sunlight. "Shinigami…" he muttered as he reflected on the mysterious woman's words.

He was surrounded by a few rotting shacks along the rocky barren road that ran from his right to as far his eyes could see down the left. The people walking around the nearby area were wearing dull torn clothing and had tired unhappy expressions on their face, as they traveled through with no destination in mind, like vagabonds.

The man lowered his head in thought, as he rested his arms on the half-destroyed guard rail beside the home's porch.

Did he want to settle for this?

'_She wrote: The world revolves around those who act.'_ He recalled the words in the letter, as he looked down one end of the rocky road that lead to a distant white-walled city.

He had always heard that the Shinigami lived there; it was story that circulated many a time on his travels through the maze of hopelessness and destitution.

He himself had tried to go there multiple times in the past. Each time ignoring the hateful whispers and scorned looks of the better offs, whose land he had to travel through, and their armed guards, who silently dared him to make a move to their charges. But, he was never admitted.

The guarding Shinigami, who would call the gatekeepers to open the gate, would always force him away, sometimes violently. They would tell him that Rukongai souls had no business with them; that the Shinigami weren't interested in whatever problems he had.

They told him flat-out that the only ones who would pass through into the Seireitei were the Nobles, who had a good reason to be there, other Shinigami, although that was rare since they hardly left except for routine patrol, which was basically a day off to drink for most, and the ones labelled as 'Special cases' after receiving approval from the Central 46, the Sotaichō and captain willing to undertake the task and accompany the soul; needless to say, this was an even rarer occurrence then the aforementioned Shinigami visiting Rukongai.

The young man clutched the letter he received tightly; a Shinigami had written and given it to him, even if no name was written they guards loafing around the Seireitei wouldn't be able to contest that would they?

The man had a mental pause.

Was this a sign…was this his proverbial chance?

Odds were still slim at best that he'd be accepted without question, but this letter could be the one thing that changed it all for him. "The world revolves around those who act…" he muttered to himself.

In that instant his resolve solidified as he made up his mind. Casting one final glance at his latest hideaway, he stepped off the porch and walked towards the place where his savior lived.

(Three days later)

The young man braced himself for pain, as the fist of the nobleman buried itself in his stomach. He gritted to teeth to stifle a pain-filled shout.

The green haired man in front of him cocked his head to the side and flipped some hair arrogantly from his face. "So stubborn." He tested displeased, "Who do you think you are exactly, Rukongai scum?"

The restrained man glanced to his sides at the two men that held his arms tightly preventing him from retaliating. His vision was forcefully brought back forward, as the green haired youth grabbed a tuft of his hair roughly, turning him in his direction. "How rude I was talking to you!" he yelled, before backhanding the youth again, spilling some blood from his mouth.

"Now let me ask you again: What's your name?"

The nameless boy just glared at him as the blood ran down the corner of his mouth. He knew it was a loaded question. The prick didn't care about his answer and even if he did, he already knew that most people in Rukongai didn't have a name unless they had a family, something which would have intervened by now.

As he thought, the man sudden burst into laughter "Hahaha! Oh, I see. You don't have one. You're no different from a lost puppy!" he cried, his two associates also joining in his mirth. The nobleman then pulled out a sword from the sheath at his side. "Well, then boys. Why don't we put this puppy to sleep?"

The brown-haired man snarled and with what strength he had left, kicked the swordsman in the stomach, sending him to the ground.

"Master Owari." One of the men cried, both concerned for his master and surprised by the zeal still in the boy.

The Rukongai resident allowed himself to smile, to savor the look of pain on the boy's face, before he was viciously beat down by the two men. They just clubbed his back and shoulders with their meaty fists, until he was against the ground and then they proceeded to kick away mercilessly.

The youth cradled his head protectively as his body rattled and shook under the men's assault.

"Back off! Back off!" the man known as Owari hissed as he shoved both men back, before turning his snarling face back to the diminutive boy. "He's mine." He stressed sadistically, daring them to cross him and interfere.

And the kicking continued for a few more moments, until another voice deigned in, breaking the crazed man's frenzy. "Sosuke, are you done?"

When the onslaught of boot suddenly stopped, the wounded man on the ground forced his pain wracked body to look up and see the green haired youth, who was assaulting him earlier, cowering under the gaze of the blue haired man with glasses. "F-father…" the swordsman stuttered out not expecting him to return so soon. He knew he'd have to explain his actions somehow. "I…" his eyes darted back to the boy as an idea formed. "I was merely training the new whipping boy sir." He replied crisply

'_Whipping boy (1)?'_ the youth thought to himself, while the other boy's father looked on appraisingly.

"Training were you?" he repeated patronizingly, causing his son to sweat. They both knew he wasn't buying it, but he'd play along. "Then what is with the sword?"

"Master Owari was just seeing if the boy had fear, sir." One of the lackeys spoke up. "It would do no good to have him cower when the master must be punished, especially during the combat instructor's training."

As the apparent leader looked over to the other man, his son spoke up. "That's right father." He bowed his head to at least try to sell it, since he knew father would force him to take him now. "By your leave, may we return to the mansion for studies?"

The man briefly raised an eyebrow, it seemed that his son was at least willing to take responsibility with assaulting others without having to be reprimanded into it. It would be enough of a lesson for now. Besides, he did need a replacement. "Very well." The man said with a small nod, "Bring the whipping boy with you and pray that he lasts more than a month." He then walked away, leaving Sosuke and his cronies with the defeated youth.

With the authority satiated, Owari turned around and squeezed the battered soul's cheeks painfully and emasculatingly, His tone and posture letting him know who was in charge now. "You hear that? We're going to spend a lot of time together now." His eyes grew colder as he smiled darkly. "Now do me a favor: When the pain finally kills you, die screaming."

He then spat scattered bits of saliva into his victim's face, before making a circular sweeping motion with his hand as he followed after his father. As the two men placed the boy's arms over their shoulders and dragged him away after his new owner, the coins in the youth's pockets spilled quietly onto the street below.

Barely an hour passed in Rukongai, before the one thing that showed he used live there was snatched up; taken by another soul looking to change his own fortune.

(100 years later)

"Do you know the answer, Sosuke Owari?" Professor Nikaido asked the bored young man, who everyone knew had been too busy staring out the window for the past ten minutes.

"No, and who cares, you senile old man." He blurted apathetically, as he shifted in his chair antsy, his golden robes shining radiantly in the surge of light.

Nikaido sighed, before looking at the grown man wearing the red shirt, beside the nobleman. "Whipping boy, stand up." He commanded

The man did as he asked, lifting his shirt off his body, as he placed his hands against the desk braced himself for the inevitable pain. His muscular body was covered in rough scars and semi-healed wounds, whether it was from being forced to take blows during combat practice or Sosuke just mouthing off to one of his tutors, he would be the one struck.

Over and over.

Same story, different reason.

As the metal pipe slammed into the brown-haired teen's back, his knuckles cracked audible when he clenched them. The pain hurt, but he could tell that Nikaido was holding back. He was one of the few who did see his potential for knowledge.

Due to his status as whipping boy, he had to follow his Master wherever to be disciplined in his place. The reason being was that a previous clan head had made it forbidden to lay hands on anyone of direct bloodline to the original ancestor, as an act of filial piety. Sosuke Owari conveniently fell into this category. Of course, this did give the young servant the benefit of actually learning things he otherwise couldn't have, like advanced writing, calligraphy, politics, science, combat, mathematics, history, a whole slew of knowledge was placed at his fingertips, at the price of a few blows to his body, his dignity, and the occasional trip to Sumia's infirmary, when most of the house was asleep.

As the tenth strike collided into his now red back, the teacher looked over at Sosuke, "And let that be a lesson to you." He repeated with the same fervor as the last ten thousand times he scolded the idiot.

"Yes, yes…" he waved off dismissively, as the professor sat down back down, laying his correction tool atop the desk.

As the whipping boy put his shirt back on to tuck back in to his trouser, Nikaido looked at him. "Whipping boy Nanashi." the professor called on him, using the semi-given name Nanashi, since the family had to call him something other than 'Whipping boy'. "Perhaps you know the answer to the question." He stated, since he already knew of the boy's work ethic.

Nanashi allowed himself a few seconds to recuperate as he sat back down, back throbbing against the hard wood. "Yes, professor. The answer is Gikon. They are the soul candy that allow Soul Reapers to leave their Gigai to combat Hollows."

The teacher nodded, "Correct."

"Woooh." His classmate sarcastically quipped, his fingers moving in mock amazement, earning him the ire of the teacher.

"Perhaps, awe is the correct response, Master Owari. You are practicing for entrance into Shino academy, the academy of Soul Reapers, if you do not know this you will not last very long."

"Pffft. Whatever, fool. Everyone knows they don't turn away nobles, the written aptitude test is merely formality, which the whipping boy over there already knows to give me the best possibly score." He shrugged, uncaringly. "It's the only thing Rukongai trash is good for: Dying and making other better."

While the boy beside the noblemen glared at him in contempt, he kept his anger down. He already had a plan long in the making. He wasn't going to screw it up by beating the shit out of Sosuke Owari now and getting himself executed.

No, he just had to bide him time a little while longer.

All he could do was turn his glare into a smile and chock it down. "I'm glad I could be of service, master Owari." Nanashi expressed his gratitude.

"See professor." He pointed his thumb at him, as he turned back to the setting sky outside the window. "He knows his place in the world."

(One year later)

A year had passed and Sosuke and his whipping boy had set out for the Seireitei. However, due to Sosuke's lack of constitution, the two travelled at a slower pace, which forced them to find shelter for the night and in the whipping boy's case, cook dinner and keep lookout when his Master slept.

Right now, the two of them were sitting outside one of the better-built homes. It was a rather chilly night, so the two of them sat around a fire, once again another creation of the whipping boys.

Sosuke looked over at his bespectacled servant. A disgusted look on his face. He couldn't believe that HE had been forced to pay out-of-pocket for his whipping boy to get glasses after a small training accident affected his vision.

His first inclination was to have the boy executed; however, Professor Nikaido and Sumia the medic had convinced his father otherwise. They both expressed that the current whipping boy, Nanashi, was quite strong and smart. Given Sosuke's 'needs', if the young man were killed, it would take time to cultivate another youth to take his place, and the result would be catastrophic on the young master since he would be attending Shinigami academy soon. It simply made more sense to just buy glasses to fix the problem.

And so it was done, much to his displeasure.

As the memory surged in his mind, a disgruntled wisp escaped from the bored master's lips, as he pulled out the acceptance letter again, to at least occupy himself with something other than looking at his companion.

Tending the fire, the whipping boy looked up at his lazy master and saw that he was distracted, "Master Owari." He called out, briefly gaining the man's attention. "Perhaps, you would like to wash up in the nearby river. You must be presentable for tomorrow."

Sosuke looked at his arm, and then sniffed it. He didn't smell bad, but…looking back at the filthy home that'd have to rest at, he assumed it would be better to wash up now than in the morning with the other uncouth barbarians. Getting up off the ground, he tucked his acceptance letter back into his shirt. "Very well, show me the way." He ordered,

The servant nodded his head, grabbing a nearby piece of wood and sticking one end into the fire pit. "Follow me." He muttered, as he pulled out the torch.

The pair walked about half a mile, with the whipping boy forced to carry his master the remaining distance, before they came to a large stream. The clear waters shined brightly under the nighttime sky, while small fireflies buzzed around the surface of the water.

Sosuke eyed the water displeased, he wasn't enthralled with the idea of having to share the pool with every other person who had come in here before him, but it would be the only way he could be clean before he arrived at the academy. Disrobing himself, he turned to his servant. "Keep an eye out. I don't want any rubes intruding on me." He commanded, as he undid his obi to let his clothing fall down.

"I understand." The man said as he pushed glasses up, his eyes obscured by the glare from the moonlight.

Sosuke made no outward signs of acknowledging him as he walked over to the water's edge and leaned down. He dipped his hand into the water and shivered, "Aaaah, it's chilly." He then dipped both hands in, bringing out a small handful of water that he splashed against his face. A pleased exhalation escaped his lips, as the cool waters would allow for a more peaceful night's sleep. Just as he was about to dip his hand in again, a hard hot blow collided with the side of his face, knocking him to the side.

Sosuke barely had time to register that a person had attacked him, before he had his head dunked underneath the water. The nameless whipping boy held the nobleman near the water's edge, a pleased smirk on his face. "How the table have turned, Sosuke." The boy said smugly.

He then pulled out the man's head, who sneered at him. "What the fuck are you doing you lit-"

Again, he had his head dunked back under the surface. "Getting revenge of course." The bespectacled man stopped himself, as he grabbed his hair roughly again, pulling him out. "My sincerest apologies. Even though you have a thick skull, I shouldn't have forgotten that having you under there wouldn't improve your listening capabilities." He replied smugly to the selfish brat.

Sosuke gasped for air as he tried to break free, but the strength of his slave overwhelmed him. "You're dead. You're a dead man."

"You've tried to get me killed for years. Hasn't worked out has it?"

The man squirmed fighting, trying to get out of his slave's grip. "If you let me go now, I'm willing to overlook what you've done today!"

"Really?" the man inquired mockingly "By your grace, you are a most generous master. However…" he then dunked his head back under and this time kept it under. "I will not let the time I've spent learning and bettering myself be laid waste by remaining content where I was before." His eyes narrowed behind his frames. "I am a slave to no one. I am a man. I choose my destiny and I choose what you consider impossible. (2)"

As his master's body stopped its struggling and accepted the cold embrace of death, the slave pushed the rest of the man's nude body in the water and turned around, walking towards his discarded clothing. "Fear not Sosuke, I'll be sure to take your place at the academy." He then picked up the clothing and started changing out.

It was time he grasped his destiny.

(Five years later)

Walking into his spacious living quarters, the new 'Sosuke Owari' returned from finishing up yet another hard day of scholastic endeavor. The man stretched his arms as he walked over the study desk to sit down, his eyes drifting down to the half-finished 'progress' letter he had written to his deceased master's parents.

The moment the man arrived and was accepted into the school, he knew that he would need to keep the charade up for as long as possible to not only the officials but Owari's family. So, using a combination of his knowledge and natural talents, Nanashi did just bad enough to warrant some attention for his grades, but not actual clan involvement, while at the same time writing letters back to his family, saying the whipping boy wrote it for him to save time and provide an explain for any handwriting differences.

The first of his letter were written with the purpose to fool his parents, it said that he couldn't have visitors until graduation, because it would 'disrupt the flow of focused learning' as the school would say, and that the reason he was taking so long in graduating the classes weren't because of his own fault, but rather because all his classes full of 'bilge spewing troglodytes and annoying fools not worth the clothing on their back', and that his whipping boy couldn't be used as a 'proper' stand-in for combat training, which was a 'infuriatingly stupid rule'.

Every letter after that was used to give small status updates, which Nanashi would use his extensive knowledge of Owari's life to inquire about servants or things only he would be interested in. Yes, it was a beautifully constructed lie to cover up the fact that the whipping boy was truly enjoying his time, going as slow as possible to absorb as much information as possible from as many sources as he could.

The man smiled as he looked away from his desk to the sword on his bed. His Zanpaktou had been an interesting partner so far. He quickly learned his Zanpaktou's name far, far, earlier than anyone else had; he tinkered with the idea he might have been the youngest thus far, but he kept it to himself to avoid drawing such attention, it wouldn't do to blow his cover.

Still, despite the logic behind it, and his achievements thus far, it wasn't enough. He wasn't nearly satisfied with his life. A sentiment that had stemmed from his encounter with Kyoka Suigetsu, the observant traveler had deducted what lay deep within his heart.

Acknowledgement.

Acknowledgement that he was his own person. That he could live a life far better than what he was currently settling for. The spirit's thoughts intrigued the young impostor because they were the truth. So far, he was only living up to the standards, the potential, of being his deceased master. He could continue to masquerade as him after getting into the Gotei 13, but what then? He would just be forced to lead a life of mediocrity, a life as a drone for Soul Society. He would still be a shadow, providing undue praise to someone else. In the end he would have nothing, be nothing. He would continue to live in a more luxurious version of the hell he tried to escape from after being saved that fateful day.

But…

But… he thought to himself, if he had the courage to aim higher, to expand his plans, to expect more of himself, he could become a Master of reality, one without peer.

Looking back on his desk, he saw the sacred letter that had prompted him on this journey, so many years ago. The only thing that served to acknowledge his existence from the one person who remotely gave a damn.

"Be something more. The world revolves around those who act." He quoted in a well-practiced tone, as his eyes shifted back to his sword. His thoughts drifted back to the constant war against Hollows, the world of Hueco Mundo. His eyes narrowed on his sword as he thought to himself. "Perhaps, battle." He walked over and picked up his sword, his eyes tracing the sheath of it. "I most hone myself; become the master of myself, before I can truly become great." He concluded while the blade seemed to silently agree with his observation.

Turning around, the man walked out of his room, recalling the sign-in on the bulletin board for a human world excursion in the Hollow slaying aspect of Shinigamihood.

(Sometime later: Hueco Mundo)

Trudging through the unending sea of sand, a large skeletal figure paused when he saw the sky above open up, the signs of another Hollow returning back from the human world. The leader, Barragan Luisenbarn, looked back at his small entourage of hollows. They seemed to have sensed it too and were looking ahead warily for who or what could appear. Suddenly, the tiger pointed his paw forward and with a roar of his voice said, "Look, it's no Hollow!"

Turning back around, Barragan was perplexed to see that instead of a bestial figure, it was a young man with brown hair, white and red clothing, a sword and glasses. The young man was looking around the sandy badlands curiously, before turned his head to see the portal he had entered closing shut behind him, its purpose done. "No turning back now." He muttered to himself, before turning to the nearby spiritual pressures. 'Sosuke' raised an eyebrow when the monsters formed a protective circle around the skeletal ghost with the crown, in front was a strange horned gorilla creature that looked ready to pound him to paste.

The skeleton king raised his hand up, as if commanding them to stand down, before he approached the strangely unafraid young man. "Hello." The young man greeted with a courteous bow.

While the skeleton had no eyes, he was sure it was glaring at him. "What is a Shinigami doing in the land of the damned?"

"A Shinigami?" he questioned with slight amusement. "I am no Shinigami." He then looked across the desolate desert, "As for my purpose? I'm not sure. Something called me to this land."

"Called to this land?" The black cloaked monster repeated skeptically. "What madness is this?"

Sosuke shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name." he tried to shift the conversation, his eyes drifting over to the strange gaggle around him. "I thought Hollows tended to fight each other as much as they fight against Shinigami."

"Watch your words, niño. You are not welcome in these lands." The skeleton's voice boomed, while his compatriots drew in a little closer, malicious intent rolling off their bodies.

Sosuke bowed his head again. "Forgive me. I was only stating what I know from the books. If this is not the case, then please forgive my ignorance."

The leader floated ominously, before easing his posture. "Very well, I will indulge you then. My name is Barragan Luisenbarn, the leader of these Hollows." He then gestured to the empty expanse nearby and continued, "I have lived for a very long time and have grown sick and tired of the ceaseless fighting among my fellow Hollow, so with mi familia, I am going to put an end to this once and for all. I will become the king of Hollows."

"The king of Hollows." Sosuke intoned thoughtfully, this would be his opportunity. Kneeling down, he bowed before the skeleton, a sight that took all of them by surprise. "If that is your will then allow me to assist you in that endeavor."

A thunderous laughter escaped Barragan, his chest and cloak flowing blissfully in the air. "And what exactly can you do?" he challenged, "You look barely old enough to wipe your own ass, niño. Do not presume to know us!"

Unperturbed, Sosuke raised his head and centered his gaze on the skeleton's face. "You are not the only one with grand ambitions, Master Barragan. I too have a dream, but I require strength to achieve it. Strength not only of myself, but others as well." He pushed himself off his knees, but still maintained eye contact. "Experiencing things for myself is the only way to get closer to that dream." He tilted his hand in an amicable gesture. "You just saw my ignorance of your race. I must learning things first, including the strength earned from battle."

"Hmmm…" Barragan hummed to himself, considering the man's words for what they were. It was indeed, quite bold. "And what is it you dream of lad? What drives you?"

"Just as you wish to become one that transcends Hollows, I wish to transcend Shinigami. However, one-side cannot do so without the other. So long as both sides fight against each other, no one will ever truly excel past the limits they have imposed upon themselves."

"You make a good point." Barragan acceded,

Sosuke nodded, "Besides, if both sides cannot come to an agreement, war will break out once again. This kingdom you speak of, all it will do is rally all of the Shinigami's might against one target. They will not allow the Hollow's to unify, but if I can become the king of mine…"

"I see." The conqueror muttered as he pressed his hand against his chin, considered the proposal. "Both sides of the afterlife may genuinely know peace." He said aloud the obvious end goal. But, there was one thing that nagged at him. "How would this change things for us Hollows though? We will still be forced to feed upon others."

Sensing that an appropriate interjection would be necessary to keep their interest, Aizen quickly interjected. "Not if I am king." The man said garnering their attention. He wasn't going to lose them now. "The spirit king rules over all happening in the afterlife. If I can ascend to that throne, removing that hunger or changing you back into humans should be no problem." He placed his hand against his hips. "But as I said, I cannot do it alone. I need an army and time to plan."

Another groaned escaped Barragan, who was carefully thinking over his options on what to do. As the man thought some of his followers decided to speak up and let their voice be heard, "We cannot trust him. He merely wishes to use for his own end."

"Yes, the moment we give aid, he will destroy us."

The creatures continued offering different piece of advice to their uncrowned ruler, but Sosuke stepped forward and extended his hand to silent Barragan. "I am not asking you to trust my word just yet. God only knows, I barely trust you. However, that is why I am asking that you let me accompany you in your fight to unify Hueco Mundo. Judge me for my worth yourself. If it is my destiny for the two of us to end all suffering in the afterlife, then I am ready to do so, but if it is not, I will more than likely die in this world. I'm trapped in this world until the day the conflict is resolved enough to allow safe travel back the Hollow way. So I ask you, do you trust me?"

A silence fell over the crowd, as they all turned to the unreadable leader. The purple aura of death that he was known to exude when fighting wasn't appearing. Finally, he stepped forward around his descendant and grabbed the healthy hand with his bony one. "Very well. You will accompany us. But you will do exactly as I say." He then let go and walked around him. "I have my eyes on you."

As the assortment of creatures walked around their newest addition, Sosuke turned and looked into the back of his commander and smiled gentle.

War would be waged.

(80 years later)

Walking out to the balcony that overlooked their capital stronghold, Las Noches, Sosuke breathed out a sigh of relief, as he gazed outward to the expansive desert.

"Hoy! Ahí estás!" a loud jovial voice called from behind the relaxing tactician.

Turning around, the man removed his glasses and smiled warmly at the two men who were approaching. One was wearing a battle torn cloth that had small branch appendages sticking out from all angles, his face was covered with the mask of a dead cow, but Sosuke could tell from his body language and persona experience that he was quite jovial. The other was a large brown man in white with gray hair and large battle scars all over his body, a golden crown sat atop his head, while a battle-ax was slung from his back, a bright smile on his aged face.

Barragan walked over and slung his arm around his general small shoulders. "Otra victoria para el joven general!" he boomed as he shook the pleased man's body, "Digo Rudbornn: Tres hurras por nuestro amigo."

Rudbornn laughed as he took the space next to Sosuke. "De acuerdo, Barragan!" he raised his fist over the balcony and yelled "Para Sosuke del Shinigami! Héroe de Hueco Mundo!"

"Para Sosuke!"

Sosuke laughed to himself over the zealousness of his friends. "Por favor, no todo era yo." He looked over at Rudbornn, "¿Por qué si no fuera por usted y sus zingers siempre bien colocados, toda esperanza se habría perdido más de una vez!"

The cow-skulled hollow laughed, "Aye! ¿Quién hubiera pensado que una rutina de comedia habría dado la victoria como en las trincheras!"

Sosuke turned over to Barragan and smirked, "¿Y quién podría olvidar nuestro intrépido líder? ¿Por qué con cada cicatriz en la cara, el corazón de cada desmayos femeninos en delicia!"

Barragan laughed, "¡Ah! Sí, puedo ver ahora." He patted his friend on the shoulder. "No tengas temor de joven Sosuke. Voy a tratar de no tomar todas las guapas chicas."

The three of them laughed merrily with each other, before settling down to look over the impregnable fortress. Their dream was close at hand; most of the Hollows they had sought came to them of their own volition, while the rest were left in the sea of sand far beyond their sight. This fortress was the only haven in the death world outside.

Still it was quite small in comparison to the ever-expanding world around them. It didn't take them very long to realize that fully conquering the Hollow world was an eternal struggle, so they compromised with what they had. All in accordance to Sosuke's grand plan to unify the kings of each world.

However, even as he looked into the jubilant faces of his friends, doubt still lingered in Sosuke's mind. Sometime during the endless fighting, he had admitted to them that he wasn't sure, if he'd be able to hold his end of the deal, of whether he could truly use the power of the Spirit King to grant peace. Barragan merely laughed and told that if he was the king, it was in his power to do so, not because of some divine celestial force, but because he had proven himself the strongest of all, so the Shinigami would have no choice but to listen.

And for once, the man found himself surprised by the answer that was seemingly right before him the entire time yet he could not grasp.

It had uplifted him.

It had brought them to this point.

"So are you ready for your prodigal return?" Rudbornn asked his fellow conqueror who would be gone for some time.

"As prepared as I can be." Sosuke muttered introspectively, before smiling to himself. "Although, it does alarm me to leave the safety of the kingdom of Las Noches to a practical joker who doesn't have a single good joke and a senile old man who'd probably forget his name without me reminding him."

"Senil, ¿eh?" the elder man looked at the cocky youth beside him.

The other hollow was no less amused. "Okay. I got you, Sosuke." He replied sarcastically. "You don't even know how, but I got you. I got you all day. All day!"

The man gave a cocky smirk, "All day? But I thought it was always night here?"

Barragan's menacing posture gave way to a hearty chuckle. "Aye! It seems our grand strategist has got a few jokes, Rudbornn!"

Through his own chuckles, Rudbornn retaliated. "Tal vez, mi amigo, but then again, out of the three of us, Los tres vencedores de Hueco Mundo, only one of us lives his life for the sake of his first love!"

Now it was Sosuke's turn to shut his mouth and glare. It was no small secret between them, that the reason the ex-whipping boy-turned-Shinigami-turned-conqueror had even started his journey to seek his full potential was, because, of that letter given to him by the beautiful Shinigami that saved him.

When he described the turning point in his life, he was both surprised and expectant of their juvenile reaction. The two of them teased him, practically raving how the otherwise celibate Sosuke, the hero of Hueco Mundo, the grand strategist of Barragan's unification army, was really just a young man in love, who was willing to conqueror worlds and kings just to impress the girl he liked.

Aizen was far from amused and made his rage known during the many strategy meetings that involved unit placement. The strategist upon addressing one or both of them would playfully shove their icons directly to the front lines while shouting 'Barragan and/or Rudbornn will advance and DIE HORRIBLY, here while I smile and say "exactly as planned" from over here.', before returning back to a calm civilized tone when addressing the others present.

Coming down from his high, Barragan looked over to his fellow Hollow general, who nodded in kind. Sosuke seeing the action looked at the two quizzically, "Something you wish to share?"

"It's about the plan." Rudbornn stated, "It is simple enough. We maintain our army, while you strengthen your influence in the new world, occasionally keeping in contact."

"Yes, what about it?" he asked, since while it was overly simplified, that was the gist of it.

"We believed it was time for a promotion of sorts." Barragan picked up.

"Promotion?" the brown-haired man repeated quizzically. He then scoffed, "I'm already a general, what more can I be?" he asked playfully.

Rudbornn turned around and leaned against the balcony, "King." He said simply. "The leader of the new campaign." He extended his hand to Luisenbarn. "We got to talking. Everything so far has been all a part of your grand strategy. We thought it fair that since we are no longer pursuing the expansion on the Hollow frontier, you, the Shinigami, should be the leader for our latest campaign."

"It is as he says. We can continue the expansion here later, indefinitely. But we believe that for a new endeavor we will need a new face to lead the way yet one that our forces can trust." Barragan pointed to the city below. "Many of our forces are placing their hopes in you, mi hijo. You are the master that steers us to victory. Without you, Rudbornn and I would not be here today."

"We believe in you, mi amigo. And we will wait however long it takes for your plan to be successful."

Sosuke's arm shook as a feeling of happiness resonated through his body. His eyes felt watery, so taking off his glasses, he rubbed his eyes, a smile on his face.

His actions didn't go unnoticed, "Aye! Did you see that, Rudbornn?" The old man yipped with his thundering baritone.

"Si! The glasses have come off!" the cow masked Hollow said as he backed up. "Sosuke the transcendent has taken the field, whatever shall we do?"

"haha, sh…haha callarse…haha." Sosuke chuckled, as he turned around to leave for the gargantua that would allow him to proceed with part two of his scheme.

(Two week later)

The whipping boy walked through the halls of his Alma Matier. Using the powers of both Kyoka Suigetsu and the alias of Sosuke of the minor noble family Aizen, he once again re-enrolled in the Shinigami academy.

With his years of battle-hardened use of illusion powers, it was quite simple for him to have slipped back in undetected. The only thing he needed to do now was reestablish himself on societal norms and bide his time as he gained influence and allies to his cause. He smiled to himself as he proceeded to his first class; things were coming full circle for him.

(Seven months after chapter one)

Taking a step forward, Sosuke Aizen gripped the railing of the apartment of his target. His breathing sounded steady, but even his two associates could tell that he was highly nervous. He had already informed them what they would be doing and that there was to be no messing around once the signal was given because the chances of death today was quite high.

But that wasn't what was scaring him, death was a close friend, it held little sway over him. No, what was frightening him was actually WHO was on the other side of the worn metal door. He knew that if he called it off now, everything, every plan he had ever made, every person he ever manipulated, every battle he ever fought, it would all be for naught. His life long journey through back alleyways, destructive battlefields, and dream-filled skies would come to an end.

He would be forced back into the dissatisfied, empty, hollow life he had sought to escape years ago with not a single true friend at his side to acknowledge his accomplishments or validate his worth.

Digging into his pockets, he pulled out a fragment of the red ruby they had stolen from the twelfth division, its beautiful eye-catching shine belied its ability to nullify all reishi energies that would normally radiate off them. This had helped them leave the Seireitei without incident and approach the target's home without spooking her guard.

Just above the gem, situated between the man's fingers was another object, a black orb called the Caja negacion. It was pinnacle point of the plan and would serve as their invisible battlefield.

Slipping both objects back into his pocket after making sure they were still in perfect condition, he removed his other hand off the rail and placed it into his other side pocket, quietly his hand against the paper treasure that gave his life meaning.

Another sigh escaped him, as he conquered his anxiety. Finally, after giving a confirming nod to Tosen and Ichimaru, he raised his hand and knocked against the door, the noise loudly reverberating through the air. When the person inside said 'coming', Aizen gave one last command, before reverting to his 'friendly Taichō persona'. "Follow my lead."

As the door opened, Aizen fought hard to keep all his real emotions out of his expression when he laid eyes on the same woman who had saved his life all those many years ago.

The same woman, whose power he now required.

"Ah, hello." She greeted with a semi-forced smile to the strangers. After delving into the forbidden records, Aizen understood her reaction to Shinigamis.

The people who knew of her mythical existence in Seireitei was a short list, both in part of her action of leaving so long ago, and the casualties from the wars with both Hollows and Quincies, even Aizen the meticulous knew almost nothing about her before she was censored from most records, only the obvious or rare truth from a reliable word of mouth amidst a sea of rumors.

The woman had gone AWOL for just a little over a century now, due to the preceding war with the Quincy, which he had participated in due to both opting for the lowest position to consolidate strength most effectively and to ensure that there would be no further problems once the his plans got underway.

This absence coupled with the large losses in Shinigami was what caused Yamamoto to secretly pull aside young unsuspecting Shinigami, who did not know of her true identity, and send them to her home. He would pose it as mix between a mission and request to the earnest individual to try to invite her to come see him in the Seireitei, where presumably he would try to convince her to return to the Gotei 13. An action, which, if successful, would bolster the morale of the Shinigami, and silence the central 46, who sought to have her also labelled as a dangerous liability to Soul Society on top as a deserter, citing that she had the ability to come and go within Seireitei as she pleased and nothing stopping her from going rouge.

Despite the accusation, which held a certain amount of gravity depending on whom you asked and where you stood with the rumors, Yamamoto would not allow them to do such a thing for a reason that not even the senior captains could agree on.

Still, this wasn't reciprocated by Masaki, who, despite receiving and welcoming the many, many, Shinigami to the humble Kurosaki residence, told each and every one that asked her the same thing: "No thank-you."

Now that he was standing in front of her and seeing the way she was acting with three captains she didn't know at her door step, he was willing to believe that her fabled apprehension to not go to Seireitei wasn't just an exaggeration.

"Can I help you Misteerr?" she said with a small shake of her head.

Aizen bowed gracefully, "Greetings, my name is Sosuke Aizen," he extended his hand to his fellows. "These are my associates, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen."

"Evening!" the chipper silver-haired man greeted

"Good day." The African man bowed gentlemanly

"Hello." She waved weakly, as she looked back to Aizen. "So what bring you here, captain?"

Aizen smiled, keeping with the script. "It was about your son, Ichigo." When a look of worry crossed her features, Sosuke reassured her. "He's quite alright, I assure."

Masaki relaxed, "Oh, well that's good…" the woman crossed her arms over her dull colored yukata, unable to really make anything of the conversation so far. "Sooooo?"

A low grunted reverberated in Aizen's throat. She wanted to know what brought them here. "I'm friends with Toshiro." Her eyes lit up, now she was beginning to lower her guard. "He's told me so much about one of his previous soldiers. Quite frankly I was curious." He took half a step back and gestured to the conspirators. "When he was being transferred, so many Taichō's jumped at the chance to get him, us included." He then reached down and held Masaki's hand, his head bowed in respect. "I wanted to get to know the family that produced such a model Shinigami."

Masaki blushed, as a childish laugh escaped her. "Oh, really? I'm glad to hear that my son is making such a strong impression on everyone!" she then stepped aside, her hand raised to welcome them in. "If its stories you want to hear about, then please come on in. I'll get some tea ready."

The trio thanked the woman as they walked down the narrow wooden corridor that lead to the circular table with two chairs. Masaki apologized, as she went to go get some stools; Tosen accompanied her, while Gin and Aizen surveyed the area.

"What a dump." Gin pointed out to the small living quarters. He glanced over to his leader, who seemed to be deep in thought. "I don't get it, if she's an ex-captain like you say, why live in this tiny hole in the wall?"

Sosuke ignored the question, as he could understand her thinking. This was the dream she had wanted for herself.

During his time at Shino academy, he spent the majority of his time looking up the various captains who would impede his path, when he came across Masaki Kurosaki, the woman who saved him, he focused intensely on her. For the most part information was extremely limited; most sources just detailed her personality and gave small excerpts about her abilities and Zanpaktou. Aizen could tell from the way the teachers spoke and short hand of relevant information, the Sotaichō considered nearly all information about her a classified secret, this included date of birth, relatives and other such relationships.

Most of the other idiots in his class called her the 'Captain who got captained, when no one was around' because of the way she was glossed over by the school and never mentioned again, but he could tell the old man was hiding such information for a reason. Even to this day, the many questions about her origins remained unanswered despite being a captain with untold resources at his disposal and an illusion creating blade at his side.

Still, while the majority of her was obscured in the deepest recesses of Yamamoto's mind, he was able to figure out that she was the original creator of the fourth division and had power that belied her disposition. Through those facts, and what he could infer about her, based on everything else and his own experience, he could now understand the reasoning for her departure from Soul Society, shortly after his arrival.

The ex-captain simply wanted to be closer to the people whose suffering she alleviated. She was unhappy of leaving people to die, because they were not born of noble blood or didn't 'have an ability worth Soul Societies' notice. Her apprentice Retsu Unohana had fallen into that category.

Sosuke noted that by creating a reverse timeline of events and by plugging in the knowledge that Retsu Unohana was her apprentice from the streets and when her Shinigami registration date was, Masaki had met and saved his life shortly after meeting her. This fact coupled with the hard to obtain knowledge that Masaki had fought tooth and nail to keep her around after picking her up from Rukongai and reforming the Yankee, explained why she hadn't taken him as well.

The conclusion was obviously that her actions landed her in hot water with the higher powers in the land. Sosuke figured it was most likely due to one part prejudice, both on Retsu, who was Rukongai born, and Masaki, who wasn't noble born, but shared a confidential connection to the Sotaichō, and the part being Masaki's childishly obstinate behavior that she used to get her way on the issue.

Still, even after the numerous attacks on her character and criticism for her 'barbarian' ways of handling thing, at least according to some nobles, she took it with a smile and spunky 'can do' attitude.

No, what had really been the straw that broke this patient camel's back was the Quincy extermination. After a long bloody war, the Quincy tentatively offered a truce with fairly reasonably terms to the Shinigami, so no side felt short-changed. Masaki had been one of the few who was ready to agree and work alongside them; however that day, instead of learning that a united front would be created for the benefit of humanity, she learned that even a captain could do little when their beliefs were the minority.

The Shinigami ended up wiping out the surrendering Quincies, driving them to practical extinction.

He could tell that upon hearing the killing order, her heart broke into a million pieces with each new Quincy soul returned to the cycle of reincarnation. In her mind, spiritually gifted or not, the Quincies were still human beings, just as the Shinigami were human souls with the power of death gods. It was the ultimate travesty: The Shinigami breaking their code of swearing to protect human beings and the souls in the afterlife by putting humans to the sword.

Of the strong dominating the weak, instead of protecting them.

It was not long before Kaname and Masaki came back, stools in hand for Gin and Aizen. Once everyone settled in, Aizen placed his hand on the table, the caja negacion, visible to his associates. "Thank-you for your hospitality, Ms. Kurosaki."

"Oh, please. Masaki is fine." She instructed, as she sipped her tea with a childish smile.

Aizen nodded, "If you don't mind my asking, Ichigo-kun seems to look to you as a source of strength, could you tell us a bit about your views on him being a Shinigami?"

The orange haired woman took another sip of her tea, her body rocking back and forth in her chair as she thought it over. Finally, she said, "Well, I've told him that the strong should protect the weak." She replied, pausing to consider what else to say. "I believe that everyone has the ability to become truly extraordinary. They just need a chance and the courage to do so."

Unbeknownst to any of them, Aizen's other hand was clenching the letter in his pocket tightly. This was going to be harder than he expected. "What makes you think that?" he asked, trying to provoke a reaction.

"Well…" she looked away to a picture that was on the wall, it was of Ichigo, her and Retsu, smiling care-freely. Her eyes then returned to the man before her, who had also spared a glance at the photo. "My friend in the photo, Retsu Unohana, she was from the streets of Rukongai. She hailed from one of the worst districts, but with perseverance, she was able to make something of herself. She's a Shinigami now and I was really glad that she could help get my son in too."

Aizen knew she had lied about the last part; it seemed that she thought they didn't know about her past and was going to keep it that way. "I'm surprised that's very fortunate of you."

"Yes, well, not everyone has a success story." She replied sadly, her hands cradling her cup. "I once knew of a boy who nearly took his own life. He tried to commit suicide by assaulting some armed men, but he was saved by a passing Shinigami." She paused and took another sip of her tea, "It really seemed like the Shinigami wanted him to live." she shrugged, trying to pass it off as hearsay. "But, I don't know, he was never heard from again. Maybe he's still out there."

She paused as she pressed her pointer finger against her lips, a hum escaping her as she thought something over. When she reached silent conclusion, she clasped Aizen's hand and smiled demurely. "Aizen-san, I know as a Shinigami you must be busy, but if you ever have the chance, perhaps you might try to find him for me. That way I can at least know that he's okay."

'_He's okay now.'_ He thought to himself solemnly, it seemed that even though she did not recognize him, his disappearance probably contributed to her falling out with Soul Society.

He almost laughed. It was ironic. The words in her letter that prodded him to continue living and better himself would ultimately lead to not only her separation from Soul Society, but also seal her fate in the war to come.

"Aizen…" Tosen stated, drawing the man back to the actual task for which they came, time was short.

"Yes." He acknowledged, as he removed his hands from her grasp.

"Oh, going so soon?" the woman pouted at her departing guests. She had hoped talk with them a little more, but Taichōs were ever busy it seemed.

"Yes," he repeated, before turning over his hand, the caja negacion springing into the air coming to life. "But you are coming with us."

The black sphere engulfed all four of them and transported them to a colorless version of the world around them.

Masaki quickly jumped back from the table. "W-who are you!?" she demanded fearfully.

"I apologize, but I'm afraid this charade is over." Aizen said coldly, as he removed his hand from his pocket and drew his Zanpaktou.

Understanding their intent, the cornered woman quickly shot her hands in front of her. "Hado 93! Gaki Rekko!"

Numerous blinding bright green lights appeared before her hands that extended outwards. Erring on the side of caution, Aizen pulled his underlings back with him as the attack went off. A huge barrage of green energy rays blew apart the ceiling of the two-story apartment, Sosuke and company appeared in the sky a small ways away, the main leader, breathing heavily from forced evasion.

Gin wiped a bead sweat off his brow, "Wooo! That was almost a doozy!"

"Thank-you, sir." Kaname gave his gratification. None of them had expected the woman to be able to pull off a ninety ranked kido with that much destructive force with almost zero spell time AND no chant.

As the cloud of smoke screening dust settled below, Aizen looked to Gin. "Is Grand Fisher in this dimension?" he asked, just to re-confirm.

The man smirked, "Yep, he's hanging around until you give the word. It's ready to fight and stage the scene." The Taichō of three turned and looked to the clearing, where Masaki stood, her sheathed Zanpaktou in hand. _'Great. She had her Zanpaktou in her home the whole time. Wonnndreeerrful.'_ The wide-eyed man thought sarcastically.

"How are you flying?" Masaki asked her attackers, unlike the world of the living or Hueco Mundo they were in Soul Society, the laws of gravity applied to spiritual beings here.

Aizen stepped forward, "This is caja negacion. A parallel world that mimics the landscape of where it is used, but does not follow same rules. There is no escape for you until I will it."

The ex-captain recoiled half a step. "Please, stop this. If you let me go right now. I won't harm you." She pleaded, her words reminding the Rukongai boy of the final moments his slave master had.

Aizen had prepared himself for this as best he could. He did not know what it was about her, whether she did it unknowing or not, but he steeled himself, he did everything he could to resist her words, the words that could crumble anyone's resolve to stand against her.

"Why are you doing this?" the woman looked ready to cry, "You're a captain, you should be defending people, not holding them hostage!"

"Again, I apologize." He held his sword in front of him, as a cracking echoed throughout the sky followed by a bright light, the sign of his Shikai activating. "But for the path I walk their can be no defeat. Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu."

The woman continued to stare at the man, before looking away in shame. She stood still for a few seconds, stewing in her thoughts. "My son…" she muttered; her voice barely a whisper. "You're going to hurt him, aren't you?"

No words, no defense, was offered against the accusation. Just the passage of air and time. Their silence was her answer, it was the only answer required.

"Very well. Shine in heaven, Shinsei fukkatsu (Sacred rebirth)." The sword in her clenched hand radiated with power, but remained unchanged in its state, having still not been drawn. "Defiler of souls, will you not turn away from this dark path?" she offered one final chance.

Aizen just stared at her impassively, silently in awe at her transformation. The childish woman that they had sat down to drink tea with them and tell stories of her son was gone. In her place was a strong determined woman with a fire as bright as her hair ready to run them through to protect her son.

For the first time, he was now looking at the warrior side of the miracle worker, one of the most powerful being to have ever lived.

The only being that trumped all other fear he had ever experienced.

"So the miracle worker finally shows herself." Aizen spoke of the woman, trying to keep a cool head despite his rapid heart rate. "I know why you have that title."

Masaki said nothing as she continued to glare against her oppressors, her spiritual energy seemingly at least hampering the man's two associates somewhat.

Aizen continued, "You received it not because of your unrivaled spiritual energy or for your prowess in battle. No, you earned it because of your ability to resolve even the harshest of conflicts with words. The ability to shake the heart of another and make it see reason beyond hate."

Sosuke closed his eyes, as his two insurance policies release their Shikai to even the playing field. He knew that even with them, this would still not be an easy fight, coordination and tactics were the only way to win. "You are the miracle the spirit king granted to humanity, a kind, caring, goddess of light." Sosuke opened his sorrowful eyes, "I am sorry it has come to this, my Shinigami." He whispered the last words to himself.

"Yes, I am sorry as well." Masaki closed her eyes, regretfully. "Make peace with your transgressions…" She had given them a chance to live, it was out of her hands now. "For I shall wipe you from creation." She lifted her Zanpaktou. "Bankai! Sōdaina sōzō, shinsei fukkatsu (grand creation, sacred rebirth)!"

"Bankai. Omoide no hōru, Kyōka Suigetsu (Hall of memories, Mirror flower, water moon).

"Bankai. Kamishini no Yari (God-killing spear).

"Bankai. Suzumushi Tsuishiki: Enma Kōrogi (Bell Bug Closing Ceremony: Final Cricket).

(Present)

Aizen was sitting on his throne, his mind having wandered back to the battle that happened long ago. In his hand, was the old crease riddled paper given to him from a bygone age. He had been eyeing it absent-mindedly for some time; even he didn't realize he had it in his hand, until snapped from his thoughts.

As the door to his chambers opened, the would-be god folded the paper up and straightened up his posture for his latest guests.

"I will be more. I will transcend all." He told himself as he prepared to assert his newest scheme.

* * *

Post fic banter:

Blackout2010: Good day vast viewers of the web. Now for the special advertising. In honor of this chapter's star and in fic origins, Sosuke Aizen has asked me to publicly endorse his new album. You see Sosuke Aizen has been a lot of things over his life, slave, warrior, drifter; however, musician is not one of them, so in order to rectify that he has taken to composing.

Blackout2010: So without further ado, for the price $12.99, you can buy Sosuke Aizen's latest album, 'Where you lookin'?' released under stage name 'Transcendent One' at your store. The album includes songs:

1. Kyoka Suigetsu

2. S(osuke) A(izen) Pimpin' [Featuring Grinnin' maru and K. T. Justice]

3. Where you looking? (saw it comin')

4. Got a plan? (better than yours)

5. G-O-D (is me)

6. Urahara is a whore [Explicit ver.]

7. Hogyoku

8. We don't love Hinamori (messing with Toshiro) [Featuring Grinnin' maru]

9. Rise up and transcend! [Explicit ver.]

Bonus track: Dick move [explicit ver.] [Featuring K.T. Justice as back-up vocals]

Blackout2010: That's right you can get these and many more great songs as well as behind-the-scenes interview:

Aizen (smirks): Well I figured that since I'm so awesome, I should try my hands at other tasks to further display my dominance to my adversaries. It's really quite natural.

Blackout2010: Buy 'Where you lookin'?', coming to your nearest store soon.

* * *

(Author's informative to the audience)

The following chapters after this chapter are written in such a way that they interconnect along the timeline of events. This means that we will be seeing simultaneous events that must be viewed, because if it's skipped, you, the audience, will be left somewhat in the dark.

Hence the timeline I've provided.

Aizen force: 33a, **32**, 33b (link)

Time: 29 (split)xxxxxxxxChap. 34 -) continue into next Arc.

Ichigo for.: chap.30 and 31 (link)

For easier convenience into understanding how to read, I'll provide a different but easier way to visually explain it:

Imagine two guys living in the same house: Joe and John.  
At 8 am:  
John is heading off to work/Joe makes himself some coffee  
At 10 am:  
John is sitting in his cubical/Joe turns on the TV and watch the news  
At 12:  
John is eating lunch [at work]/ Joe is eating lunch [at home]  
At 2:  
John is at a meeting/Joe does exercise  
At 4:  
John is driving home/Joe starts making dinner  
At 5:  
They both eat dinner.

I hope it helps explain. PM me for any question in trying to understand. (Don't worry I'll put this at the end of the following chapters for convenience.)

(Author's informative to the audience end)

* * *

Guide post of the Soul:

1. Whipping boys were usually servants of rich master, who used them as surrogate stand in for their children when it came to punishment, as it was seen as shameful to leave lasting bruising and could affect marital proposals with other nobility. On a semi-connected note, Aizen's story does bare more than a few similarities involving a moral story about a whipping boy, who was a hard worker and after having a brief switch in roles with his master, both gain an appreciates for the other and become friends. Sadly, this is not the case in this story.

2. A bioshock reference and another parallelism, this time with Andrew Ryan. A man chooses a slave obeys indeed, and while Sosuke Aizen could not choose rapture, he still choose the impossible by grabbing his own destiny.


	33. Darkside of the Universe

Author's response to the unknown reviews:

To unknown reviewer known only as: DragonSlayer4554

Dear DragonSlayer4554,

I would like to inform you that if you are going to ask a direct question to me, such as 'When is the new chapter going to be released?', it would be appreciated if you left me some way to actually contact you, either PM or some other means, otherwise you will have to wait to till whenever a new chapter gets released (assuming I remember to address, though I'm pretty good about that.) Secondly, and this was more one that kind of irked me, was 'What is taking so long? Miss the story! Want it to continue.' Now while I can sympathize with enjoying a story and hoping that it get continued, you posted this 19 hours after your first review. So, needless to say, you lost a bit of my sympathy, but I'll be patient cause I care about my audience. Firstly, I am a bit of slow methodical writer, so it takes me time to create a story segment that I'm satisfied with enough to think it can entertain the audience. I love writing this story, but I'm not going to sacrifice quality for quickness. On the topic of quickness of update, considering how much I write per chapter, and my busy life as an adult, it's should be understood that things take time (although I did update the last two about a month apart, but that's neither here nor there.). So please, I beg for your patience and understanding. I hope the story continues to entertain you, please enjoy chapter 33.

(End of author's response to unknown reviews)

(Pre fic banter)

A dark castle is shown sitting atop a Cliffside, as a storm rages and batters the building with water. At the utmost window, a small light is seen.

Closing in we see a candle sitting on a cloth-covered table.

"Greetings dearie." Senna said with a fake Transylvanian accent (1) as she steeped her fingers together, an unsettling smile on her face "Velcome to the cursed tales of the Miko. I am your hostess: Senna Kurosaki." She turns and pulls a blank book. "In today's tale we'll view a passage from a story that was filled so much madness it drove the author insane until he killed himself." the woman's smile widened "Read on if you have the courage."

* * *

Chapter 33: Darkside of the Universe

(Same time: chapter 29)

Sosuke was hunched over, looking upon the twinkling lights of his kingdom's facilities from the overseeing balcony that had been built into his room. To most, he had his usual calm confident façade, but it was only skin deep. He was mildly worried that his soldiers weren't up to snuff, since the ones he had dispatched the human world hadn't returned from their mission, or reported in.

Now while he didn't particularly cared for the ones sent out and he had expected reasonable resistance, since leaving Karakura undefended would be tactical suicide on Soul Societies part, and given Grimmjow's tendency to overextend himself because of his love for fighting, the reason why he sent Ulquiorra as backup in the first place, the problem remained.

They hadn't returned.

Three -well two and an ex- middle class Espada and a small squadron of fraccion went in and seemingly disappeared, potentially destroyed while doing no damage to his enemies.

Not the most confidence instilling display.

The man straightened his back and ran a hand through his hair, as he fingered the hilt of his blade with his other hand. Reaching into his pocket, he was about to press a button ring up Szayelaporro on the monitor for a status update on Wonderweiss, just to distract himself from his current dilemma when a knock came from his door on the far side of the room.

"Enter." The man announced as he turned around to see who entered.

Stepping into his chambers was a tomboyish Arrancar with short yellow hair, green eyes and a bone like chocker and eye piece, the fragments of her Hollow self. The woman in white stood up straight and saluted her leader.

"At ease, Menoly." The man ordered as he fixated his gaze on her while she dropped her hand to her side. "What brings you here?"

"The away team has returned Aizen-sama and the Primera Espada is on standby in the throne room, awaiting further orders." His servant and fraccion reported.

Her leader bobbed his head grateful of the news. "Thank-you, Menoly. See to it that you and Loly, get the away team to the room at once. I need them to give an immediate debriefing."

"Sir!" the enthusiastic woman saluted again, before turning and heading out.

"Game on, Urahara." Aizen challenged, as he stepped towards his door to the throne room outside.

(Hueco Mundo: Away team)

Stepping out of the black gargantuan divide in space and time, the four surviving individuals were dumped in the hub that they had entered in from earlier that evening as opposed the sands outside. They quickly noticed that they weren't alone either. Sitting a few feet ahead of them was a small girl wearing a very revealing white combat suit and short shorts. She had green hair and purple eyes and a strange one horned helmet.

The girl who had been rocking back and forth for the past while perked up when she noticed them. "Oh, you're back." When the void closed behind them, she tilted her head to the side. "Wasn't there more of you?" she asked

"That's the way battle is." A sleepy voice called out from the far right hand side of the room. The voice's owner a young man with brown hair and white suit, who was laying on his side against the ground, a bone like jaw around his neck.

Another yawn escaped him, as he pushed himself off the ground, "Ulquiorra, I didn't know you left too." He said as he rubbed the sleepies out of his eyes.

"Someone had to baby-sit, Grimmjow." The stoic Espada replied, ignoring the death glare of said sexta, who was somewhat being tended to by his fraccion.

"I didn't need your help."

"And I wouldn't have given it to you, but I was ordered to because you had what Aizen-sama needed." He replied coolly, as he placed his hands in his pockets. "Remember you've just become expendable."

The blue haired man barred his teeth hatefully. He wanted to shut this pompous prick up badly, but he knew that it wouldn't change the truth. As he was now, missing an arm and bruised all over, he very well could be at the end of the line. The panther king's gaze soon fell on his only surviving fraccion, who was standing silently between the two of them, unsure what do aside from maintaining some pressure on Grimmjow's shoulder. A disgusted frustrated groan escaped his lips as he pried the stub of an arm she'd been tending from her grip. He didn't need to be cuddled, he still had his damn pride.

Seeing that the man was put in his place, the rescuing Espada turned to the other one who was in trouble, "Samurai." He called, getting the man's attention. "You didn't think you could get away did you?"

Taiga shook his head, "I wasn't trying to."

Ulquiorra turned back around to the front, placated. "Good. Perhaps Aizen-sama will go easy on you then."

'_Fat chance.'_ The samurai thought to himself, as he knew the jig was soon to be up now, since now they'd probably be taken to his throne room, and there was no way he'd get out of being involved in the situation or explaining why how Ichigo survived aside from faking his death.

Although, it was something he had known upon doing so, that it was only a matter of time.

Entering into the large area, the two fraccion of Aizen, Loly and Menoly, looked over the sad ensemble before them. "Tch, wow." The black-haired girl with ponytail spoke in a condescending tone. "Take a look, Menoly. Mr. 6 got his team wiped out! And here I thought the Espada were supposed to be the best of the best."

Menoly smirked when she saw the barely clothed Espada shake in rage. They knew he wouldn't try anything, since Aizen had obviously sent them to fetch them. "Calm down Loly, we shouldn't kick him when he's down." She warned playfully, but soon tilted her head, cocky smile of her own. "Then again it is kinda sad when Mr. 'I stand alone' Ulquiorra, has to be a team player and save your sorry ass."

Despite feeling the absolute rage from the man behind him, the rescuing Espada remained emotionless, "If you two are done getting your pounds of flesh, can we move on to the reason as to why you are here?"

"Yeah, yeah." Loly said with obvious annoyance at getting her fun cut short. "Listen up, follow us, Aizen-sama wants to know how things went." She then looked at the two gateway slackers and fraccion of the Primera. "As for you two fraccion, your mommy wants you, so come on."

"She's not our mom!/Whatever…"

Their outcries were ignored by the group, as they started to walk away back to Aizen to give a sit-rep. So, without another word, but a good huffing on Lillinettes part, the two gate watchers got up and followed behind them.

Travelling through the dark hallways of Las Noches, the samurai of the group was absent-mindedly walking, trying to keep his mind and his nerves in check. He knew it was only a matter of time, when Grimmjow or Ulquiorra told Aizen, and it did scare him to know what he'd do to him, to his wife.

At this point, after already helping to create most of his army, they were practically expendable. The only reason they hadn't been dealt with before now, was perhaps because killing them was a low 'I can do that whenever' priority compared to the other things on Aizen's to do list. But, he could tell that after this stunt, and him finding out about Ichigo, that would quickly change. A groan escaped his lips as he grinded his back most teeth.

Unfortunately, for him, the spirit that materialized beside him preyed on his fears. "Foolish fencer." The warlord greeted with a cruel smirk.

"Oda Nobunaga." He answered back, a resigned look in his eye.

"Try again." He said, as he crossed his arms over his black battle-worn breastplate, silently keeping in stride with his adversary. A disgusted grunt was the answer he received. Letting out a self-assured laugh, he gave the samurai a brief once over, noting with delight that the young man's body reeked of trepidation. "You've certainly been desperate as of late, samurai."

"Your concern is touching." He answered bitterly; sparing a glance to make sure he was close enough to follow the group, but far away enough where his words wouldn't be heard and misconstrued. "What do you want?"

A loud high laugh escaped the demon, amused by the samurai's unusual venom. "I just wish to see more bloodshed, a world thrown into the endless pits of war. Perhaps, you would reconsider and swear you allegiance to Aizen, after all that is all his manipulation will lead to."

Shinjiro scoffed, "Swear allegiance to him? No thanks." He then glared at his murderer. "Anyway, you should remain silent. Despite my animosity to him, I'd sooner follow him over the man who killed my beloved Subaru."

"Over the man who killed your beloved?" he repeated mockingly, his hair swaying around his shoulder guards. "No, no, no. I believe you mean when 'WE' killed her." His cruel smirk once again spread across his lips "If you hadn't so naïvely believed that you could stop me without having to sacrifice one of your precious friend's lives…"

The warlord paused to enjoy the torment in the man's eyes in recalling the event. It only made him want to drive the knife harder into the wound. "A choice you couldn't make, so tell me foolish fencer what did you decide to do? You decided to face me head on, and despite your best effort you still sacrificed a precious life, your life, in an attempt to seal me inside you." A dark chuckle escaped him. "Lot of good that did, since I was able to make you watch as your precious wife died in fear, pain and agony, ahahaha!"

The samurai watched the monster laugh at its deeds, while a burning hot feeling began to rise in his chest. As he continued to stare, his fist started to shake and his teeth clenched together. Without warning, the group paused mid-step when a loud cracking noise pierced the air. Turning around they saw the Shinigami in there number's fist buried into a passing column, a large crater with extensive cracks ran up and down it.

They remained silent unsure of what caused this sudden outburst of aggression from the seemingly pacifistic Shinigami. After a few moments, the man pulled his hand out of the hard pillar, sparing them a glance from the corner of his eye. "Sorry about that. I was talking with my Zanpaktou." He apologized, as he rotated his wrist, the bone popping loudly as it fell back into place.

Loly and Menoly just nodded their heads nervously as they took a step back, not wanting to get too close to the volatile samurai. Grimmjow snorted his nose, he figured it was only a matter of time, before Boy Scout snapped and nearly killed someone; it was the reason why he stayed away from the guys that kept a calm façade and chocked things down, better to be vocal and aggressive then quiet and psychotic. Luppi nearly jumped in fright, once she heard smashing of marble, although she was quick to recover, she remained close by her Espada; she wouldn't let the samurai close to Grimmjow now. Ulquiorra remained indifferent and simply turned away after receiving and explanation, while the two tag-a-longs behind the samurai remained eerily silent.

As the group once again resumed motion, Nobunaga rematerialized with another hearty laugh that was only perceptible to his mortal enemy. "Such anger, such fury! A pity that you didn't show half as much resolve when I had control of your body, it might have been the difference that saved her life."

Shinjiro sent him a murderous look, but didn't rise to his bait a second time around. He knew he wanted him to give in to his anger and become some mindless berserker lusting for war, an addict whose only fix was murder. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't express his sentiments. "Fuck you." He cursed disdainfully. "I hate you. I hate you as much as I hate myself for my stupid decision back then. But, unlike you, I haven't lost my humanity." He turned away from him, a scathing look in his eye. "Away with you, if you show up again, I'll slit your throat myself."

The large armored warrior laughed as he took the threat in stride, finding amusement in the Myrmidons' dark promise. "Very well, but we will meet again, in this life or the next." As the warlord started to fade into the back of the samurai's mind, his words echoed in his head. "After all, it's my destiny to kill your wife, over and over again."

Shinjiro's fists clenched tightly at his side. "Not unless I kill you first." He muttered, as the group paused in front of the door that led into the throne room.

Aizen's fraccion walked forward, pushing and holding the doors open, allowing the group to pass by before stepping back outside, resuming their posts. Inside the throne room there was several more people instead of just Aizen waiting for them. On the bottom steps of the stairs that lead to the throne was the hidden visage of the Primera Espada, the flowing white burqa encasing her figure, only the small window around her blue eyes against peachy skin could be seen. Beside the Espada was her ward and the other prisoner of Aizen, Subaru Kujo, who was wearing an inverted color schemed version of her Onimitsukido uniform. The spy readily took note of Shinjiro's inclusion of the group and was now starting to figure out why she was called here.

Not too far away from the two of them were Aizen's Shinigami conspirators, Tosen and Gin, both wearing a white version of their old attire, but while Kaname had a stoic unfeeling expression, Ichimaru looked like he was having the time of his life. The last and most important person in the room was Aizen himself, sitting upon his marble throne, looking down coolly on the ones who entered his court, noting the causalities and the 'addition'.

The commander stood up and began to walk down the steps, most of the gathered bowing respectfully. "Welcome back." Sosuke greeted faux-amicably, his true feeling and intention hidden well. "Seeing as your arm is missing, as well as most of your clothes, I take it that things didn't go quite as planned?" he pointed out ever so serenely.

Grimmjow growled to himself at jab, but kept silent as he stood back up along with the rest of the group. "I still accomplished my mission." He informed through gritted teeth, he knew he was just patronizing him.

"Hmmm…." Aizen glanced at Luppi, then over to Shinjiro, before returning to Grimmjow. "You keep odd company, Mr. Jaggerjack." He commented, before turning to Ulquiorra, "Was the Shinigami with them, Ulquiorra?"

"Yes, Taiga was." The pale Arrancar answered.

Sosuke's eyes flickered over to Subaru, who was directing a questioning look to Shinjiro. That obviously meant that she wasn't aware of his actions tonight. "Very well. One problem at a time. Grimmjow," he called upon, "Tell me the situation in Karakura town and, if you know, the name of the one who inflicted such grievous wounds on you. I need to know what I'm dealing with."

Grimmjow held his anger in check, as he barely nodded his head in acknowledgement. "…yes, sir." The blue haired Arrancar leisurely slanted his body to one side, right hand raised level to his scarred chest. "My team and I left for Karakura. We split up and they engaged the Shinigami while I checked out what they were up to. They were building these towers."

Aizen raised a brow, "Towers?" he repeated,

Before Grimmjow could continue, Ulquiorra crushed his eye in his hand, creating a large image of the tower in question. Grimmjow spared his fellow Espada a glance, who merely gave him a nod to continue with his report. "Anyway, this what they look like." He jutted his thumb to the image, "Apparently they're setting up battle formation and were testing it out when we got there."

"Ah, I see." Sosuke confirmed to himself. Now it made sense, and explained why Grimmjow was hurt. Those towers were designed to allow captain level beings to be able to fight in that town without endangering the inhabitants.

It was clever, but still, something in the back of Aizen's mind was telling him that something else was off about it. If it was merely to protect the humans that same effect could be achieved by the department of research and development, which had the ability to create a temporary barrier for when Shinigami forces engaged particularly destructive Hollows and Menos-Grande in the world of the living.

'_Hmmm… but then why go through all the effort to create more permanent means when the R&D can just create an infinite looping barrier system?'_ Aizen thought to himself. When no obvious conclusion came to mind he looked back at Grimmjow to continue his report. "Please continue."

The man shrugged, "Not much to tell. From the bitch Shinigami I killed, all it was supposed to do was conceal the Shinigami present, so that you wouldn't sense them when we arrived, like camouflage for an ambush."

'_Wouldn't sense them?'_ he thought to himself. He could tell that was obviously what the Shinigami in question's superior officer had told them and, judging by the answer, it was certainly not something Mayuri would cook up, which left one other person. "Urahara." He muttered quietly.

It wouldn't be much of a stretch for him to have a fair idea with what he was planning, which only begged his next question. "What did you do with the tower?"

"I destroyed it of course."

"And what happened?"

The man rolled his eyes; it was a fucking tower that got blown up, plain and simple. Did he want to know if it had twin sister too? "I dunno. The air seemed to change just a bit, I didn't notice anything different."

"Unsurprising." Ulquiorra deadpanned, his words taunting the panther. He turned to Aizen ignoring Luppi and Grimmjow's glare. "On arrival, I noticed that the spiritual field encompassing the area had waned. The air was less dense with spiritual energy and, just before I rescued what remained of Grimmjow's group, a strange green webbing arced across the skyline before shattering." He reported the changes, while the image his eye created showed the details he described, before returning back to the image of the white tower.

Sosuke closed his eyes and nodded; now he understood. It was both very simplistic and clever, a hallmark of Urahara's designs. The towers were constructed to not only reinforce the town to allow multiple Captain Class Shinigami the ability to fight at full strength at the same time, but it also served to link the town to Soul Society in some indiscernible way, hampering his plans.

The only conclusion he could think of was that Urahara had been able to piece enough information with Yamamoto to figure his intention out and provide countermeasures. Kisuke's must have learned that in order to create the King's key, he would need the area to be in its natural state of integrity, something like being linked as an access point to another area defiled. Plus, with what he heard so far, Sosuke would presume that he'd have to face the might of Soul Society, who would defend the towers, before he could lay claim to the that would allow him to reach his goal: The throne of heaven.

Still while it was a stumbling block, he knew how to take away the advantage his opponent had. Judging by what they had done so far and knowing that the more time Aizen had, the more his army grew, they were planning to do the exact same thing as him: A pincer attack.

Aizen knew that if he went on the offensive, he wouldn't be able take out all of the Shinigami's might in one grand battle. Contrary to the saying, but quantity did occasionally beat out quality. However; if he played defensively enough and took the right moments to recover, he could take them out section by section until the mammoth sized army heeled. Conversely he also knew that Soul Society wouldn't commit all of their heavy hitter to his realm. If they were cut off or destroyed, taking the human world would provide him the ultimate front, bases in two realms that could offer unlimited support with one another.

The scenario was like two stag beetles locking pincers. The first to break their opponent's innermost horn would be the one that was likely to be the victor when the dust settled. Aizen briefly smiled, this would be a challenge worthy of proving his ascension. "Do you know who was heading the operation in the human world?"

Grimmjow paused and thought about it. He didn't really know who was in charge, just that one piece of shit he was gonna fucking murder. "Don't know." He replied, before turning to his fellow Espada, "Show him the guy."

The pale Espada said nothing, but the image of the tower changed revealing a Shinigami with bright orange hair and peachy skin, snarling back at the room's occupants, a thin black sword in his hand.

Aizen's eyes widened at whom he saw. It was…it was impossible. There was no way. He was dead, he did die, right before his very eyes! Swiveling around he looked at Shinjiro who had a stony expression with hinted defiance, turning over to Subaru, he saw underneath he fate resigned eyes was the traces of a smirk.

As he recovered from his shock, it then clicked to him why they had those smug expressions. His mind filled in the gaps at what truly had happened that day and only now did it make sense. They had played him for a fool. Their tears, their insistence to leave, it wasn't for themselves and their fear of being discovered by Captain Soifon, it was meant for him as bait, to draw him to the wrong conclusion, distract him as they departed Soul Society.

He had been beguiled for over two months while that man grew stronger, strong enough to challenge him, to destroy his plans. They knew this and smiled to themselves for getting what they believed was the last laugh in their defiant yet futile fifty-year slog.

Sosuke was livid. How dare they, how dare they try to destroy the dream that was on cusp of becoming reality. He was just about to order them to be detained and then be brutally tortured and maimed, before being slowly executed by Barragan's aging aura, but before the words could begin to form, he stopped when a low groan escaped the lips of the Primera Espada. Wheeling around he saw his top soldier pressing a hand over her covering, as if a sharp migraine had sprung up. For the first time, in a long time, emotion, fear was palpable in his tone. "Cut the feed now!" he ordered frantically.

The fourth Espada did as commanded and closed his fist, causing the images his eye created to vanish into reishi particles.

Everyone in the room went deathly silent as the master of Hueco Mundo returned his attention back to his top Espada who was working past the sudden attack. It was no secret that the man was particularly fond of this Espada, on a level that existed outside pure strength logistics. Even if the Primera was the weakest Arrancar in existence, he would show no remorse to whoever raised a hand to her and it showed.

The tension in the room was thick and stifling. They could all feel his barely restrained spiritual pressure. It felt like the very thing that held up the roof above them all. No one, not even the other Espada, dared to draw attention to themselves out of pure fear that the full weight of his strength might fall upon them and crush them where they stood.

Sosuke's posture eased when the veiled Espada raised one of her hands up, signaling she was okay. "My…my apologies Master Aizen. _That_ feeling returned, but it's gone now." The Primera muttered with another shake of the head, throwing off the remnant of her strange sensory overload.

From beside her master, Luppi stepped forward tentatively. "Disculpe, señora." She called to the Primera, who turned her blue eyes to the woman. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Grimmjow-sama requires your help." She then gestured to his left side where his arm was missing.

The cloaked figure pushed herself off her knees and walked over to them. When Grimmjow tried to move away, a quick scolding glare halted him, allowing her to examine the stub that had been crudely forced shut with rudimentary reishi manipulation. After a few seconds, a disappointing grunt escaped her throat. "I apologize, Luppi-chan. But I'm afraid I can't make something out of nothing."

"But what about your powers? Your Zanpaktou?" she begged know what she could create.

"It's fine." Grimmjow muttered as he removed himself from the doctor's grip. He didn't get a chance to walk away, when Luppi buried her fist into the man's stomach sending him to his knees.

A pained groan was held between clenched teeth, as he glared at his subordinate, who glared right back. "Luppi you-"

"You're badly wounded and missing an arm. You're incapable of anything right now." She scolded as she would a child, before turning back to the pitying Espada.

Said Espada glanced back at the fraccion and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but unless I were to be in my ressurreccion state for the remainder of my time here, his sand reconstructed arm will disintegrate upon my exiting of that state. As I said, I cannot make something of such sustenance out of nothing."

The dark-haired woman placed her hands on her hips and thought it over. "So, the problem isn't that you can't do or won't do it, it's because you lack a permanent catalyst." She asked

The Espada nodded, "Sí, ¿lo entiendes ahora?"

Now she knew what she had to do. "Entiendo."

Without another word, the woman pulled out her sword and cut off her left arm, her scream held in as she bit her lip as the roaring surge of pain coursed through her form. The horrified Primera recovered quickly and wasted little time healing the woman, clotting her wounds to prevent further blood loss.

Luppi spared Grimmjow a glance, who was just as shocked at her actions as everyone else in the room, minus Ulquiorra. Closing her eyes to steady herself, she tried to keep up a confident front despite nearly dying from shock-induced trauma. "There…p-problem solved." She muttered through pained breathes.

The working doctor sighed, "Very kind, very brave, very foolish." She reprimanded, before turning her attention to her leader. "By your leave, I will take these two down to Szayelaporro. Perhaps with his technology and my medical ability we can rework compatibility, resize it and then graft this to Grimmjow."

"Very well." Aizen said, as his eyes fell to the two traitorous Shinigami in his midst. "Take them and go, Ulquiorra join them. I have other matters to attend."

The Espada nodded and upon calling for her fraccion to join the group left, leaving the five Shinigami alone. As the door to his chambers closed, the two saboteurs felt the weight of Aizen spiritual pressure on their shoulders. "Now then." Aizen whispered deathly serious, "Care to tell me why Mr. Kurosaki is still alive?"

The duo said nothing having resigned and prepared themselves for this moment long ago. They just glared at him with a small feeling of accomplishment at being able to give the proverbial finger to his plans. "I see. You tricked me. You planned it. You counted on me buying it." He surmised with barely contained fury. It was the only explanation.

The man took a step forward, his chest and shoulders shaking as a smile emerged on his lips. Everyone watched him warily as a loud booming laughter escaped his lips, filling the hall. Coming down from his high, he sighed, as he looked the two of them over. "Well played."

That unexpected statement was the last thing they heard, before blood exploded from large sword wounds that suddenly appeared on their bodies, flaying clothing and blood falling around them. The husband and wife pair briefly saw the blood drenched sword that assaulted them at Aizen's side, before their heads collided against the hard floor.

Flicking his weapon of their blood, Sosuke sheathed his sword as he walked over towards them, making a small motion with his hand, calling Gin and Tosen to approach as well. The brown-haired man loomed over them, admiring his work, before he leaned down and placed his fingers against their neck, smiling cruelly when he found a pulse. Standing back up, he turned to his associates and pulled out from his pocket the reason for why he asked their approach.

Two caja negacions.

"Tosen, Ichimaru, I have a job for you."

"What's that?" Ichimaru asked, his gaping smirk widening, he could tell he was going to get a job he'd like.

"Sir?"

"I want the both of you to take this caja negacion and use it on yourself and them. Tosen, you take Subaru, Gin, Shinjiro is yours. For the next 72 hours I want you to teach them true pain," he spared the traitors a glance, considering how to finish them. "Don't kill them though." He finished with a cruel smirk of his own, they still had a use yet. "I have a different fate in store for them. Death will not come swiftly."

Kaname nodded as he grabbed his orb, "Understood, milord." He then picked up the woman and used the orb. A black encompassing light took both of them to a parallel dimension.

Gin took his orb and sighed, "Aww, I wanted to pay Su-chan back for destroying my old Haori. I was fond of it." He then walked over and 'accidentally' kicked the unconscious samurai, "Oh, well, I suppose this revenge enough. Three days, huh?" he tossed the orb up as it activated. "Perfect."

As the darkness of the trans-dimensional imprisonment field faded, Aizen was now alone in his throne room. Quickly turning around he walked back up the steps to his throne. He needed to think about what to do to succeed over this late breaking development. When he placed his rear onto his cushion, he leaned against one of the arms of his chair, biting his thumb as he looked at the vacant room below, freely showing his agitation now that no one was around.

He needed to come up with a strategy for dealing with that man quickly; otherwise, all of this was going to come to an end. The usually calm man's knees were shaking impatiently, "Damn it." He cursed himself. How could those two have tricked him? How could he be so blind? Now there was a person with power that could potentially rival his own coming straight for him and he had no way neutralizing him.

Another frustrated sigh escaped his lips, as his eyes swiveled around the room, trying to find a hidden solution that had somehow been hidden or overlooked until now.

Sadly, there was none.

"Grr…" the man angrily slammed his fist into arm of his chair. The dull thump reverberated through the room. His eyes wandered over to his clenched fist, he then let out a resigning sigh as he leaned back into his chair.

He hated to admit it since it brought back bad memories and feelings of helplessness, but he needed to admit it. Sosuke Aizen, Nanashi, the boy he had been, he was defeated today and embittered because of that loss. He let all the hate and anger inside him flow freely now. He knew there was no point in holding it in. He had to let this run its course, so that he could once again have a clear head to think with, to look at the situation again at later time and spot the important detail he'd miss otherwise.

Getting up from his throne, the man walked back down the steps and turned towards his bedroom. As he entered into his private quarters, he undid his sash and tossed his Kyoka Suigetsu onto his bed. In the midst of his stripping he pressed a button on his intercom that lay on his night stand.

In less than a second the voice of Loly spoke up. "Yes, Aizen-sama." She chirped from her post outside the throne room, feeling particularly enthusiastic since it was rare for him to use the device.

A habitual smile from his days in Soul Society appeared on his face, as he took his shirt off his lightly scarred body. "Loly-chan, I would appreciate it if you and Menoly-chan do not allow anyone into my chambers this evening. I've had a very trying day and I need to rest. Should Barragan or Rudbornn seek me, please inform them of such and take a message."

"Y-yes, my lord! May you sleep easy tonight!"

"Thank-you. Good night." He cut off the communication as he spared a glance at his large bed. He then kept walking forward to his bathroom for a relaxing shower. He'd sleep on the problem for now and tackle it with a clear mind later.

(Several hours later)

Pushing the soft blanket off his bare chest, Sosuke sat up on his bed, his hand absent-mindedly reaching for his nightstand and placing his old pair of glasses over his eyes. As the tips settled on the bridge of his nose, he froze momentarily when the world around him became fuzzy. When it clicked he let out a small laugh.

After so many years of wearing them, both out of necessity and to complete his image as a 'disarmingly loyal everyman' in Soul Society, he oft forgot that since coming to Hueco Mundo he didn't need them because of his special contact lens. Picking them up and putting them on was just a second nature habit for him that he needed to break.

Taking the glass back off, he set them back down on the stand. "I really need to move those glasses." He mentally noted to himself as he let out a yawn.

Stretching his arms and neck, he crossed his legs and picked up Kyoka Suigetsu, placing the sheathed illusion caster against his thigh. He quietly sat in his thoughts, he knew he couldn't delay dealing with this problem any further.

Every second wasted tightened the noose around him more.

With a shake of his head, he decided to organize his thoughts for the sake of efficiency and reviewing what he knew. Fact: Ichigo Kurosaki was still alive. Fact: He'd been seen in Karakura town when he sent his assault team. Fact: The only surviving members of the assault team were the ex-Espada Luppi Antenor and replacing Espada Grimmjow Jaggerjack, all fraccion eliminated. Fact: Soul Society would likely be on high alert now.

"Hmmm…" his eyes drifted to Kyoka Suigetsu, he briefly mused about using its power to make anyone near Ichigo Kurosaki perceive him as an Arrancar; that could certainly provide a chance to kill him.

The man shook his head as he quickly realized the problem. He didn't know where he was or who was with him. He couldn't effectively manipulate the situation without some kind of information. "Information." He considered, an idea dawning on him. He did have his 'Ninchi Shinjitsu' ability, but that would still be like a needle in a haystack, if he were to just search randomly. "No, it's the way to go." He muttered. It was certainly a better plan than the alternative of sending in another team to get violently wiped out just to get personnel detail.

Getting dressed the man picked up his sword and entered the bathroom. As he stood before his large sink mirror, he held the sword vertically, "Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu." He commanded, as the blade barely changed in response. Once it was done, he looked at his reflection, "Now…who might know…"

An answer came immediately as the man popped into his mind, "Kisuke Urahara." He said.

The Aizen reflected in the mirror soon faded from the other's sight. A full minute passed, before the image reappeared, still mimicking Aizen. "Damn. A failure." He cursed.

The main problem with this technique was unless the hypnotized person was looking into a reflective surface such as water, glass, or mirrors, he wouldn't be able to see the person's thoughts.

Still, he remained undeterred, "Retsu Unohana." Again, the image disappeared again. This time what came up was a cloudy image of a room, he could hear the rasping sound of running water hitting something solid.

"What the?" he muttered to himself. This had never happened before.

Leaning in closer to the mirror to try and make out any image through the haze, he saw some kind of shimmering wall and a woman's voice sing a song he didn't know. When he realized where this was, the curtain of the shower was brushed all the way to the end, as the bountiful wet naked form of the beautiful Retsu Unohana cut off the water to her shower and stepped out of the tub, reaching for a nearby towel to dry herself with.

"Pfffft!" Aizen's concentration was immediately broken, as he placed his hand over his nose to the stop blood that shot out of it. He stood there for a good solid minute while his reflection reappeared in the mirror, showing his disgraceful state.

After wiping the blood away and taking a moment to collect himself. The man reaffirmed his hold on his sword and was about to try again, when he stopped himself, a small debate on his actions sparking in his mind. Assuming that he could actually concentrate on his task, and get her attention to put her in a trance, she could provide him with the necessary knowledge he might need, but…

"No." the man shook his head resolutely. Pragmatic and manipulative as he was, he knew what honor meant. Compromising a woman's modesty for his own gain was a depravity reserved only for when all other options had been exhausted. He wasn't at that point yet, he was desperate, but certainly not _that_ desperate.

"Okay, let's try…Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryusai."

The recomposed Aizen was then privy to the image of the head captain sleeping in his chair, obviously very tired from all the problem Sosuke had caused him. Aizen cursed again as he cut off the connection, the target needed to be awake, words alone barely caught the person's attention when they were aware, he had no hope breaking through the veil of dreams.

Bringing a hand to his lips, he thought about who else might know and would theoretically be awake. He then recalled that Captain Soifon was Ichigo's commanding officer and Captain Hitsugaya was his friend, surely one of them would know.

Re-steadying his sword, he held it vertically and closed his eyes, "Soifon." He muttered.

Once again, the image of his bathroom faded and replaced by the image of captain Soifon, who was thankfully clothed. He smiled when he saw that she was distracted with washing her hands. It would give him the time he needed to strengthen the connection.

Although he was concentrating his spiritual energy, he couldn't help but furrow an eyebrow when he saw the woman give a mirthful smirk and say "He'd probably think I'd gotten fat if I didn't tell him."

'_Who would think that? Kyoraku? When was she concerned about her weight or better put his opinion in general?'_ the peeper thought to himself, as he watched her stroke the side of her abdomen. Before he could forget his actual purpose, he set the train of thought aside and focused on his task. "Soifon, look here." He commanded, his word transcending dimensions to his target.

The spooked woman turned away from the mirror and looked out the doorway. Aizen frowned, he needed her to face the mirror, so he could hypnotize her properly. "No, Soifon, look here." He reinforced.

This time around he got marginally better results, "Who's there?" the woman barked with her typical scowl on her face. "Are you deaf or stupid!? Show yourself!"

Aizen smiled, the connection was almost complete, he just needed her there for a few more seconds. "Look, over here, captain."

On command, the woman turned back around to Aizen, her hand raised defensively in front of her. Lot of good it would do her. "I must be losing it." She said as Aizen bowed his head, his mirror glowing in response to his spiritual energy.

Quickly opening his eyes, he proclaimed. "Ninchi Shinjitsu (Perceived truth)!"

A wave of spiritual energy flummoxed through the mirror onto the defensive Soifon. She backed up half a step, her legs wobbly from the jolt. Her grey eyes were focused in front of her, as she had been preparing herself for an attack, but it wasn't long before her pupils lost the light in them and her arms softly fell to her side, her expression glassy and dazed.

"Perfect." Aizen patted himself on the back. "Now let's see what's on your mind."

Closing his eyes, he started to hear the thoughts that were on her mind ring in his head.

_I thought I locked the door._

_What the hell was that in the mirror?_

_Shinjiro…_

_Mental note: Place a spy on Hitsugaya. Kill him if he leaks my secret._

_Subaru…_

_Sneaking into my own barrack, heh, never thought I'd see the day…_

_Damn family. Maybe I should have killed them when I had the chance._

Aizen pushed more reiatsu into the technique. He was on the outermost layer of the human mind, the fleeting thought, he would need to try harder, before he could get into concrete thought and then finally deeply held secrets, which was what he was aiming for.

_What do I tell him?_

_Masaki-sama…_

_I still have that needle for her. Good._

_So, I'm going to be a mother now._

Aizen's eyes shot open when he heard that train of thought in her brain. Not one to overlook an advantage, he decided to follow that nebula of thoughts plunging deeper into that regions underlying foundation.

_Me and Ichigo…we're going to have a kid, Unohana said so herself, I'm really happy. But, I wish that I wasn't under orders from the Sotaichō. Damn that old man. But, I'll protect Ichigo not matter what._

'_Hmm, interesting. She and Ichigo are an item, and they have a child on the way.'_ He tucked away that information, before turning to other thought that caught his interest. _'Now about those order from the Sotaichō.'_

_I hope this war ends, before I have to do the old man's orders. I don't want to kill Shinjiro or Subaru, I know they're being manipulated by that bastard Aizen, somehow. I also hate that I have to monitor Ichigo and Senna condition. Half-Shinigami and Half-Hollow, who would have thought? Certainly not, I. Still, I wonder if Shinji was right? Would Soul Society order their death when the fighting is done? I mean (sigh) he has a point with how people would view them and I was told to execute them if they got beyond Soul Societies' control…but I know I can't do it. I won't let anyone hurt them. I'll protect them no matter the cost._

Aizen was smiling now. He was beginning to hatch a plan of his own; he just needed to know one more thing.

_Ichigo is training in the human world right now with Senna. I wish tomorrow was here already, so that I could meet back up with them at her house. Ahaha, I sound like an overprotective parent. My how I've changed._

That was everything he needed. Recalling his spiritual energy, the image of the hypnotized woman faded and his returned, as he sheathed his weapon. "Thank-you and congratulations, Mrs. Kurosaki." He thanked sincerely for her glorious contribution to his cause.

Stepping out of his bathroom, he put on his coat and stepped outside to his throne room. As the door closed behind him, he glanced at his side where his loyal fraccion Loly and Menoly stood attention, barring anyone from entering his quarters per his orders. "Good day ladies."

Both women turned and saluted their master. "Good afternoon, Aizen-sama!" then brought their hands down. "Have you finished resting?" Menoly asked.

"Yes, I have. And now that I've rested up, I have a new strategy in mind, but I will need your help in seeing it through." He said, which caused the eyes of both women to light up. "Firstly, Menoly, I want you to go get Tia Harribel and Luppi Antenor, I have a mission for them in the human world."

"Yes, Aizen-sama."

He then turned over to his pigtailed fraccion. "Loly, I want you to go to Szayelaporro and request a holographic communication pad and bring it back to me. If there is time, find out how he and the Primera are doing on the reconstruction and grafting of Grimmjow's arm."

Loly flinched at the mentioning of Grimmjow, which Aizen saw. He knew that she didn't like being with the volatile man alone, especially when he was in a bad mood, but she would do it for him. But just to be sure, he gave her some encouraging word to at least speed the process along if nothing else. "Be at ease, she is also with the both of them. You'll be perfectly safe under her watchful eye."

Loly face turned bright red, misinterpreting Aizen's concern for her. "I…ah, yes Aizen-sama!" she saluted, while Menoly just glared at her annoyed that she got extra attention.

"Very well. Dismissed." He ordered.

The two disappeared in a burst of Sonido, while the overlord made his way over to the throne. He sat down in his chair and breathed out a sigh, as he looked over the empty throne room. "Ruling as far the eye can see." The man propped his arm up and rested his cheek against it. "It's funny, I'm so close that I can taste it." He closed his eyes a peaceful smile on his lips, "So why do I still think about my past?"

(Loly)

As the doors to the mad scientist wing of the complex opened, Ms. Aivirrne stepped in to see the pink haired Szayelaporro sitting in a chair conversing with both the recently amputated Luppi Antenor and her savior the Primera Espada. Looking around she noticed that Stark, Lilynette, and Ulquiorra weren't around, while the computer monitor showed a sedated Grimmjow resting on a bed in a different room.

Halting his conversation, the good scientist turned to his latest guest. "Well, aren't I a popular fellow with the local troglodytes." He said condescending, before popping a small piece of chocolate into his mouth.

"Señor Granz." The Primera warned, since she wouldn't stand for unwarranted hostility.

"Yes, yes…" he waved off, having momentarily forgotten he was in the presence of Aizen's favorite pet, the first Arrancar, Lady goody-two shoes herself.

"Luppi," Loly called to the amputated woman, wanting to gauge if she'd be able to hold up for Aizen special mission. "How are you?"

Luppi shrugged uncaringly, "I lost an arm, but I got eight more in my Zanpaktou."

"You would have died if I hadn't saved you." The Primera informed with disapproval in her eyes.

"And I trusted you to save me." The ivy girl replied with amusement, which only got a sigh in response. "So what did you want with Aivirrne?"

"Aizen-sama needs you for a mission." Her eyes then went over to the sitting man, "I also need a Holopad to deliver to Aizen-sama."

"A holographic pad." He repeated mildly, he had been hoping to keep it under wraps for a little while longer, at least until he had finished installing them in his ward. Oh, well.

Standing up, he walked over to the nearby table that was cluttered with an array of tools and gadgets. Picking up a sleek handheld tablet, he tossed it over to the woman, who struggled to catch it, before it fell and hit the floor. "Wonderful job, clumsy." He 'congratulated'

A scathing glare from Loly was his reward, as she picked it up from the ground and examined the screen. When she saw that it wasn't damaged she placed it in her pocket, before looking over to the less asshole-ish Arrancar. "How far along is Grimmjow towards recovery?"

The Primera crossed her arms in front of her "It shouldn't be long. Luppi's arm was fresh and with the balance between medical administration and Szayelaporro's technology, we were able to successfully graft it back on."

She bowed her head, concern washing over her features as she recalled the problems they had. "Although, his grafting point was filled with the remnant of the foreign black reiatsu, which I presume was from whatever burned his arm off. Those particles were especially tricky to purge, since they acted like a virus against Hollow DNA, damaging cells the longer they remained in the system, but luckily we did purge them. Though Grimmjow isn't ready for deployment yet, he will need a bit of rehabilitating with his new arm before it will have the same functionality of his old one."

"Well at least he won't lose his rank in the Espada." Luppi commented on the situation since that was a pretty important thing around here. Without significant rank, you lacked authority and could even be considered expendable.

The Espada beside her was about to chastise her for thinking such thoughts when she paused. It was the same feeling as last time; looking over her shoulder, she spied him leaning against one of the columns that lined the walls. "Mr. Guest." She called out as she turned in his direction.

Mr. Guest didn't move from his spot, simply turning his head enough to look back. "Yeah." He called back.

"Care to explain why the hell you are in my lab?" Szayelaporro demanded as he got up from his chair.

Loly smiled at the anger and shock on the scientist's face when the guest said "None of your damn business, that's what."

"Be at ease, Mr. Granz." The burqa wearing woman hushed the man, before he could do anything. "Mr. Guest, I would ask you that you please keep your words to yourself. Mr. Granz is under a lot of stress right now, his brother just died recently."

The other individuals in the room had to bite back the urge to laugh. It wasn't much of a secret that Szayelaporro and his brother Yllford were on two different wavelengths. The man's probably didn't even really give a damn, one less research subject and one less fool in his eyes.

But they kept it to themselves. "Sorry, I was actually looking for you, but you were busy in a conversation." The dark-haired man answered seriously.

The woman's eyes lit up, "Oh, whatever for?" She normally didn't like being stalked by him, but she'd allow it since he was harmless, aside from occasional invading her space.

"Yami got injured fighting the redhead again." He reported the redheads name escaping, but knew she got the point of his message.

The light of surprise turned into irritation. "I see." She muttered hotly. She then bowed "Thank-you for telling me. I must depart at once."

"I'll walk with ya." He replied as he pushed himself to follow after, much as he'd always done since coming here.

As the doorway closed behind the two, Luppi whistled. "(Wheeew) Someone's gonna get their ass whooped."

"Really?" Szayelaporro asked with piqued interest. Perhaps, he might get a new cadaver to toy with.

Luppi nodded firmly, "Oh yeah. Last I heard, the two of them got into a fight. Cause, you know, Yami tends to test out his strength after getting stuck in the infirmary on the nurses, which tends to kill the nurses."

"Ja, I'm aware." The bespectacled man answered, having heard of the situation in passing.

A playful scoff escaped Luppi, as if she was telling a funny joke and getting to the good part. "Well, the nurses finally had enough and all got together and told the Primera Espada, because, you know, she helped organize the wards in the first place. So get this, after she hears it, she says she'll handle it before walking away. When she see Yami joking around out on the sand with his buddies, she just walks up to him all calm and collected. Once she gets next to him she grabs one of his arm and then just twists suddenly. She ends breaking it in half, like every bone."

A chuckle escaped her, "So while he's on the dirt screaming and wailing bloody murder, she tells him that if ever touches the nurses of the ward again, that she'll break more than his arms and as for his –then- broken arm, he'd have to wait till that healed up naturally. So yeah, he's on her shit list and I doubt his Espada, Ulquiorra, could talk her into changing her mind."

"Hmmm, I wonder if I can get him to attack another nurse." The pink haired man wonder to himself. The Primera Espada was rarely angry and he was curious to see what would happen if she actually snapped. It certainly wouldn't be too hard to make it look like an accident, especially with Yami's temper. He'd just be sure to take notes from a distance, before collecting his latest cadaver.

Before the conversation could continue further, the doors opened up again, and in walked Menoly with Harribel just behind her. "Ah, Loly, oh and you're here too Luppi." The blond tomboy said with a hint of surprise. She had actually come down to see if Loly had seen Luppi, but this worked.

The pig-tailed girl remembering her mission turned to Luppi, "It's about the mission."

Luppi's gaze wandered over to the newly arrived Espada, "So you're my partner for this one?"

Harribel nodded, "Yes. We should return to Aizen-sama at once."

"Wonderful." Granz said as he turned back around to return to his work. "Adios, goodbye, au revoir, don't let the door hit you on the ass!" he waved off dismissively.

(Harribel and Luppi)

After traveling back to the outside of Aizen's quarters, Loly gave the women the square holopad, telling them that, 'Aizen-sama needed it for something.' Before she and Menoly returned back to their posts: Guarding the entrance.

Pushing the door for her and her comrade, the two walked in to see the man in the chair folding up an old-looking piece of paper and tucking it inside his clothing. Harribel figured it must have been a report that could wait until after this important meeting was through.

The two women got about halfway, but stopped and kneeled, when Aizen got up from his throne, deciding to meet them halfway.

"Greetings ladies, Harribel-san, Antenor-san." The man said tipping his head to both of them.

"Aizen-sama." The women replied, as they got up from their knees.

The brown-haired man stopped a few feet away from them. "I have a mission for the two of you. It's quite dangerous, but if it is successful, we may gain a very powerful ally."

Luppi's eyes lit up at the prospect, while her partners straightened her back up, to show she was listening intently on his words. "But first…" the man's eyes went over to the dark haired Arrancar. "Are you ready for a bit of revenge?"

A shark-like smile surfaced on the woman's face. "Don't you know it!"

"Good, because this plan is going to incur a lot resistance. I selected the both of you because you are or were Espadas. The mission is simple: Harribel, do you or Luppi have the holopad I requested of Loly Aivirrne?"

The blonde woman nodded as she pulled out the object in question. "Yes, sir. Right here."

"The mission is simple. The both of you will enter into the world of the living. Naturally, this will alert Soul Societies forces of your presence and the Shinigami in the area will try to converge on your position, hence why the both you are going."

Both women nodded at what he was saying, understanding the plan. One of them was going to be the bait while the other snuck away to perform a different task. Harribel looked at the one-armed woman and after recalling her leaders initials words, concluded she'd be doing the sneaking.

Aizen took note of the hard look in Luppi's eyes. "Yes, as you no doubt have deduced. I am basically asking you to undertake a mission which your chances of survival are minimal." He said, not bothering to sugar coat the truth of the matter. However that didn't mean he couldn't defuse any tension between himself and the women by explaining his reasoning for sending Antenor.

"It pains me to do so, especially after witnessing your grand act of loyalty by amputating your own arm yesterday to save Grimmjow's position as the sexta, but that's not why I chose you. I didn't choose you because I thought you became worthless, rather you are the most qualified for the task."

He explained, "You're ressurreccion 'Wild Vine' is best suited to holding back multiple target while remaining mobile and, seeing how you and Grimmjow's assault squad faired against initial contact, I am not willing to put another Espada and their fraccion at risk for annihilation should my hunch prove to be wrong."

Luppi's lips trembled momentarily, as she tried to keep her impassive front up. After a few moment, she spoke. "Will I be allowed to kill Shinigami on this mission?"

Sosuke seemed moderately surprised that she would ask that, he assumed it was implied, but still he took the opportunity to bolster the woman's confidence and nodded with a smirk. "I not only allow it, I encourage you to do so. Show those Shinigami fools the strength of a survivor."

As Luppi's confident smirk returned, Aizen looked back at Harribel. "May I see the Holopad, Harribel?"

Walking over, the silent Blond handed it over. Sosuke hit the key pad and fiddled around with the features a bit until it came to the locator sub-setting. Pressing in the last known coordinates of Grimmjow's position, Aizen took note that one building in particular had a dense mix of Shinigami and Hollow Reishi. Handing the device back he said, "You will go to these coordinates and stick the device on to the door. Use the code 5328 to do so."

The man stepped back, a hard look in his eye as he assessed how this mission will go. After a few minutes he finally continued. "Harribel, Luppi you will enter in near a wide open area. Harribel, I suggest you make use of the surrounding tree line camouflage yourself as you make your escape. Before you head out, I would like you to pass on a message to Menoly to come see me as you leave. Good luck."

Giving one final salute, the two Arrancars left on their mission.

(Human world)

As the sky parted for the gargantuan, the two Arrancars stepped out into a large park, a sea of trees was surrounding them, while the city itself was a small ways off.

Harribel glanced at her partner, who returned her look, also feeling the spikes of spiritual energy from the Shinigami, who were alerted to their presence. With a nod, Harribel dropped down to the dirt and suppressed her spiritual energy, while Luppi flared her energy out tauntingly.

The black-haired woman took one final glance as Harribel used her Sonido to vanish into the tree line. Once she was sure she was undercover, she used her good arm and pulled out her sword, as the first Shinigami arrived.

The Shinigami was a woman with short black hair and oval glasses; she had a stern look in her eyes, but kept her distance, wary of what this enemy can do. "You must be one of Aizen's Arrancar." The woman surmised as she adjusted her glasses.

Luppi narrowed her eyes, concluding that due to the fascination in her voice, she was obviously not part of the team she wanted to get her revenge on. "Usted debe ser un puto genio." She replied sarcastically.

Nanao narrowed her eyes in kind, "No es muy cortés de insultar a un extraño." She responded.

The Arrancar's eye lit up as a grin appeared on her face "¡Qué lindo! You understood what I said." She said, as she took a few steps forward, shaking her hips with each step. "You're as smart as that other girl I fought. I like smart people, so for that: If you be a doll and tell me where your leaders are, I'll kill them instead of you."

"You're pretty full of yourself, if you think that you can fight us all by yourself." Nanao retorted as she drew her sword, "Allow me to show you the folly of your choices. Keep her in line, Gin no mei (Silver eye)."

Luppi licked her lips as the woman's sword changed, she could feel the other spiritual pressures moving more rapidly to her position in response to the Shinigami's release.

As the book materialized in Ise hands, several individuals appeared in a defensive perimeter behind her. One was a blonde man whose hair partially covered his face, he was wearing a lieutenant's badge and had a depressing aura about him. The next was a tan looking man with white hair, gold eyes and a thin moustache; he seemed subservient but serious. The third was not even human, as it was a large towering orange wolf-dog thing wearing human clothing, although Luppi could tell he had a Taichō's Haori, which meant he shouldn't be underestimated.

While she kept her head on the situation she was in, Luppi was frowning on the inside. None of these Shinigami's spiritual signatures felt the least bit familiar. _'Oh well,'_ she thought to herself, if she slaughtered them then Soul Society was bound to send the ones she was after eventually, hopefully that orange haired guy with the sword.

She'd kill him for both Aizen and Grimmjow.

"Kira-san, Sasakibe-Fukutaichō, Komamura-Taichō." Nanao acknowledged as she slightly pried open her book, to receive her new weapon against the Arrancar. "It's good to see you could come so quickly."

"After last night, how could we not?" Komamura replied calmly as he stepped forward, unsheathing his sword. The dog man's eyes narrowed when he saw the one-armed Arrancar sneer at him. "Be careful. We don't want to underestimate them a second time."

Luppi exploded into a fit of laughter catching them all by surprise. "So you think that just because you know about us, you're going to survive? Idiota!"

"I believe you are the fool." Nanao replied coolly as she pulled out a spiked shield from her book. "You are the one outnumbered here and in no condition to fight."

Another roar of laughter escaped the wounded Arrancar, finding mirth in her words. "Me? superados en número? Ha! Eight beats four any day."

The woman raised her blade pointing it forward, "Estrangular, hiedra Silvestre (Strangle, wild ivy)."

The Shinigami watched as the sword in her hand twisted and morphed into a white pasty substance that quickly ran back up her arm and unto her back. Morphing into a strange holding chamber that clamored up to her face encompassing some of her features in a hard white substance.

Finally, eight large flagellating appendages popped out from the bony white substance on her back and hovered forward menacingly. Sinister smirk returning, Luppi bowed gracefully, "Like I said: ¿quién está realmente en inferioridad numérica?"

"Raise your head Wabisuke!" Said Kira, as his sword bent itself into an odd hooked angle.

"Roar, Tenken!" Komamura yelled, as a large disembodied hand appeared above him.

"Bite, Gonryumaru." Chōjirō invoked as his katana changed into a rapier, a small spark of concentrated lightning circling its way to the tip.

"Don't underestimate me, the fun's only beginning!" Luppi yelled as her white appendages bent and surged forward, two going to each combatant.

Nanao braced for impact as the tentacles collided into the spikes of her shield, driving her backwards through the air. Kira used his flash step to dodge the first one and strike the second one, hoping to slow its speed down with Wabisuke's culmulative weight effect.

Chojiro lunged forward driving his rapier into white mass of muscle, as it dug in, the sparks of electricity shot through causing the muscle to spasm and knock the other limb off it's course. Komamura also favoring brute strength, used the floating hand of his Bankai to catch one of the limbs while he forcibly stopped the other with his sword.

Luppi sneered as the Shinigami repelled her attack. "Don't get cocky, perros!" she cried.

On cue, the ends of the appendages shifted from its smooth malleable form into a sharp plume of spikes. The surprise attack caught Sasakibe and Komamura off guard, as the lieutenant raised one of his arms to block the piercing blows from striking anything vital, while Komamura felt the sharp stinging sensation in his hand, the damage transferred by his Shikai.

Seeing that the appendages were more dangerous than just clubbing bludgeons, Izuru started whacking away at white substance in front of him, rapidly trying to increase the weight and neutralize it. Nanao was also quick to turn the situation around, using her shield to shove back the attack limb before assisting Chōjirō, charging into the attacking spines and ripping them from his arm.

Playing it safe, Luppi instinctively called her monstrous limbs back. Seven of them retreated relatively quickly, but the last one was moving at a near sluggish pace. She was puzzled as to what happened, since it felt really heavy in comparison to her others arms.

Her eyes widened when she recalled that the blond man was whacking at it rapidly for a few seconds. Her eyes zeroed in on him, who just glared back. "What did you do to me?"

"Not me, Wabisuke." He then tilted his blade slightly as if to give it credit for the work. "My Zanpaktou allows me to double the weight of anything that it hits in cumulative fashion." He then re-tightened his grip on his sword, "You won't be using that limb for the remainder of this fight."

"So, you think that you can cut me down to size, huh?" the woman sneered, before she stopped trying to hold the limb up, letting it crash down to the ground, anchoring and steadying her aerial form. "Entonces no sabes una mierda! I may no longer be the sixth Espada, but an Espada I still was."

Bringing her good arm to where her stub of a shoulder was she gripped it tightly, until she felt the faint trickle of blood coming from the wound. As the wary Shinigami tightened their guards, the woman clenched her blood-filled fist. "I'll be the last thing you see!" She yelled as she pointed her hand forward, a light pink light gathering in her hand. "Gran Rey Cero!" she roared as the upgraded Cero fired towards the wielder of Wabisuke.

Sensing the power behind it but unable to dodge, Kira placed his other hand against the back of his blade, trying to better brace himself. The oncoming ray of energy was quickly blocked from view when the captain of the group, appeared in front of the man, Tenken's hand also acting as a shield against the blast.

A grunt of pain escaped the throat of Komamura as the energy ray burned against his linked spirit hand. However, despite his best efforts, the attack burned straight through the giant metal gauntlet and struck the two men on the other side.

"Captain Komamura, Lieutenant Kira!" Sasakibe yelled, as the men were blasted out of the sky into the tree line below. Sparing a glance back at his fellow second seat, the white-haired man quickly rushed over to her side, knowing that taking their eyes of the multi-armed woman or splitting up would be a costly mistake.

The Arrancar laughed at the Shinigami's measly efforts. This is what they got for underestimating her. "Qué suerte la mía, dos por uno!" she exclaimed between laughs, a cruel smile soon to settle on her lips. "Don't worry you two, you'll be joining them soon."

Sasakibe scowled as he raised his epee, as he faced his enemy he whispered to his battle partner. "Can you still fight, Nanao-Fukutaichō?"

Ise refastened her arm in the straps of her shield. "Yes." She replied, before feeling for nearby spiritual energies of allies. They were distant and not as strong as they were, she noted. "It might be for the best to hold her here until reinforcements arrive." Her eyes wandered over where the other two had been. "She's too powerful to go on the offensive carelessly."

The man briefly followed her line of sight before grunting in response. "Then we'll need to hold out." He agreed as he charged some electricity through his sword. "My weapon seems to cause those limbs to spasm; perhaps, we can use that to our advantage."

"Strategizing?" the monster sneered as she readied her beastly arms, "It won't do you any good!"

As the white appendages surged forward, Chojiro gave a slight nod, before jumping back half a step, while Nanao kneeled down. "ultimum custos (tran: Ultimate guard)!" she cried out.

The metal spiked shield shined a reflective light, before growing into a towering fifteen by ten foot shield.

"My turn. Jūden keishiki: Surasuto (Charged form: Thrust)!"

The familiar crinkle of electricity danced up the man's sword, but instead of preparing himself to strike, he simple touched the side of Nanao's metal shield, sending the surge of energy into the spikes.

Luppi's eyes widened at what she saw and couldn't stop her arms, before they made contact with the enlarged target. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" her blood curdling scream rang throughout the area as the lightning surged through all seven of her limbs back into her.

The two Shinigami watched as the writhing mass of muscles convulsed, before finally falling away, limply returning back to their master, who had fallen to her knees, her teeth chattering and one good arm shaking uncontrollably.

Luppi felt her body seize up as he knee buckled underneath her weight, causing her to drop down a feet few in the air. Despite the painful electricity still numbing some of her body, her mind was still working just fine.

"d-d-d-don't gg-get cocky…" she snarled trying her best to stop the chattering of her teeth. _'That was close. I nearly fried myself.'_ As her wheezing breath escaped her lips, she spat out some saliva in her mouth. _'I can't let that happen again. I need to break that shield without touching it again.'_

Widening her stance, she re-exerted her control allowing her seven serviceable limbs to form a protective circle around her. With a snap of her fingers, the ends of her Hollow limbs, turned back into spikey plumes.

The brown-skinned one saw this and braced the other woman shoulder as they took refuge behind the shield, obviously hopping to try the tactic a second time.

Luppi smirked; she wasn't going to fall for that.

Slowly one by one, the long appendages reared back and fired the sharp sword like spike forward, launching them into the shield. The shield rattled and creaked under the attack, but Luppi kept up the assault like clockwork; every time one slung itself forward to fire the spines, two more were rearing back, creating an endless loop that would not end, until she brought the woman's shield down.

On the other end of the sky, Nanao's arms and shoulders violently shook as her body was pushed against the bracing form of Chōjirō. The woman was beginning to pant as she felt her energy beginning to run out. Her ultimate guard from her shield was meant to stop a single powerful attack not endure a prolonged bombardment.

It was only a matter of time.

And as the 19th spiked barrage slammed into her shield, it finally gave. The metal brace shattered apart knocking the two defenders off their feet, with Chōjirō cushioning Nanao's knockback.

Halting her assault, the ex-Espada smiled at seeing the prone Shinigami looking back at her in terror and frustration. "Oh my, did I break your toy? Lo siento mucho!" she sarcastically apologized, as she raised her spike limbs again, ready to do them in. "Adios!"

Just as she was about to crush them, a roar of pain escaped her lips as she felt the cutting of a sword course through her sensitive extra limbs. Quickly glancing at her limbs, she saw no one, but felt again another pain filled cut.

Realization dawning on her, she looked downward to see the blond Shinigami from before hacking into her entrenched limb that she had buried in the ground after he made it worthless to use. Feeling the weight beginning to pull her down, she turned her attention to ending the bastard. "Fuck off, Pendejo!" she screamed as she sent four of her spike limbs down to impale the man against the dirt.

The man looked up as the ceiling of spikes descended on him and in a blur of flash step, escaped back to his comrades unharmed. Sparing a glance to make sure his allies were okay, he redirected his focus back on the infuriated woman. "You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily did you? We Shinigami are tougher than that."

The angry woman bared her teeth at the condescending jackass that refused to die. "The only reason you live is because that dog sacrificed himself for you! The three of you couldn't kill me if you tried!"

Kira smirked, "And apparently the most you can do is kill a dog that's throw itself in front of your attacks. Aizen must be so proud."

"FUCK YOU!" she screamed, as she launched her three tentacles forward.

Kira saw the movement and mentally nodded, she was going to try to extend their suffering just as he planned. "Let it capture you." He whispered to his fellow lieutenants, who looked at him puzzled but silent agreed to what he might have in store.

The snaking limbs shot up at surprising angles and coiled around all three of them. The white tentacles squeezed down tightly on the trio, enough to hurt them but not strong enough to kill. "Well look at that, all talk." Luppi sneered as she held her good hand up "Now scream."

Closing her fist, the three Shinigami all screamed in unison, when they felt the spines the limbs produced dig into their bodies in a slow torturing fashion. "Ahahaha! Come on Blondie, where's your cajones now!?

'Blondie' merely scowled, irritating the woman. "Hmph!" She then raised her true arm and started to charge up a cero. "I don't like you face. Any last words before I blow a hole through it?"

"Bankai."

The word echoed throughout the battlefield, but for Luppi it was a real shocker because it sounded very close. Looking over her shoulder, the dark-haired woman was immediately standing in the shadow of a giant armored colossus that had an equally huge sword reared back ready to slam down.

"This fight is over!" the dog that Luppi had attack from earlier yelled, as he swung his sword, the giant mimicking his actions.

The female Arrancar immediately tried to move out of the way, but found herself bound to the small area her heavy entrenched limb had been forcibly anchored. It was only now that she recalled the words of Kira's Wabisuke. _'He made it so heavy that I couldn't move, so that the captain could kill me!'_ she figured out all too late. "Grimmjow…" she muttered, as the sword was inches from her head.

The large sword came down across the land shooting up huge amounts of dust and scattering the nearby bird wildlife. Komamura slowly dragged his sword back before lifting it up, showing a long divide in the ground with a faint trail of blood across his sword. The encompassing white limbs that had bound the three lieutenants loosened it's grip before falling away, dissolving into nothing.

Komamura looked around the area to make sure there were no more enemies, before sheathing his sword and in turn his Bankai. "Is everyone alright?"

"Shaken, but I'm okay." Nanao reported as she fixed her glasses.

"I have survived worse, sir." Sasakibe said as he stroked his moustache.

"The wounds aren't deep." Izuru commented, as she lightly touched his slight perforated chest. "Still good timing on your part. A second later and I would have been done for."

"Perhaps, we should thank her for knocking us out of the fight and giving us a chance to strategize." Komamura grunted, before crossing his arms. "Still, that woman was quite battle-scarred. Perhaps, she was a remnant force of yesterday's assault."

"But why come out of hiding?" Chōjirō asked since it didn't make any sense.

"Perhaps, she was hoping she had living allies here. Apparently she was wrong." Nanao concluded, since if she was from the initial strike, she had to link up with her allies somehow.

The captain nodded, "Very well. In any case, the threat has been neutralized; let us return to guarding Karakura. Be on alert, we don't know if there are more remnants lying in wait."

The three lieutenants nodded in agreement, before they all vanished in a blur of flash step.

(Meanwhile: Harribel)

Slinking her way through the end of some back alley, the Espada found herself standing on the side-walk opposite to the building Aizen's device was telling her to go. Walking past the thin crowd of humans around her, she came up to the front door and read the sign. "Kurosaki mortuary and funeral." She repeated thoughtfully. She had to admit it was a good place to hide out, she certainly wouldn't have thought to check out such a location for Shinigami spawning or encampment points.

Glancing back at her device, she noticed the area telling her what direction to go was spinning in a non-coherent circle. "Hmmm…" she paused, before walking a few feet to the right. Perhaps some distance would clear out the interference with her holopad.

As she walked further and further away, the arrow stopped spinning and settled down pointing straight ahead to the side alley, which conveniently enough had a connect stairwell on the side that lead to the second floor. "That explains it. Right place, wrong altitude."

Gripping the device, she proceeded to go up to the stairs, when she reached the top she felt a huge surge in spiritual energy. Turning in the direction, she saw in the distance was a gigantic suit of armor with its sword at the ready. Narrowing her eyes, she quietly felt for the spiritual energy of the combatants. Luppi was there, but severely weakened.

As the blade came down with an earth-shaking rumble, Harribel closed her eyes fully when she felt Luppi's signature completely disappear. Bowing her head, she gave the brave Arrancar a moment of silence out of respect for her sacrifice.

Lifting her head back up, she turned to the door and placed the Holopad against it. Pressing open the pin pad, Tia inserted the code Aizen had told her. The circular device let out a low confirming beep in response and upon removing her hand from the device, it remained stuck on the door, awaiting for its next guest.

Turning away, she opened a Gargantua and returned home. Her mission accomplished.

(Aizen)

"Do you understand the orders I have for you?" Sosuke asked the group of women in front of him.

The blue haired woman nodded, "Of course. If mistress Harribel is taking part in this plan, we should as well."

"So we just need to slip in, correct?" Sung-sun asked as she placed a sleeve covered hand against her lips.

Aizen nodded, "Correct. You will move in early tomorrow morning and await at the coordinates I instructed." The man placed his hand in his pockets and closed his eye. "However under no circumstances are you to engage the Shinigami."

"Then why are you sending all three of us, Aizen-sama?" Mila rose asked,

"Because you are tight fit team. The three of you together, can supplement one another should things go south." Looked at Mila rose. "Mila. You are the strength of the operation. Physically the most inclined and toughest, you can see the others through should things go bad."

Franceska smirked to herself as Aizen moved to Apacci "Apacci. You are the most outspoken and have a natural aura of leadership. Given whom you may encounter this could work to our advantage."

Now Apache smiled, while Mila-rose just shrugged thinking her praises wasn't as good as hers. Finally the man turned to the third of the tres beastes. "Sung-sun. You are the one that keeps the other two out of trouble and most tactically sound. You will be the one that protects them, until they most protect you."

Sung-sun chuckled to herself as the other two glared at Aizen, who made a small jab at their gung-ho nature. Still, they knew that he meant no harm.

Turning his attention back to Apacci he continued, "You will play a very important part in this operation. Should the time limit be exceeded, you are to return at once and inform me of what transpired."

The man was about to continue, when Loly entered into the room, bowing apologetically. "A thousand apologies Aizen-sama, but we have received word that Harribel-sama has returned."

The brown-haired man nodded "Apology accepted." He then looked back at the women before him. "You three are dismissed. I wish you well."

The women saluted before walking back, leaving Aizen alone to stare at his throne.

(Nighttime: Soifon)

"Alright, see you later, Yoruichi…san." The Chinese woman said, as she gave the woman a parting hug.

"Same here, glad I got to talk to ya." The girl's mistress replied with a cheeky smile, "AND YOU BETTER TELL ME WHEN YOUR WEDDING IS MRS. KURO-ahahaha!" she burst into a fit of laughter, when she saw her little bee fidget and flail her arms around, trying to silence her from saying it out loud.

"Y-yoruichi!" the girl pouted, now she wasn't sure if telling her master about where Ichigo and her stood was such a great idea.

As if making up for some invisible blunder, the shape-shifter patted the smaller girl on her head. "I was just playing with you, I would never put you out like that Soifon-chan." She then leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, while wrapping her arms around the petite girl's form. "I'm really happy for you," she then let go and cupped the girl's chin "and don't let that old bastard get to you. Screw him and his orders."

"Yoruichi…" the woman said quietly, awed by her passion. Being her trusted confidant, the Captain told her mentor about Yamamoto's 'secret' orders for her when she was receiving her haircut; needless to say, Shaolin had to use her cloning ability to pull Yoruichi back into her bedroom, before she could 'bring the hammer down'.

The woman wasn't very happy, especially after the way SS had done her, Kisuke and Tessai.

"Thank-you." Shaolin continued grateful for her support.

"No prob. Later!"

Soifon nodded as she closed her office door behind the flash master. Clicking the lock into place, she let out a small tired yawn, as she looked at the kitty cat clock on her wall. It was late in the evening, almost nine o'clock, and she hadn't so much as taken a shower or changed out of her old clothes.

"Geez, I really lost track of time." She said to no one in particular. _'I better start getting ready.'_

Bringing her hand back behind her frame, she was about to undo the sash holding up her sword to her waist, when the spirit of her weapon called out to her. _'Shaolin-san.'_ The typically annoying bee-girl said in an unusually calm tone.

Curious to her change in temperament, the girl responded patiently. _'Is something the matter Suzumebachi?'_

The small fairy materialized in front of her worry evident on her face. _'Yeah, I'm feeling a dark energy in your inner world. It's like a mix of my spiritual energy and yours, but I can't reach it on my own.'_

The woman paused as she thought over the pig-tailed fairy's words. Her eyes automatically fell down to her stomach. _'Is it the baby? Perhaps, it's hollow energy?'_ She asked.

The mini hornet shook her head, _'No, it's not the kid. Like I said, it feels like you and me.'_ She held her hands up, reflecting her confusion. _'No Hollow energy at all.'_

"I see." She muttered, as she pulled out her sword from its sheath and made her way to her bed, "You said you can't reach it on your own, what about if I use Jinzai to enter into the area and take a look?"

'_That could work. I'll see you on the inside.'_

The spirit then faded away as the captain sat down on her bed. Her breathing was slow and steady, a small contrast to her worried mind. Glancing at the Ihai in front of her, she nodded to herself resolutely. If she couldn't handle the problems inside of her, then how could she handle taking care of the people around her. With one final breath, she placed the blade against her legs and closed her eyes to meditate. She stayed silent for a few seconds until she felt a weight on her legs. Looking down she saw her pensive partner looking back at her. "What's wrong?" the captain asked, as she slide her palm underneath the tiny fairy and raised her closer to her face.

The red-haired girl turned around and jumped out of her hand, floating freely in the air. "Follow me!" she shouted before drifting on ahead.

Getting off her rear, the woman followed her partner through the bamboo forest that made up her mindscape. She walked in silence behind the golden bee until the forest came to an end and the two of them were standing before the opening to a canyon.

Soifon gave a questioning glance to Suzumebachi, who simply hovered over towards the downward slope, but was stopped by a small electric field. "Hmm…" she hummed to herself as she got beside her spirit and tried to push her hand forward, only for it to come against the electric barrier.

"Not even you can do it?"

"Apparently not." The woman said absentmindedly, as she crossed her arms, thinking the problem over. She could tell that there was a dark negative spiritual energy further in the canyon, but she doubted that she'd be able to get through this barrier that was sealing her off.

She closed her eyes, deep in thought about what she could do.

After watching her mistress in silence for a few minutes, the blade spirit lit up when she saw a calm reassurance emanating from Shaolin. "Suzumebachi, I know why we can't get it."

"Really?" the spirit asked, "Well don't keep me in suspense!"

"Alright. Then give me your hand." She requested.

The small hornet floated over and upon touching her hand, transfigured from her humanoid appearance into the stinger gauntlet she was used in battle. Stepping forward, Soifon lifted a gauntlet encased finger and touched the barrier ahead.

A honeycombed barrier sprang up in front of her, blocking the entrance before shattering to pieces from the touch.

"Woah, woah, woah! How did you do that!? What's going on?" the voice of the gauntlet rang in surprise.

The captain brought her forearm close to her and answered, "It took me a little bit to figure it out, why neither of us could get through on our own." She frowned as she looked down the road ahead. "I think I might know what's up ahead."

"You do?" the hornet asked still confused, but not wanting to pester the deathly serious woman.

"If I'm right, I'm expecting an ugly truth."

"Why's that?"

"Because the answer that came to me to get us through the barrier was a piece of advice given to me a while ago."

"What's that?"

Soifon brought the gauntlet down to her side and started to walk into the passageway. "The advice was: One's own strength can only take you so far, but when that strength is added together with others, once impassible gates open and close just as easily as any door." Turning around the next bend, she casually glanced at her arm, "Do you know who gave that?"

"Uhhmmm…" the fairy echoed, drawing an obvious blank.

"Retsu Unohana." She answered starkly.

The spirit in the gauntlet sat quietly for a few seconds thinking back on whether that was said or not. Realization soon dawned on her when indeed she had told her that. However… "But I thought that was about trusting others and letting them in…"

"It was." She answered as she dropped down a small hole. As her feet touched the ground below, the woman found herself standing in an ancient stone arena. Large rocks enclosed the area from the outside preventing any escape and the open air revealed the sky above to both participants.

Her…and a dark misty aura.

"Suzumebachi, get ready." She told her partner as she clenched her fist. The spirit mentally nodded, and the woman strode over to the looming sight. She stopped her advance after ten paces, when the ghastly smoke faded away and what was left in its place was enough to make her sigh.

"Another me…" she said distastefully, as the other her turned around to regard her.

"Hmph, that's one way of putting it." The other her huffed annoyed, her two bands of hair and darker Onimitsukido outfit the only way to tell the two apart. "Although, I think the original me is better."

"Original?"

Her question was answered with another question. "What happened to you?" She asked, placing her hands on her hip. "When did you grow so weak? When did you allow yourself so many exploitable weaknesses?"

Soifon paused as she now knew for certain what she was dealing with. "You're who I used to be."

"The perfect assassin." 'Soifon' sneered, "An assassin that doesn't need others, who can stand on her own two feet, unlike you." She shook her head disgustedly, "Tell me Shaolin Kurosaki, why have you allowed yourself to grow so pathetic? The people around you, your 'family,', 'friends', your 'loved ones', they always exploit your trust in them. Why keep them around?" her tone slipped lower. "They just abandon you, when you want them most."

Shaolin narrowed her eyes, as she clenched her fist tightly. Her action wasn't unnoticed by the cynical assassin. "Tch. You're angry over a few words? I guess it is true, the truth hurts." She brought her leg back, sinking into a battle stance. "I'll show you the difference between us."

In a burst of speed, the woman vanished in a flash step, but being an experienced practitioner of it herself, Shaolin saw her approach and backed one of her legs up to brace herself. Clenching her fist, she tightened the muscles in her right arms, before raising it up to block the other woman's kick.

'Soifon's' eyes widened when she saw the woman didn't so much as flinch from the attack and was instead shoved of balance, when the short-haired woman used her free hand to shove her leg away and slam into her body with her shoulder.

Going with momentum of the strike the white braid killer allowed herself to be shoved backwards enough to where she could plant her hand against the ground and flip over, springing backwards as her feet touched the ground to put space between them.

Thumbing to her side, the woman hurled her throwing knives at her target. From the far side, Shaolin had mimicked the actions in perfect symmetry her own Anken flying forward and crashing into the sharp assassin tool. As the weapons fell towards the ground in a deflected heap, both women kept their eyes on each other as they slowly began to strafe each other.

Stepping in tandem, while maintaining the distance, both assassin raised their gauntlet encrusted needle and disappeared in flurry of flash step, only momentarily reappearing to deliver a fatal blow against the other who'd evade it to reposition herself to counterattack.

Turning around as she came out of flash step, she thrusted her arm forward and paused when she felt her blade touch the surface of enemies' throat. Slowly looking away from the other assassin, she saw that her Suzumebachi was pressed against her throat as well.

A mutual kill.

'Soifon' saw this and huffed playfully as she looked into the face of her serious opponent. "A stalemate." She taunted

Shaolin narrowed her eyes. "Not quite." She said, which caused the other girl to go wide-eyed at what she was planning to do.

Shaolin jutted her hand further, running it through the air, leaving her standing alone, with just the small lingering prickly sensation against her throat. Lowering her arm, she turned around when she heard the sounds of panicked breathing behind her.

Her enemy was clutching her throat that had been nearly pierced through. Her posture was ragged from her forced evasion and underestimation of this seemingly crazy individual.

Now it was Shaolin who was smirking. "I'm not weak. I'm choosing to live not for revenge, but for others. That's why we're not even." Her smile disappeared into a scowl. "I know what you are…" she said in a cold matter-of-factly tone that caused genuine fear to show on 'Soifon's' face. Her weakness understood and exposed. "More importantly, I know how you think."

She then lifted up her gauntlet that she had nearly ran through her. "You won't let yourself die, not until you get revenge. Revenge against Yoruichi, Ichigo, all the people who you think betrayed you."

"S-shut up…" 'Soifon' hissed as she bared her teeth.

However her threat held no sway over the fearless woman. "You're me. The egotistical brat I used to be. The one who thought I was better off on my own and that solitude and strength were the only things that matter."

"They are!" she yelled.

"Maybe for you, but I don't think that way anymore." She barked silencing the woman she had been. "I know that as an assassin, I'm a failure in that regard." She closed her eyes and bowed her head. "I've let my emotions override my instincts as a soldier, but you know what?" She intoned softly, before glaring back at the assassin, full of determination. "I can live with that. I can find another path to follow that doesn't require me to lose them. You CAN'T!"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" the two-banded woman screamed indignantly. She couldn't—wouldn't accept it as truth. "BANKAI!"

The dark assassin gauntlet needle shined in response and a gust of wind obscured her body, while the original owner watched on impassively. She wasn't scared at all.

After all, she already knew what she was planning.

As the wind died down, the other assassin reappeared a feral smirk on her face, which gleamed against the golden bipedal missile launcher, pointed straight at her disaffected counterpart. "Ahaha! It's over." She said smugly, as she tightened her fist against the trigger. "You can't dodge at this is range, and even if you could, it'd just slam into the wall behind you killing you via backdraft." The smirking woman leaned her head against the slit in the blast shield. "Tell me: Where's your precious will to live now!?"

Shaolin didn't rise to her words, instead her eyes ran over the huge golden frame of Jakuho Raikoben. After a few seconds she scoffed to herself, an amused smile on her lips. "Nice scare, but you won't do it." She said as she pointed at 'Soifon' accusingly, before turning it back at herself. "I know how you think remember?"

She looked away from the armed assassin and toward the stony walled enclosure that served as their arena. "Sure, at this range, it would kill me if you fired it…" She then turned her attention back, a smug smirk on her lips. "But it would kill you too, and that's a risk you won't ever take. Your death will deny you the revenge I used to seek."

The woman shook her head dismissively of the child before her. "Like I said: egotistical. You act like everything is owed to or that the people around you only exist to slight you, grow the fuck up!" she snarled, causing the other her to recoil as if struck.

'Soifon' was going to retort, but stopped when Shaolin's Zanpaktou began to dimly shine in a golden light, her mouth hug open in disbelief, as Shaolin continued ranting her cold but truth filled tone. "You believe that even if they say otherwise, everyone I care about is going use me and leave me. You're wrong!"

The woman paused, eyes full of emotion as she stared down the pathetic manifestation of her doubts and fears. "The people I care about have _never_ stopped caring about even when I've hurt them with my words and actions."

Several different figures and events in her life flashed before her eyes. "Ichigo, Yoruichi, Subaru, Shinjiro, Senna, Masaki, they all care about me and have put their lives on the line to prove it!" Clenching her fist, which cracked at the force she was exerting, she slowly began to raise her gauntlet. "Even if they 'leave 'me' as you so fear, I know it's not a betrayal. No, it's their way of telling me to keep growing as a person, to not stagnate or cut myself off, to take a step closer towards them for every step they take back. THAT is the _TRUE_ difference between us."

She stopped when the gauntlet was raised to shoulder height. The radiant light was silently screaming for release, a release that only the captain could provide. "Bankai."

'Soifon' watched in horror as the gauntlet shined dazzlingly to the woman's words. The gauntlet transfigured and encompassed up to her shoulder, a hard protective black and gold armor forming snuggly against her. Just behind her wrist was a small needle launcher, which sat above the long katara that extended over her fist, a mirror image to the one in her gloved off hand. "Kurōzudo kyori: Suzumebachi no rekuiemu. (Hornet's requiem: closed distance.) (2)"

Thumbing the side of her true Bankai, she coldly proceeded to lay this matter to rest. "You might be scared to give your life for others, but I'm not. Fire."

Pressing the button, the needles packed into her wrist mounted launcher shot forward at blinding speed, penetrating the huge missile the other woman was wielding. 'Soifon' could barely react before the compromised nuclear weapon exploded, the blast engulfing the area. Shaolin shielded her eyes as the resulting back draft came for her. Her body getting absorbed into the light of the blast.

The woman's eyes snapped closed from the intensity of the light. She remained unmoving for several seconds before opening her eyes, finding herself back in the bamboo forest through her sunspots. Lowering her arms, she looked around to see that everything was the same as it always was. _'Still…'_ she thought to herself as she used her energy to sense out if the dark energy from before was still around.

To her relieve the only thing she felt was herself and Suzumebachi. "I feel like I've just had a weight taken off my conscience." She lightly mused to herself in light of her triumph, which now that she had a free moment, she eyed the new Bankai her Shikai had transformed into. Her curious expression was reflected in the glossy paint of her weapon. "So this is what my Bankai was supposed to be; if I hadn't unlocked because of my hatred…I wonder though…"

Closing her eyes, she started to direct her spiritual energy into the katara, her world started to rumble with the increase of her power until finally, she heard the same high-pitched sound and felt the bright light signaling her weapon changing again. Her eyes lurched open when she felt the increased weight against her arm, forcing her to take half a step forward.

Encasing her arm was the familiar sight of her Jakuho Raikoben. "I see, so they're both extensions of each other. One is genuinely for fighting, while the other is for total annihilation. It makes a little more sense why my first one was so draining unlike the other captains."

"That is correct." An unfamiliar voice called from behind the distracted captain.

Cutting off her energy, her Bankai disappeared replaced by her normal Shikai, allowing the woman to turn around. Upon doing so, she immediately knew who this was; despite being not quite how she remembered her.

Suzumebachi had grown tremendously in size, growing from the small bee spirit that fit in her hand to her head being about waist height to the captain. Her red hair was no longer tied back by two pigtails, but instead fell down to her back. Her clothing remained much the same and her right arm that had once been just a stinger was now comparatively normal, most of her arm was humanoid except for the hand, which speaking off Shaolin saw the spirit twirling a small crown with a ruby encrusted gem around her stinger.

"You've grown…" the captain muttered in awe.

The bee-girl smiled to herself since it was rare for her to be genuinely surprised by the things she did. "That's because you grew as a person." She held up the crown, still twirling it around her wrist. "Now, I'm the queen bee."

The woman raised an eyebrow at her prior statement. "Wait. You knew that was going to happen? You lied to me to get me to go in there?"

"Played dumb." She corrected, but she kept going, since she needed to know the answer. "A long time ago, you asked me to help you gain access to your true Bankai, which I did. The problem that was preventing you from doing it was yourself."

Shaolin nodded understanding what she meant. "The old me. The way I used to think."

"Those self-centered ideals, they made up your persons. They helped you stand on your own two feet for a time. Up until now you never would have rejected them, especially the idea of forgiving Yoruichi-san, but if I had told you it was for your true Bankai, you wouldn't have rejected out of the sincerity in your heart but out of a lust for power." The fairy gestured to the woman. "Close your eyes and you will hear the word that rested in your heart."

Doing as she was told, the woman closed her eyes, focusing all her attention to catch the words she needed to hear.

_I don't need anyone more than arm's length._

Opening her eyes, the bamboo forest around the Chinese woman disappeared and was replaced by the Fon family complex. She knew exactly where she was, she was near the burial grounds where her deceased siblings rested. She knew this memory. Not too far away from her was herself, back before having officially joined the Shinigami, before even meeting Yoruichi and the others.

The young girl in black just stared apathetically into the building that lead underground. _So pathetic. _She said, _So weak. I can't believe I'm related to you disgusting pieces of trash. You relied on others, confided in them and this is what you have to show for it. Tch. I won't make your mistake. I don't need anyone more than arm's length._

Shaolin shook her head, she was about to say something. When a shushing rang behind her. Turning around, the scenery had changed, no longer was she standing in the ruins of the dead, but was instead at the hot springs of Kisuke and Yoruichi's secret training area. Her eyes widened when she saw another her in the water listening solemnly to the young teen beside her, who looked ready to have a mental breakdown.

_Just forget it._ Senna muttered with what little self-control she had left. Her eyes were reflecting the deep-seated shame and guilt she wasn't expressing. _Let's just end it here. You don't…need to know anyway._

In contrast to her once cold distant self, Shaolin spoke firmly but aggressively. _You're wrong._ She said hotly, capturing the girl's attention. The assassin pressed her hand against her chest and continued, _I want to know because I believe that I can help you. I am your sensei; you come to ME for guidance! Now I have already given my word, so stop being afraid and tell me why you are so hesitant!_

The young adult recoiled at her words, since she could tell how earnestly she cared about her despite getting the brush off. After a few moments, she gathered up her courage and spoke as flatly as she could, lest her emotions breakdown her words. _I admit…on some secret level, a level…that I didn't even know existed before now. I…_ she paused briefly as tears began to form around her the rim of her eyes. _I wished that you two didn't make up!_ She cried, _That, that, after you parted ways, he would…(sniff) he would see me, a-and only me._

The girl wiped her face to clear her clouding vision, although it meant little in the long run. _I know I must be really petty and shallow for wanting that...that's why I tried to stop myself and think of how you would feel. I came to know so much about from what Ichigo described of you._ She hung her head with a pained smile. _Then I finally met you. At first, I really thought you were just a stupid, overly controlling, inhuman bitch. But…with each passing day, spent training with you and gradually getting to know the real YOU underneath the 'captain' I…I came to realize, I couldn't bear to wish such a thing on you anymore._ The girl lowered her head even more, her lips contorting into a frown. _But, I still couldn't bear the thought that my feelings for him would still go unnoticed, to jut wither and die._

Senna then glanced up quietly to meet the silent woman's gaze. _(Sniff) Th-that's why I asked about the polygamy thing. To me, it would be the perfect solution to solve the problem without any senseless arguing or infighting. T-(sniff)-that way we could both be happy together with him, and he us._ The young woman once again wiped the tears out of her eyes and gave a very plastic smile, which neither bought. _Geez, I-I don't even know why I'm crying. Ha-ha…wooh, I must look like a complete idiot huh?_

Just as Shaolin had expected, the 'her' from the memory wrapped her arms around the shocked girl and pulled her into tight loving hug. _W-wha…?_ The bewildered woman barely muttered before she was hushed by Shaolin.

_Shh. It's okay Senna. Let it all out…_ She whispered,

"This memory…" Shaolin muttered to herself. This was when Senna had confessed her love about Ichigo to her. The young woman had looked to her for answers and help, which she had given out of concern for the girl. A clear contrast to the sentiment the assassin had had back when she had nobody to call a friend.

The memory soon dissolved away and the woman now found herself standing just outside of the path that lead to her division. To her left was a small crowd of individuals muttering to themselves. The woman frowned distastefully. They were rumormongers who had poked and questioned her after Yoruichi had left Soul Society.

She knew their words all too well.

_So that's her._

_Yeah, Yoruichi's lap dog. Hmph, she doesn't look so high and mighty now._

_I heard that she actually helped her get away by creating a distraction._

_What!? And she's not locked up because of that!?_

_Shh! Shut up, she's coming this way._

Shaolin turned from the whisperers and looked down one of the approaching alleyways, where a younger version of herself clad in her old Onimitsukido outfit walked towards them, a scowl on her face.

Shaolin recalled those words. It was the same words and looks of suspicion she had received from every other Shinigami who knew of her or Yoruichi. Even if she was the strongest Shinigami in the second by default, nobody would see her as anything more than a proxy of the woman, and after the betrayal that she and her siblings had felt, she wanted nothing to do with the woman, and was very vocal about that.

_What the fuck are you staring at!?_ She snapped at the group, _If you got something to say, why not say it to my face!_

The woman was in a pissed off mood, she had just been called into Yamamoto's office to discuss the succession that had been placed upon her and in what direction she was going to take the division. The old man giving a not too subtle hint that he would keep a close eye on her, regardless of her words.

The trio soon started to back away upon feeling the woman's rising spiritual energy, before finally breaking into a full sprint out of her sight.

The emotionally devastated woman watched them leave with spite in her eyes, before she reigned back in her energy. They weren't work the hassle she'd hear later.

Walking up the steps, the woman stopped and sat down at the top most. She spared a small glance around her, making sure no one was there, before cradling her head in her hands. _Yoruichi-sama…why did you leave me?_ She asked barely able to contain her tears.

Shaolin watched the girl sob to herself softly. She knew this memory all too well. This way the day she had obtained her 'corrupt' Bankai. The day she planted revenge in her heart. The woman felt pity for the young girl. Shinjiro and Subaru would later help stabilize her, but she knew that the good that Yoruichi had helped nurture in her would forever be kept from the world, hidden behind walls around her heart and the cold fortitude of an assassin.

The younger looked up having calmed down a bit. Her eyes looking at the horizon that peeked just above the labyrinth of corridors. _Yoruichi…_ she muttered wantingly desperate for an answer.

Her wish was granted by her imagination, as a large imaginative image of Yoruichi superimposed itself over the skyline, staring smugly with her arm crossed over her chest. _Yoruichi, Yoruichi, Yoruichi. That's all you ever say._ The image mocked, before holding her hands up uncaringly. _I don't know what I ever saw in you. You're so easy to fool, I'm glad I don't have to deal with your stupidity anymore._

_What…?_ The young girl whispered in disbelief. Was this the answer? Had she been abandoned because her mentor, her goddess, simple got what she had needed from her. A loyal soldier at her beck and call during her stay that she'd later scapegoat when she left.

'Yoruichi' smirk grew wider as she let out her usual teasing laugh. _What? You thought we were friends? Pfft. Keep dreaming. We don't even live in the same world. God you're stupid, I should have just killed you when I left. The world would be better off without someone as worthless as you._

The 'acting' captain balled her fists as she stood up, tears streaming down her face anew. _That's not true!_ She screamed at the apparition,_ I'm not worthless!_

The apparition scoffed, _Pfft! You're lucky I let you kiss the ground I walked on. You couldn't hold a candle to me, little bee._

The woman barred her teeth as her spiritual energy started to spike in pure fury. The brown-skinned woman noticed and simply laughed at her. _I'm not worthless! I'm better than you!_ As her vision clouded up, she shouted the words that silenced her enemy. _BANKAI!_

A large gust of wind swirled around the woman's body, encasing her and obscuring her from the malicious beings taunts. As the wind died down, revealing the woman with a giant missile launcher aimed at the sky, Yoruichi stopped smiling.

Shaolin Fon had left and Captain Soifon was born in her stead.

_I won't let anyone hold me back again!_ She roared, _Jakuho Raikoben! FIRE!_

The ordinance rang at the woman's command, before zooming off the launch post. The recoil knocked the woman off her feet, sprawling her against the steps, but gave her a clear sight to her launched attack. The bee themed stinger missile soared forward, penetrating right through the giant apparition of Yoruichi, dispelling her from sight. The missile kept soaring upward before Soifon's eyes as she started to now feel the drain of her spiritual energy. As the weapon exploded in the sky having slammed directly it the Seki Seki barrier, Soifon closed her tiredly, whispering one final thing before collapsing. _I'm better than you…I'll…show you…_

As the scene dissolved away, Shaolin bowed her head pityingly. It was true, she had meant every single word of it back then. She was so consumed by hatred and revenge, she wanted to capture Yoruichi. She wanted beat her within an inch of her life, before throwing her into the maggot's nest, where the other convicts and jailors would beat, torture, humiliate and gang-rape Yoruichi every single day.

She wanted to visit her while she was behind bars and chained up to the walls, exhausted from whatever atrocity she'd been forced to endure that day. She wanted to lord over the fallen princess with a smug smile on her face, whispering to her what her betrayal had truly cost her, to enjoy with sadistic glee every time Yoruichi would look at her with tired tear-stained eyes and instead of her usual witty retort or listing of whimsical desire, she'd beg for forgiveness, beg Soifon with her very soul for mercy, that she would coldly deny, always saying "Not yet. We're not even yet."

It was sad, but true. On the really bad days, when nothing felt right, revenge was the only thing that kept her body going. Only the thought of having Yoruichi understand the pain she had inflicted on her young heart through eternal unending agony. A heart that had been breed, raised, and institutionalized to defend her and was considered less than worthless without her.

Before her past thoughts could catch up with her, the scenery changed, as if presenting its own countering testament. The shorthaired assassin was now standing in the forest of Sokyoku hill. Not too far away on her right was the her in this memory and Yoruichi, the both of them were leaning against a broken tree that had been used to cushion their fall after the massive back blast of her angry Bankai.

Soifon was looking at the woman beside her before turning her attention to the ground beside them. _And why…why Yoruichi-sama did you not take me with you?_

The goddess of flash bit her lip as she looked at her distressed protégé. She hadn't expected this outcome at all. Letting out a sigh, she knew she had to be straight up. No teasing, no playfulness. _The reason I left Soul Society is because Kisuke, Tessai, and myself were wrongly accused of a crime we didn't commit._

That got Soifon's attention, who looked back up at her expectantly, wanting her to prove it to her. _Do you remember the incident in which many Taichōs and Fukutaichōs like Hirako Shinji suddenly disappeared?_ Soifon nodded, that was just a little, before she had gone missing. Yoruichi saw the light in Soifon's eyes as realization dawned on her. _That was it. We were charged with performing experiments on them. Which is where the rule Shinigami aren't allowed to have Hollow powers comes from._

_So then you left?_ She asked with a shake of the head, something not clicking. _But why? How come you couldn't show that you were innocent?_

On the inside Yoruichi was moderately relieved to see that the young woman was giving her a fairly sporting chance to explain herself, something she hadn't expected at all. _Because we were framed by Sosuke Aizen and were caught by Sotaichō Yamamoto._

_Aizen-Taichō isn't that kind of person._ The woman pointed out in a tone suggesting skepticism rather than denial.

The ex-captain shook her head sadly, not blaming her for her attitude. She, and by extension herself, was just part of the long list of names who were fooled. _It's all a lie bee._ She said with her old warm affection, which seemed to go over well in relaxing her student. _He's been after the Hogyoku, a device that Kisuke made that lets Shinigami and Hollows cross the barrier of power. Right now, Rukia Kuchiki has it. That's why he's gone through all this trouble to get it._ The woman gritted her teeth knowing how much this sounded like someone was saying the sky was falling. _I know it sounds sketchy, especially coming from me, but it's the honest to goodness truth. He's been using everyone. Me, Kisuke, You, Ichigo, the Sotaichō, everyone is fair game to him. Most of us are here to stop him, only about two or three are here to save Rukia as well._

After saying her peace, the woman waited silently for the young Chinese girl to make her own decision. Yoruichi looked on in silence for about a minute, before the other girl opened her mouth. _I understand._ She said with a nod, believing the woman's and Ichigo's story. She then set it aside to get one particular question answered, the question that had given her life the will to go on. _Now I want you to tell me why it is that didn't take me with you when you left._ The doubts and answers she had assumed or believed to have been true manifested in her words. _Was it because you thought I was too weak? Or that I'd get in your way?_

"Maybe even worthless…" The real Shaolin commented, knowing what had been in her mind at the time, saying now what she didn't have the courage to utter back then.

Beyond Soifon's expectation, instead of receiving a nonchalant laugh or brush off. The woman responded with her continued seriousness, although the current captain noticed she seemed more relieved than anything else. _That thankfully is a really easy question to answer._ She said with a small smile as she got up to her feet, extending a hand to the girl, who took it but clung to her shoulder to help stabilize her. As they slowly started to walk away the goddess continued speaking. _The main reason I didn't take you was because I wanted you to grow up._

Soifon's thought flew back to that day, where the apparition had said something along those lines. _You wanted me to grow up?_ She asked

Seeing that she seemed to have hit some kind of sore spot the girl held, Yoruichi took the initiative and explained herself, before friction could arise. _Don't take it the wrong way. It's not that I thought you were childish or annoying. On the contrary I found your constant doting to be a source of endless amusement and thought it was really cute._ She said with a wistful smile.

While relieved it wasn't what she feared most, she was now left throwing her hands up in the air. She didn't have a clue anymore. _I-it wasn't cute. I meant every word of wanting to protect you. I cared about you significantly._

The wistful smile remained on the assistant woman's face, even as she looked at her student with a serious glint in her eyes. _You also felt something that I didn't return though._ She said simply. But upon receiving the deer in the headlights look, she had to stop herself from laughing out loud. It seemed that the girl, who was in love with her, hadn't invested enough in romance to even be aware that she was I love with her. _All those times you spent blushing, stuttering and practically kissing the ground I walked on. It's kinda hard to miss someone with a bad case of the love bug._

_W-what?_ The girl shouted, obviously surprised to having it spelled out before her. Her bewilderment was palpable in her words. _Did I really?_ Looking back into her goddess, she felt an overwhelming surge of shame for her actions. _M-maybe I did have a unknowing crush of some kind._ The woman glanced away, uncertain. _I guess I never realized it because I just couldn't picture us being anything more than what we were._

Yoruichi smiled, as she could practically feel the rift between them slowly closing with each word. Now, she could loosen up. Giving a light shake as she pulled her closer to her, the ebony woman winked at her. _Well, that, and you can be really thick-headed and stubborn once you're set on something._

And as she expected, Shaolin gave her the same look of both reverence and annoyance she once held back before all this happened. Suppressing her laugh, she decided now she was ready to hear the truth for why she didn't take her. _But getting back on track, I could see the potential within you._

Upon receiving a skeptical and confused look, Yoruichi reinforced her point. _You have the capability to be a smart, strong, courageous woman; and for the most part, you made yourself exactly like I had hoped you would._ She placed her pointer finger against her lips, _Well, maybe you could do with a bit of fine tuning with your slight hot-cold attitude._ She then turned back to her protégé and spoke with the point she was getting at. _But the thing was that you didn't want it for yourself. You wanted it for me. You wanted to use it to serve me for probably the end of eternity, or until one of our next reincarnations, whichever came first._

She placed a hand over her heart as she shook her head. _I didn't want that for you._

Now Soifon was left gaping at her. Yoruichi had actually planned to do something with her future, but simply didn't get a chance to? Soifon closed her mouth, as her old answers to the question were being silenced. One by one.

_Why do you think I told you all the time to just call me 'Yoruichi', not 'Your Excellency Lady Commander Shihoin', not 'Shihoin-Taichō', not 'Supreme Commander Shihoin-dono', still working on 'Yoruichi-sama', just undecorated and informal 'Yoruichi'?_

Soifon paused and thought over her words. Even though she felt like she could believe in her again, she still held some doubt left in her mind. She needed Yoruichi to silence them without prompting. _I guess maybe because you umm wanted me to loosen up?_ She replied with the age old answer, Yoruichi had told her before.

Said woman was momentarily dumbfounded, she didn't know if the woman was being serious or was giving a vague attempt at sarcastic humor, which wasn't all that bad of an attempt for her, if it was true. _Well, that too, but mostly because I wanted us to be equals._ She said dispelling all the remaining doubts in the girl's heart.

_I didn't want you to stand in front of me like a human shield, ready to take a mortal blow and wind up in an empty unmarked grave. And I didn't want you to stand behind me, giving me a weapon as I asked of you, never being allowed to grow strong yourself. I wanted you to stand beside me as an equal and assist me when I needed it. That's what I ultimately wanted when I took you under my wing back when we you were still a little girl._

As the girl balked at the grand inclusive plan the woman really intended to make with her, Yoruichi smiled to herself, knowing that she finally was able to reach her little bee. _I didn't want you to linger in my shadow, I wanted you to start with someone to look up to for guidance, and use as an example. Then finally follow your own path that you desire to walk. Now do you see my little bee? I didn't mean to 'abandon' you, I was doing what I thought was best. I hope you can understand that._

Shaolin watched as the Soifon begin cradled in her arms had finally let go of the idea of revenge. _(Sniff) yeah…_ the girl said, tears of joy beginning to stream down her eyes at finally being given release. _I understand completely Yoruichi-sama. Thank-you for telling me the truth._

Yoruichi squeezed Soifon gently. _There, there. Come on, stop crying you're a big girl now. You've really grown up into a splendid Taichō._

_That means a lot coming from you._

Shaolin smiled to herself as the two ventured off, disappearing from sight into the blackness. There was only one more doubt left in her mind, and by the changing view, it was about to be answered. "I won't be held back by others…" she whispered, as once again a woodland forest came into view.

Unlike the previous one though it looked like a hurricane had blown through the area. Dirt was torn up, trees were knocked down, leaves were scattered, and in the center of it all were two people. The 'her' of then was straddling Ichigo, her deadly Suzumebachi digging into his chest, where a large Homonka resided. However if one were to look closely, they noticed that the assassin missed her mark by barely a centimeter.

The young woman slumped her shoulder defeatedly as she bowed her head. She looked ready to die, like life had simply lost all meaning at this point. _I don't get it._ The girl whispered to her opponent. _When I saw you and could physically touch you, I was overjoyed. Yet, at the same time, I was troubled._

Both Ichigo and Shaolin saw the woman's frame shaking ever so slightly and the dripping of hot liquid from her covered eyes onto the man's chest. _Honor…Taichō-ship…the Law…Soul Society…Revenge…it's everything to me. It's my personal duty. It's all that I have. It's what I had built my whole life around. I shouldn't have any difficulty fighting a traitor, that one word that stand in opposition to all that I hold true to myself and yet…_

The woman clenched a fist full of his clothing tightly, unable to understand this irrational surge of emotion in chest. _Why is it that it hurts to hurt you? Why do you always have to make things so difficult? Why can't I banish you from my mind!? WHY CAN'T I KILL YOU!?_ She screamed at the silent pitying man, who knew she had to get this out of her system, before she would listen to him.

The woman was practically choking on herself. She knew the reason, but just could not bring herself to accept it. She didn't want to be hurt again. _Why Ichigo?_ She choked out having long accepted that letting others deep into your heart only held you back. _Why don't you just leave me alone…?_

The girl sat there in complete and utter defeat. She was ashamed, embarrassed, and guilt-racked all because she fell in love with this man. She both hated and loved it at the same time. She just did not know whether this was gift from the gods to aid her life or just a cruel curse meant to toy with her more.

As the girl moved to turn away, before he broke her anymore with his silent stare and the heart-wrenching memories they had together. The man grabbed her arm to keep her still. _You want to know why I won't leave you alone. It's because…even before now, I had thought I lost you, but now I know that you are still there, still beside me in my heart and yours, and now that I know this, I'm never going to let you go ever again._

Shaolin closed her eyes as she recalled the memory before her. This was the one that truly broke her egocentric point of view. Where she stopped thinking about herself and truly considered herself subservient, second to someone else in her life for unselfish reasons. When she opened her eyes again, the 'her' of the memory was naked, but pressing her bundle of clothing against her body, a warm, loving, happy look in her eyes.

_Yeah, I know. But…that's why I want to say I'm sorry. Sorry for throwing you away because of fear and doubt._

The man touched her cheek softly, a mirrored longing in his eyes. _Shaolin…I'll see you again once this is all over. I promise._

_I know you will. That's why before we part again I want to say…_ The woman blushed but none-the-less looked him in the eye and spoke the words deep in her heart that she now accepted as an immutable truth. _That I do and still love you. Ichigo, you're the most important person to me in my world…in my life. I'm sorry for doubting you and Masaki-sama. I let what happened before in my past dictate and cloud my judgment about you without even listening to you. I promise it won't happen again._

As the memory soon disappeared like all the rest, Shaolin smiled to herself as she was returned back to the bamboo forest that was her inner world. Tilting her to the side, she saw the child sized Suzumebachi looking up expectantly, her new crown on top of her head. The assassin reached out and patted her on the head gently. "Suzumebachi…thank you for being my partner." She said with a contented smile.

The red-head grinned, "No problem, Shaolin. Let's rest up and get ready for tomorrow."

Grabbing the girl's hand, the two walked off into the land of dreams, ready for the Arrancars ahead.

(End fic banter)

"AHAHAHA!" Senna laughed amicable "I can see how this tale of woe would drive someone to…the brink…of death. Now I'm sure some of you braved this without any-" looks behind her and frowns. She turns back and is about to continue when she is forced to look away

[what. I'm on camera]

[Ichi: You have a problem]

[Sen: What does that even-]

Blackout2010: Go back to the part where the author committed Suicide. I'm curious about that.

Senna: Ahh, hahaha. I was umm…j-just setting the mood.

Blackout2010: Not cool.

Senna: Oh...c-come on, who take this stuff seriously.

Blackout2010:... (pulls out a piece of paper and starts writing) I do.

Senna: W-what's that?

Blackout2010: BUT UNFORTUNATELY FOR SENNA SHE WAS TOO SLOW AS THE TENTACLE MONSTER GRABBED A HOLD OF HER AND RIPPED HER CLOTHES OFF! DESPERATE IN HAVING IT'S WAY WITH HER TAUT BODY!

Senna: WHAT!?

D. Mirokumaru (pumps fists): YEEEEEESSSS!

Don Kannoji: So ends the cursed Miko tales! See you all next time!

Shaolin: ummm (sweat drop) Waha…haha…ha?

(Author's informative to the audience)

The following chapters after this chapter are written in such a way that they interconnect along the timeline of events. This means that we will be seeing simultaneous events that must be viewed, because if it's skipped, you, the audience, will be left somewhat in the dark.

Hence the timeline I've provided.

Aizen force: **33a**, 32, **33b** (link)

Time: 29 (split)xxxxxxxxChap. 34 -) continue into next Arc.

Ichigo for.: chap.30 and 31 (link)

For easier convenience into understanding how to read, I'll provide a different but easier way to visually explain it:

Imagine two guys living in the same house: Joe and John.

At 8 am: John is heading off to work/Joe makes himself some coffee

At 10 am: John is sitting in his cubical/Joe turns on the TV and watch the news

At 12: John is eating lunch [at work]/ Joe is eating lunch [at home]

At 2: John is at a meeting/Joe does exercise

At 4: John is driving home/Joe starts making dinner

At 5: They both eat dinner.

I hope it helps explain. PM me for any question in trying to understand. (Don't worry I'll put this at the end of the following chapters for convenience.)

(Author's informative to the audience end)

(Guidepost of the soul)

1. This opening theme was more inspired by the tales of the crypt and twilight zone-esque that have the creepy opening narrator. So sorry if it wasn't as funny as most of the other ones, it's hard to come up with new ones.

2. More of an explanation behind the reason Soifon has a different Bankai. As stated earlier in the story and shown in one of the memories in this chapter, Soifon achieved her nuclear 'Bankai' by pure fury. She never confronted her Zanpaktou and forced it into submission (per normal Bankai achievement). That said her nuclear Bankai does run with the theme of revenge quite well when you think about it. By Soifon's own admission:

"_"This Bankai is an affront to my pride as a member of the Covert Ops. With its massive form, I can hardly conceal myself. With its weight upon me, my movements are restricted. And its method of attack is far too flashy to be considered 'assassination'"_

Examining it from a revenge fuel perspective it makes a lot more sense. 'With its massive form, I can hardly conceal myself', when confronting the object of ones vengeance, ones true feeling are brought to the surface to be savored, hence why she can't conceal herself. 'With its weight upon me, my movements are restricted.', vengeance requires anchoring oneself to the grudge and memories by choice to give it meaning, further more, when confronting the object of ones vengeance, why would you need movement? In a confrontation any other movement would be considered: running away. 'And its method of attack is far too flashy to be considered assassination.', from an Assassin's prospective yes, but from the perspective of an angry revenge driven woman, it makes more sense. The weapon creates a blast so destructive that nothing would remain, considering how Soifon felt when she first activated it, it makes a little more sense, that she would want to wipe the very memory of Yoruichi of the face of the earth in a wall of nuclear fire.

On a side-note subject the 'Closed distance' part of her Bankai, refers more to closing the distance/moving towards something (English-Japanese is a bit hard to accurately translate), which goes back to Shaolin's idea of taking a step to those who take a step away from her.

So yeah, that's it. I hope you enjoy her new Katar/needle launcher Bankai. Also big one up to KuramaFTW for helping me finalize the designs in our conversations. Thanks big guy!

(Guidepost of the soul end)

PS: Naked Unohana: No mind can comprehend it's true form. Not even Aizen.

PSPS: When I was writing Syzarallapporo's lines, I imagined him saying it in a stereotypical German accent...I do not know why.

PSPSPS: I just realized I broke 500k word length...yay me!...Yes, I realize I am late to the party...I will leave now. [Closes door]


	34. Playing God

Author announcement: Salutation readers, welcome to the closing chapter of this arc. This chapter will sew up the reason as to why I needed to show Aizen's half, and why just going on ahead would be confusing. Now I would also like to apologize in advance for the adult content in this chapter. This chapter is very metaphysical, very uncomfortable it's presentation, and liable to offend some people, so consider yourself forewarned. Now before, I turn things over to the pre-fic banter, I would like to bring about the point of this chapter and I will remind near the end. Here it is: If you could dictate how this chapter went down, what option would you have Ichigo take? I won't spoil the options, but I want to hear what you the audience would choose. So with that I will turn you loose and wish that you enjoy the story.

(Pre-fic banter)

Blackout2010: And now a short description of some of the character of BTAT.

[Ichigo: Nice guy, good morals, hero of Seireitei, everything tries to kill him and is generally regarded as public enemy number 1 (beating out Aizen)]

[Soifon: Eternal Tsundere, dislikes porn/hentai (especially if it involves depictions of her), technical upgraded to MILF status]

[Senna: We're all adults here, be honest, you wish you had a sister like her.]

[Masaki: Nice lady. Bakes cookies, kisses boo-boos. A firm believer that having half naked men and women work alongside one another promotes friendship and positive synergy. Black holes are her bitches.]

[Luppi: As of BTAT, became officially more manly after becoming a woman in comparison to Manga counterpart. BFFs with Kukaku post-amputation]

[Aizen: Affable, ambitious, inspiring, handsome, intelligent, still the same ass we love to hate.]

[Tosen: Claims his male role models are Batman and Huey Freeman. Has N-word privileges]

[D. Mirokumaru: Depraved bisexual that lives by the formula: Ichigo = God. Ichigo is superiors to everyone else. Everyone else (includes inanimate objects such as doors, rocks, ect.) = Ichigo's love slave.]

[Hichigo: Like Elvis he is dead in his respective universe, but he lives on in our hearts…also he probably does have impersonators at convention, but whatever.]

[Gin: Creeping you out with a smile on his face since day 1]

[Zaraki: Been looking to fight Ichigo since day 1; after 2 years of searching, he still hasn't found him yet (Yachiru's directions have not helped).]

[Blackout2010: Acknowledges the perpetual state of poverty the budget is in. Despite rumors he has NOT died, although he does secretly wonder why he doesn't of himself between takes due to the varying actors stupidity/egos. Believes all Mikos are frauds.]

(Pre-fic banter end)

* * *

Chapter 35: Playing god

"Alright, get moving." Shinji waved off the two Gigai clad teenagers standing in front of the warehouse entrance. After the all-night training session with the recently awakened Vizards, the man and his group of exiles were more than willing to send them off to school, while they rested up.

"Tha-(yawn)-nks." Senna thanked, as she rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"Do you (yawn) relly haf to go?" Ichigo yawned beside her, also extremely tired. He was used to late night missions, or getting up before sunrise, but training all night was a new experience.

"Yeah, I can't have Uryu copying notes for me all the time." She answered, before looking back at the blonde man. "Thank-you for everything." The woman bowed humbly.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Be sure to practice and don't get eaten by Hollows." The man said as he pressed a button on the nearby wall. The device holding up the sheet metal loudly whirled up as the gears slowly lowered the door.

When the galvanized door finally closed shut, Senna raised her hands over her head and got up on her tiptoes. "Mmmm!" when she heard the euphoric pop of her muscles, Senna lowered herself back unto her heels. "Alright! Let's go to school!" she turned around and started walking away, "We'll take the bus."

Ichigo stood there watching her walk away, before he followed after. Chuckling to himself when he heard the girl say she was glad the stench of sweat on her soul form didn't transfer over to her Gigai form.

Apparently to the school they were going.

(School: mid-day)

Ichigo sweat dropped, as he watched the teacher in the front of the classroom grinding her teeth, as the sound of Senna's snoring echoed throughout the now silent classroom. He was actually surprised the poor girl made it through the first two hours, before she put her head down and started making puddles on the desk. He could understand her tiredness; more than once he felt the heaviness of his eyelids, or had to jerk his body awake, after it had fallen into a soothingly numb lull. That was why he didn't disturb her. But right now, judging by the teacher's shortening fuse, he needed to help Senna out, while remaining inconspicuous. Leaning forward in his assigned desk, the man silently slid his forearm underneath the desk and whacked her in the upper part of her thigh with his knuckles.

"Ieyasu Tokugawa won the battle, Mitsuki-sensei!" the woman yelled, as she snapped awake, a trail of drool hanging from her chin.

"Very good, Kurosaki-san." Ada Mitsuki replied over the chorus of ewws and snickers at little miss bad number's outburst. "But I'm afraid we history finished well over thirty minutes ago."

The dumbfounded girl let out a dull croak as she hastily whipped away her saliva, trying to downplay her slumber. "I...ah I meant thee ahh, area of a triangle is ½ base times height!"

Again, a twinkling smile flitted across the teacher's lips, while the snicker grew louder. "_Very good_, Kurosaki-san. You are correct and I'm glad you looked over the materials that we'd be discussing in class." At this the young girl beamed, having gotten herself off the hook. "However…" the teacher continued; her drop in tone and newly forged scowl, killing the student's prior relief. "Arithmetic isn't until AFTER lunch. We're in biology right now, specifically chapter 7: Biospheres, page 147, subtopic two: The tundra biosphere."

Now Senna sweat dropped as she hung her head in shame. _'Punishment time.'_ She whined in her inner monologue.

The teacher stepped away from her podium and walked over to her desk. Bending over to pull out two empty pails from behind her desk. The tin metal making a small clanking against the wooden desk. A smirk was on Ada's face. "For falling asleep in class, you are going to fill them both up with water and then stand in the hall holding them up. I think ten minutes of that should get the blood flowing, Kurosaki-chan."

"Awwww! Ten minutes!?" Senna groaned, already feeling the burn her poor arms were about to go through.

Mitsuki raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Not enough work out for you? Well, how about fifteen min-"

"Ten minutes got it!" the girl yelled, as she sprinted out the door grabbing the pails as she left.

The class laughed at her antics, even Ada felt a creeping smile, before she turned back to settle the class down. "Alright, that's enough out of you. Does anyone else want to join Ms. Kurosaki in the hall?"

The laughter suddenly ceased as all the students went back to pious angel mode. Ichigo sweat dropped at the sudden shift in attitude, he could only think nobody wanted to cross this teacher. The rest of the science lesson passed by quickly and uneventfully, with the exception of Senna getting thrown out of the room two more times, only breaking when it was time for student lunch.

The two Kurosaki's had been quick to escape the room, lest they create another uncomfortable scene due to their fatigue. Although, it didn't end there because after finishing their lunch, Senna caught sight of Ms. Mitsuki entering into the cafeteria. After some silent pleading with her brother, the two quietly snuck out and made their way to the rooftop, to get some peace and quiet and maybe, _maybe_, a small nap.

"Why did she follow us? I was ready to go to sleep." Senna whimpered as her sore arms pulsed in agony. "She's eehehehvuuul!"

Her brother held his arms in a 'what can you do?' fashion. "Well, you shouldn't have snored the first time in class." Ichigo pointed out, as they walked up the last flight of stairs. "After sawing so many logs in class, she probably just wants to make sure you're not over exerting yourself."

"Well…yeah…I guess I didn't think that she'd be worried…" Senna muttered as she pushed open the door that led to the rooftop, holding it open for Ichigo to pass through first. As their eyes adjusted to the change in brightness, the two Gigai clad reapers were surprised to see that waiting over by the edge of the roof was Soifon in her spirit form.

"Hey Lin-chan!" The man called amicably to his wife, pleasantly surprised she was back so soon.

The Chinese woman looked away from the beautiful horizon that made her temporarily forget her guard detail, as she beheld her loved ones looking extremely fatigued. "My word, you two look like you're about ready to drop dead, are you alright?" the concerned woman asked.

Rotating his shoulder to work out a kink, the carrot top answered. "Training was tough, but we pulled through." Ichigo attested. When Shaolin looked over at Senna, the girl gave a reassuring smile in agreement. Nodding to herself, the assassin smiled in relief, glad to know that everything had worked out alright. "Little surprised to see you back so soon, I gave the teacher an excuse because I thought you'd be gone for a few days." The young man informed her as he scratched an itch near his elbow.

The man's words re-centered the woman's mindset as to why she was keeping an eye out for the both of them. Both her desire to protect them and the words of the Sotaichō. "Yes, well, I was given priority clearance." She gestured to them, "After the incident yesterday, someone has to protect you."

The twins took a moment to stare at the other, a similar look on their faces, before turning back to the older reaper. "Us?" Ichigo repeated, obviously confused.

"No one told you?" Shaolin said with mild surprise, as she crossed her arms. When she clearly got no response, she elaborated. "Yesterday, some remnants of Aizen's assault squad tried to make a move. Captain Komamura and the others informed me that they quashed the uprising as I was in transit back."

"That's news to us." Senna replied, as she turned to her brother, "I guess that underground training area the Vizards had is similar to the one in Soul Society and under Urahara's shop."

Ichigo nodded, coming to the same conclusion. "Yeah, makes sense. Kisuke probably designed it." He then turned back to the assassin and smiled, "Regardless, thanks for the lookout Lin."

"Not a problem." The woman waved off, as she directed her attention to Senna. "But I'm going to need to borrow Senna for a moment."

Said girl frowned, "I'm not going to have to leave the school right? I don't want to tick off my teacher any more today…"

While puzzled by what she meant, Shaolin shook her head. "No, nothing like that. Actually, I want to talk to you alone for a minute. It's important."

"Ummm…" the girl muttered as she flipped open her cellphone to glance at the time. "Yeah, I can do it real quick." She then pocketed it. "Ichigo, if I'm late, can you tell Mitsuki-sensei that I went to the bathroom."

"Alright, I'll see you in the classroom then." Ichigo replied, as he made his way to the door and descended the stairs.

When the door closed behind him, Senna moved the latch on the door into the locked position allowing no one else access to the rooftop. "Okay, we've got our peace and quiet, what did you want to talk about?"

"Lift your shirt up." She requested,

Senna's face fell, "Huh?" she replied dumbly.

"Lift. Your shirt. Up. And show me your stomach." The woman punctuated slowly,

"No, I got that part, I meant 'why' exactly? And what's with the secrecy? I don't think Ichigo had to leave because I'm showing my stomach. I do it all the time at tennis practice."

Shaolin placed her hand on her hips and quietly thought to herself. She didn't really expect Senna to just go along with it without some kind of reason. _'Well, it was going to come out either way…'_ she thought to herself, as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small syringe, holding it in her palm for the young girl to see. "Senna…I…I'm pregnant." She admitted.

The perplexed woman re-tilted her head straight, as her eyebrows shot up. "You mean…?" she asked with palpable excitement. When she received a small confirming nod, the girl squealed with delight as she ran over and wrapped her arms around the nervous ghost. "Oh my god! Congratulations, Shaolin-chan!"

"Ah, eheh," the blushing woman melted a bit, as she returned the hug awkwardly, glad to see that she was happy for her, but surprised by her verve. "Thank-you, Senna."

Pulling away, the starry-eyed girl placed her hand over her mouth, trying to contain herself. "Is that what you wanted to tell me so bad? Oh, does Ichigo know yet!? Do you want me to give you some space, so that you can tell him tonight? Do you know how far along or how many-"

"Senna! Calm down!" Shaolin snapped, shutting the girl's bombardment of questions down. She then raised both hands placatingly. "One question at a time." When the girl nodded, her hands covering her mouth, the captain continued. "First off, Ichigo doesn't know yet, but I'm going to tell him tonight. You don't need to vacate the premise, I'll talk with him on the roof back at the apartment. And lastly, no, that's not why I wanted to speak with you alone." She then tilted her hand, bringing attention to the syringe held between her fingers. "It's for this."

The girl eyed the needle quietly, before turning back to the woman. "I don't follow. What's that?"

"It's a needle that is injected into the abdomen. From what Unohana has told me, it's the quickest and most accurate pregnancy testing device ever created."

Senna's quirked an eyebrow, "And you want to inject me with it?" she asked her hands on her hips. "Why? I mean, I'm a virgin. I've never even had se-"

The woman paused mid-sentence, as she remembered one particular summer night in Soul Society. Her face slowly drained of color, as it slowly dawned on her how wrong her prior thought had been. "Oh…_ho, ho_, _oh shit_." She whispered, as her hands slid to the side of her head, ready to rip her hair out. "_Oh SHIT!_" she yelled, quickly spinning around and surging towards the rooftop door. "I…Ichigo and…oh shit! He came inside me at least five-Shit, oh FUCK! I ah think, think!" the panicked girl's head shook vigorously from side to side, trying to help her remember. A word finally clicked, creating some relief "CONDOM! Condom! Ah…did we use a condom!? Umm, I ahh I think…" she quickly turned around when she was about to hit the door, her eyes closed as she was pouring all her energy into kicking her memory into overdrive, desperate to recall detail, facts, ANYTHING, about that night.

As precious information started coming back to her in broken images and incomplete thought, her eyes shot back open as a horrified looked settled across her face, almost as if she'd been denied salvation minutes before the apocalypse was set to begin. "NO! No, we didn't! Oh, _fuck me_!" The hysteric girl cursed as she tried to come up with SOMETHING! "Umm, period. My period! When did I last have it? W-was it before then? I-I should have bleed a few days ago, I think…Or was it later? Damn it! I…I can't remember!"

Before the girl could rant herself into oblivion, Shaolin grabbed her by the collar of her shirt as she neared her. Yanking backward on the uniform, the older woman slapped the back of Senna's head with her other hand. "Calm down, Senna!" the teacher scolded her student.

"I ah…Y-yes ma'am." The crouching teary-eyed girl squeaked, as she nursed the spot she'd been hit comically.

Easing up her glare, Shaolin placed a reassuring hand on her sister-in-law and one of her sexual partner from that day. "Look, that's what I was trying to find out. I was hoping to inject you without telling you what I was really doing; I didn't want you to freak out."

"Oh…" the blustering girl deflated, since she single handedly shot that expectation to hell. Although, when faced with the prospect of becoming a teenage mother, with nary a penny to her name, or acceptable job experience, could you blame her?

As the Chinese spirit helped the girl to her feet, she was surprised to see the girl fidgeting. "What's wrong?" she asked, as she had expected her to lift her shirt automatically.

Ms. Kurosaki's eyes darted to the corner, her lips trembling. "Umm…but what if…" she started wringing her hands, while her knees started to wobble ever so slightly. "what if I am?" she covered her eyes with her hands as she bit her lip. "What do I do!?"

She stood there for a few seconds, until she felt her hands being tugged away, exposing her misted amber eyes to the woman in front of her. "Senna, I understand you're afraid." The shorthaired woman slid her hand against the scared girl's cheek to calm her down. "I was too when I heard the news, but we can't run from reality. Let me test you." She gave a small shrug as she smiled "If you aren't then we'll have a laugh over it."

The girl's eyes darted to her stomach, a fear smoldering in the pit of it. "And if I am?" she squeaked meekly.

"Well...we'll cross that bridge when we get there." She assured, as she kneeled back down, "Would you please?" The girl slowly nodded and lifted her shirt, exposing her developing abs. "Just relax and ignore the sting."

Jabbing the needle in, the girl flinched from the shock before relaxing. Shaolin held the thin needle between her pointer and thumb, her eyes fixated on the side gauge, slowly filling with blood. Once it was full, she pulled it out and brought it close, flipping it over to see the result side.

After lowering her shirt and rubbing the small pain away, Senna nervously waited in silence, looking down at the head of the other woman that was staring intently at the medical tool in her hands. Shaolin's expression remained stoic for a few seconds, until finally her eyebrows rose, indicating a change had happened.

It was the moment of truth.

"You can relax. You're not." The woman replied, as she moved the needle away and turned her gaze upward, her free hand tilting just enough to show a symbolic frowning emoticon on the end.

Relief swept over the teenager, as she fell back onto her romp, legs have turned to jelly. "Thank goodness." She offered to whatever deity might be listening. "I'm not ready to be an expectant mother." The girl said, shaking her head softly, amazed at her incredible luck. When she lifted her head back up to face the woman in front of her, she felt a small stab in her chest, when she realized her poor choice of word to the less fortunate woman. "I—I mean-"

"Its okay, Senna. I understand." The woman got up from her knees and gave the girl a hand up. "I wasn't expecting this either and it was rather premature, but Ichigo and my relationship was bound to come to light eventually. Let's just hope thing work out."

Senna nodded agreeably, before feeling the phone in her pocket vibrate. Pulling it out, she saw a text from Makoto telling her to 'wake up' and get to class in the next two minutes otherwise Mitsuki-sensei was going to give her detention. "I-I gotta go!" Senna shouted, as she stepped away from Shaolin, heading straight for the door, prepping herself to book it.

Seeing what she was doing, Shaolin cried out "Senna! Wai-"

Dggh!

Her words died in her throat, as the poor girl slammed right into the unbuckling door, before fall backwards limply. No doubt, a sharp pain ringing throughout her face. "(Sigh) You forgot you locked it didn't you, Gakusei?" the mentally exhausted woman groaned.

"M-maybe Sensei…" came the reply.

Another sigh.

It was to be a long sentry duty for Shaolin.

(After school)

A few hours and a near detention sentencing for Senna later, the trio were on their way back to Senna apartment. Shaolin was smiling mischievously, as Ichigo regaled her on the many embarrassing situations that Senna had endured throughout the day, while said girl angrily swore vengeance against Ichigo for being a blabber mouth and Shaolin for asking the question of 'how their day went'.

"Okay, okay, let's not make Senna any angrier Ichigo-koi." Shaolin requested, as she wiped away a tear brought on by her earlier laughter.

"Alright, I'll shut up." He said, as he reached over and placed his arm against one very frumpy Senna. "I'm sorry. You know I love you, so big bro won't pick on you anymore."

A low agitated grunt escaped Senna's throat as she swished her lips back and forth, obviously giving him some consideration. "Mmm, alright. Just this once." She then smiled, "But next time, I'm telling the SWA about your bunny collection."

Ichigo turned red in the face, while Shaolin laughed even harder. "It's NOT a bunny, it's NOT a collection and it's DEFINTELY NOT mine!" he said hotly, as the girl shrugged nonchalantly.

"Whateeeever you say." She replied, before looking back at the other woman in their group. "Hey Shaolin-chan."

"Yes?"

"Being serious, you said that we got attacked yesterday, so what does the Sotaichō plan on doing about the situation?"

The girl crossed her arms as they came to a stop in front of a crosswalk. "The Sotaichō isn't going to be taking any risks. He's scheduled a meeting at Urahara's Shoten. All of the remaining Taichō's will be present."

"What's the meeting about exactly?" Ichigo asked

The woman looked at him, a serious glint in her eye. "To discuss our plans for our assault on Hueco Mundo." She then turned forward and the trio began to walk as the light changed. "Every minute spent waiting is another minute Aizen gains strength. Yamamoto must know this and that's the reason why he's called the meeting."

"B-but we've only just learned how to use our Hollow powers the other day! We're not ready for battle yet!"

"It's okay Senna." Ichigo said as he placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "The Sotaichō probably knows this and just wants to get a feel of what our timeline is looking like."

"Exactly. Remember you, Ichigo, and the Quincy Uryu are the only ones not affected by Kyoka Suigetsu, but, unlike Uryu, you are the only ones with the ability to basically double your power. We can't afford to lose you, if Aizen is indeed commanding these Arrancar to attack Karakura."

Ichigo shrugged at her words, "Well, at least they're looking out for us. I suppose that's good enough for now."

Senna nodded her in agreement; both Kurosaki's missing the small wince in Shaolin's eyes. The rest of the trip went on in silence, as they made their way up the stairwell to Senna's apartment, until they were just outside the door.

"What's this?" Ichigo wondered as he pried off a small square metal device off the door. Flipping it over in his hand, the back was smooth with nothing on it. "Weird…I feel a very small amount of spiritual energy coming off it."

"Is it from Soul Society?" Senna asked as she stepped around the pair to unlock her door.

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like it." Shaolin muttered, curious to the strange device.

"Neither have I." Ichigo gave a curious glance to Senna, who pushed the door open. "Maybe it's from the research and development?" He then extended over in Senna's direction. "You think you could work it? I don't know anything about these kinds of electronics."

"Maybe if I mess around with the interface a bit, but no promises." She said as she grabbed the device, before entering into the apartment.

Setting her school things down by the door, Senna flopped down on the couch keen on figuring out what the strange device was. Ichigo and Shaolin filled the spaces beside her, watching the girl tinker with a few button on the side. The tech savvy girl silently pressed a few more button in rapid succession until she hit a red error message. "Uh-oh, I need a password to unlock it." The girl spoke, a frown forming on her face.

"A password?" Her brother asked,

"Yeah, a four character password made up of numbers, like 9-9-9-9." Senna said as she glanced at the two of them, "Any ideas?"

Ichigo rubbed the side of his head. If this had been a word password, he knew a few the Onimitsukido used, but a number one? He was drawing a blank. "I got nothing."

"I never received word we were handing this out…" Shaolin lamented, she hadn't even known such a thin sleek device existed, before now.

Senna frowned as they hit the proverbial roadblock. Setting the touch screen down on to the coffee table, the trio leaned back into the couch to brainstorm since it was obviously important.

Senna's eyes lit up, as she snapped her fingers. "Ooooh! Why don't we phone up Soul Society? They'd probably know."

"Ehhh, well, yeah." Ichigo replied shakily, since it was odd that they'd send something nobody knew how to use.

As the man began to reach into his pocket, he stopped when he heard the clicking of keys. Directing his attention to the origin, he saw the holographic panel on the device fill in with numbers, before displaying a 'password accepted.' Ichigo and the girls leaned forward, curious as to what just happened. The words disappeared from sight and a fragmented blue light shot up from the center of the device, touching every corner of the room in it's mystifying glow.

"This is cool." Senna chirped, feeling quite campy under the strange ambience the lights created in the room.

Soon though, the scanning light beams died down and centered over the glass display. There was a small mechanical clicking, before a see through image appeared of Sosuke Aizen sitting on his throne, his hands clasped together earnestly.

"Greetings." The man said with a small tip of his head.

Her instincts flaring Shaolin wheeled her attention away from the image and to her compatriots. "Close your eyes now!" she screamed frantically.

Knowing of what she feared, the pair shut their eyes while Aizen looked on, the man somewhat amused by their actions. "Really? Is all that necessary, I merely wish to talk with you."

"That's a load of crap!" She snapped before quickly turning to her right. "Keep your eyes closed, no matter what!" turning back to Sosuke she witnessed the man let out a resigning sigh, which brought a smile to the woman's face. He wouldn't hypnotize them, not on her watch.

The brown haired ruler was briefly impressed by Soifon's dedication to her duty; although, whether it was the duty of a wife or captain, remained to be seen. Still, he would get through this obstacle. "Captain Soifon, look at me." The man unclasped his hands and held his palms where she could clearly see them. "I don't even have Kyoka Suigetsu in my hands. That's proof enough that I have no intention nor the ability to harm you."

"We all know I'm hypnotized, so we can't trust what I see!" she retorted,

"This is true, but as you can clearly see, I had one of my operatives deliver this to Grimmjow's last known spiritual energy signature in the hopes it would reach you." When Soifon's eyes widened at the recollection of what happened yesterday, Aizen nodded. Glad, she remained as informed as he remembered.

"Yes, I had to sacrifice a soldier to do so, but it was worth it just to talk." The man then looked down the left side of his throne and reached down, pulling out a familiar scabbard. "This is the blade you fear, is it not?"

"I knew it was a trap." The captain snarled

The man shook his head disappointedly; she was still too agitated to listen. "Let me tell you a little something and you can take it as the truth since Kurosaki-Fukutaichō isn't hypnotized. Kyoka Suigetsu can only hypnotize someone if they physically see the blade itself," the man removed a hand from the sword and extended it towards them. "This hologram is merely a representation of it, so, no matter how hard I try, I could never hypnotize someone not already under my influence."

The man then shocked the woman when he casually tossed his katana away, the blade's image going out of sight, before a rattling clank was heard, from what was presumably the blade hitting the ground. "Do you trust my intention to talk now?"

The group sat in silence, before Ichigo stunned Shaolin by opening his eyes against her earlier command. "I believe you." He said simply, as his wife looked on aghast.

"Kurosaki." The woman hissed tensely, her perceivable anger born of worry.

Ichigo gave her a calm sideways glance, before turning fully to Aizen. "If Aizen really could have hypnotized us, he would have done so, as soon as his image appeared." He narrowed his eyes, "Isn't that right?"

As Senna opened her eyes, trusting Ichigo's instincts, the man in front of them actually began to smile at them. "Glad to see that you are at least willing to listen to reason, Mr. Kurosaki."

"Why are you contacting Ichigo saying you want to talk?" Senna asked wary of the man. "You've already tried to kill him multiple times."

Aizen's gaze shifted from the orange haired man to the purple haired girl beside him. "Well I-" the man suddenly clammed up as he stroked his chin, his eyebrows furrowing in consternation. After silently pondering whatever had been on his mind, the man spoke again. "I know of Mr. Kurosaki and Ms. Fon, but I'm afraid I don't know you. May I have your name miss?"

"Senna."

"Senna…?" He repeated the name, before letting out a small acknowledging 'ah'. "You must be the individual that received Ms. Kuchiki's power and consequentially got caught up in the Kuchiki-Kurosaki debacle in your home town." Despite being seated, the man bowed gracefully, a hand held inches from his chest. "Allow me to properly introduce myself: I am Sosuke Aizen, the leader of the Hollow Forces of Hueco Mundo, ex-Taichō of the Gotei 13, and the one that indirectly got you dragged into a war that didn't really involve you. I offer my sincerest apologies for the oversight."

The young woman scowled at him. "You're threatening Humanity. That's not exactly a 'war that doesn't involve me'."

The man shook his head dismissively. "You are young, Miss Senna, so I can forgive your ignorance. Allow me to redirect you to my line of thinking: Reflect back to the wars in human history: How many of them have the tag line of 'defending humanity' from foreign powers?" he chided softly.

"Leave her alone." Ichigo barked, drawing attention away from her. "What the hell do you want?"

"Ah, yes. Let me get back on track." The man then leaned back in his chair, a serene smile on his face that simple exuded confidence. His magnetic mystique only unnerved them further; even though they knew he couldn't hurt them, nor was he even in the room, it still felt like the one in control of things was him, not them.

"Mr. Kurosaki, I must admit, I am verily impressed by you. You are a man of worth." The man placed his hand against his chest. "You are a self-made man. All of your accomplishments up this point were attained through your own efforts with minimal outside assistance."

The man graciously extended his hand to him. "You have survived multiple attempts on your life not only from my Hollows and Arrancars, but even when I pitted all of Soul Societies' might against you. You have been a near unpredictable element in my plans, constantly forcing me to shift them mid-conduction. You went on to achieve Bankai at rate so fast, that even I did not know you had achieved it. Speaking of things I didn't know, I must also extend congratulation to Mr. and Mrs. Taiga for assisting you in falsifying your death, right in front of my eyes."

The man smiled gently, his disposition belying the seriousness of the matter. "If not for me testing out my soldiers the other day, I wouldn't even have known you were still alive, so congratulations for fooling even me into thinking you were dead."

"What did you do to Shinjiro and Subaru, Aizen?" Shaolin barked, her angry tone superimposing upon her worry of them being caught by Aizen, a man who'd show no mercy.

The man's eyes twinkled momentarily, before he shifted in his chair, eyes closed pleasantly. "I would assume they are fine. I haven't killed them or anything." The man opened his eyes, which left the group feeling eerie about his answer. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't consider everyone expendable." He shrugged his shoulder disarmingly, "Good _hard_ workers are few and far between; I can also sympathize with working under someone you hate for a lengthy period of time."

"IT WAS FIFTY YEARS!" she shouted, although it did little to rattle the man.

"You'll have to forgive me; time has relatively little meaning to people that live lives as long as ours." The man then turned back to Ichigo, ignoring the glowering look from the trio for his casual disregard. "To the point of why I contacted you: Mr. Kurosaki, you are a paragon of what a person's potential can allow. I am also acutely aware that we also stand on opposite sides. However, I would like to use this chance to gain your assistance to change the world."

The trio went bug-eyed at what he was asking of them. Ichigo's mouth hung open as he tried to compute what the man was telling him. He contacted him to get him to turn traitor and attempt to kill the spirit king, blatantly doing so in front of a captain as well. The man bit his tongue: either he was insane, he was extremely overconfident, or he knew more than he was letting on. "Why the hell should I join you!?"

The man's eyebrow rose in pondering, before he glanced back. "You don't have to." He replied simply.

"What? You just contradicted yourself!" Senna breathed, extremely confused. First he wanted him, now he doesn't.

The man seeing their confusion clarified. "Mr. Kurosaki, you are merely a very large obstacle in my path, if you should choose to stay with Soul Society, we will fight. I only wish that you'd align your skills with my own." He then shrugged nonchalantly, like a ruthless businessman trying to play a bluff on his victims. "Failing that: Then simply having no participation in my war against Soul Society would be acceptable alternative. I'm not in the business of waking sleeping lions and creating more enemies. You turn a blind eye to me and I will return the favor to you and leave you in peace."

From beside Ichigo, Senna jumped out of her seat outraged. "That still doesn't give you the right to sacrifice the people of Karakura just so you can gain the power you want! We know about the king's key, Aizen!" she yelled accusingly, attempting to decry his words, before they could seep in and do damage.

The man turned his attention to the outspoken woman, and proceeded to counter her words in his ever in-control tone. "First off, Senna-san, allow me to correct your propaganda filled head. I don't need all of Karakura town, merely a mid-sized portion of it. I will further enlighten you in that every individual that has obtained power, true power that is, has needed to sacrifice something in return to attain it. Swordsmen sacrifice years of their lives in order to master the sword with such acuity, that the weapon become little more then an extension of themselves. Businessmen the world over sacrifice various monetary factors in investments in order to have expanding affluence and control in trans-continental services."

Aizen paused, silently enjoying that not only was the girl listening intently, but so were the other two. "The Shinigami, for instance, have the holy duty and power to purify Hollows and ensure the cycle of reincarnation keeps turning; however, they have had to step on individuals to maintain where they stood. The Quincies were one such group they trampled underfoot. Though, they had the ability to defeat Hollows, they could not purify them, so even though they could assist the Shinigami, the Shinigami didn't like sharing the limelight and eradicated them."

The man leaned back and stretched his neck in a circle to work out a kink before continuing. "But, I perhaps speak of the wrong subject. You are after all human, so let me use human history instead of my own." The man leaned forward and clasped his hands. "Tell me do you know of one Adolf Hitler? He sacrificed the Jewish people to political and physical slaughter to become the leader of a nation that he then nearly led to complete global conquest. What about Pharaoh Ramses the second? He enslaved thousands of individuals to construct the pyramids found in the Valley of the Kings, as a testament to his strength as pharaoh; his legacy transcends the brittles of time and still stands as a tourist hotspot in Egypt. What about the Conquistadores of Spain? They invaded the New World and became its masters, killing thousands of its indigenous people for gold, glory, and god; providing the first step toward civilization in the western half of the world. What about the Japanese's -your people's- history? The Sengoku era? How many people threw down their hoes and scythes and picked up the sword? Risking their lives in battles, spilling the blood of neighbors on the fields they tiled, just to move up in the world?"

When the woman looked away silently, the man leaned back in his chair, basking in his oral triumph. "Senna-san, the world is full of bloodshed. Tell me, how much blood is on your hands? How many people had to die for _you_ to get where you're standing today? I'm sorry to say, but nothing but violence can save this world, my dear. When you understand this cold hard truth, you will understand that the god that sits on the throne in heaven, the one my army and I challenge, spares no love for his creations. If merely having a difference of opinion and belief of what is the best course for the world is considered 'evil', then I will gladly go down in history as a tyrant that tried to change the world."

As the girl sat back down defeatedly, Ichigo placed a reassuring hand on her, while glaring at the man, who remained, neither taking obvious pleasure nor guilt in his words. The man then turned to Soifon. "That reminds me, since you and Senna-san are also here, my courteous invitation for defect extends to you two as well."

"What?" the assassin replied, unable to figure out his angle at all.

A sense of foreboding gathered in her stomach when the man smiled at herm, as if he could see right through her. "I extend this to Senna as a bit of a consolation for dragging her into this. She is technically my responsibility, thus as a prospective god ascendant, I should offer her some salvation. As for you, I made a small vow to Mr. and Mrs. Taiga." When he received a cold look of distrust, he continued. "I promised that for their loyalty to my cause, I would try to either subdue you or recruit you to my cause…if it was within reasonable possibility."

"My how very courteous of you." She replied, her answer dripping with sarcasm.

The man let out a huff of his own. "I don't think you should be muttering about courtesies, Soifon-Taichō. I'm quite sure you've never bother to tell them why you are really there."

Soifon's mouth closed as she glared at him hatefully. Ichigo had an idea of what he was really getting at, having also recalled Shinji's warning. However, Senna was slower on the uptake. "What do you mean by that?"

Sosuke looked over at the questioning girl, before looking back at the quiet captain. "Well, I think I'll turn over the floor to the captain. Care to explain to her what the rest of us know?"

The Chinese woman looked away momentarily, as she thought over her words. She wasn't sure how he had come up with such information, maybe he had accounted for it somehow, or maybe he just made a lucky guess, but now that she was put on the spot she knew she was in a bind. Leaning forward, she spared a glance at her student and bit her lip. Lying or staying silent would be worse than telling the truth. "Do you remember what Shinji said?" she asked

The other girl's eyes went to the corner as she tried to recall. "He said something about…" she suddenly went silent, as she hung her head. "Soul Society plans on betraying us?"

Shaolin winced under her pained eyes. "The reason I came with Ichigo to find you wasn't _only_ because I knew you. I was sent because I could keep an eye on you without arousing your suspicion, and, if necessary, end you life at the slightest hints that either: you couldn't contain the power of Hollows, or you had intentions of betraying Soul Society."

"The old man and the rest of the Shinigami fear that which they cannot comprehend nor obtain. So, rather than prompting some level of civility, they opt to destroy those who do not fall in line with their thinking or ability. It's discrimination, pure and simple." Aizen happily chimed in from his side of the connection.

"So Soul Society really was planning on betraying us." Ichigo replied, as he leaned back into the couch. He'd been told to expect it, but it still felt like a letdown for hoping otherwise. "I figured they'd send someone to keep an eye on us, but not you." he then tilted his head to the left, where Shaolin sat. "I trust you had your reasons captain." He said in a warm if professional tone, letting her know that he did want to know why, but it would wait until Aizen was no longer listening.

Ichigo then looked back at Aizen, "As for you, you say that the Shinigami fear that power. I say it's for good measure, it's dangerous. What if any lunatic yahoo could cross the barrier?" he bent his neck low and scowled, "Or wannabe god types…"

Aizen smiled, at his accusation. "That is the price of power, Kurosaki-san."

"Yeah, well then what are you going to do with it? Destroy Soul Society?"

"What makes you think that I desire the destruction of that place?" the brown haired man inquired thoughtfully.

Ichigo leaned forward, his arms set on his knees. "Simple. From the youngest child to the most seasoned warrior, when a person gains a new skill or power their going to want to use it. You plan to ascend to the throne of god and gain all the powers that come with it." He lifted his hand, revealing an open palm. "You already have the Hollows under your control, the Quincies are long extinct, and regular human beings won't pose a challenge, so the only way to test if you've gotten stronger would be against the Shinigami."

Sosuke chuckled to himself, surprised by the young man's insight. Now he knew why he was such a dangerous foe. "Perceptive. I commend you for it. Yes, I would probably test my new found abilities; however, where you are wrong, and what makes the fundamental difference between me and the people in charge of Soul Society, is that I am only going to use it on the individuals who will try to oppose and buckle my right to rule. I choose to enforce submission, they commit to wholesale slaughter."

Sosuke leaned back and glanced away from his audience and to something on his side. He let out a low hum as he seemed to register something. "Time is short and I've only realized: Despite my rhetoric, I've given you very little incentive to join my side, Kurosaki-san." The man turned the Shinigami and bowed, "My apologies, it's not often that I get truly so enraptured in conversation."

Leaning back in his chair, he steeped his fingers against one another, smiling mischievously. "Kurosaki-san, if you should so choose to join me, I give my solemn word to treat you and your kind with integrity and respect."

Ichigo scoffed as he leaned to one side. "Like that means a lot. You betrayed the hell out of everyone in Soul Society AND tried to kill me repeatedly, so sorry if your word doesn't mean much to me."

"I understand your skepticism, it's not exactly unwarranted. However, I speak honestly when I say that I understand and appreciate the similarities between us."

Now Ichigo jumped out of his seat. "THERE ARE NO SIMILARITIES!" he yelled hotly, "You had it all! You had people who respected and looked up to you, who wanted to be like you! You had the power and authority to help others, but you chose yourself! You caused the death of thousands of individuals, including my friends! So don't tell me there are any FUCKING similarities between us!"

The room went deathly silent at the man declaration. The two women slowly turned from Ichigo to Sosuke Aizen, who looked both impressed and surprised. The man sat there for a few seconds astonished, before his body started to shake and a low chuckle escaped his lips that gradually got louder. "What's so funny?" Ichigo hissed.

The man laughed just a little bit harder as he brought a hand to his face, wiping a joyful tear from his eye. "You will have to forgive me. In my old age, I oft forget the passion of youth." The man then rested his cheek against his fist, bemused by the situation. "Mr. Kurosaki, I truly must say, you astound me, and for that I will give you a truth about myself. I didn't betray the people of Soul Society; rather, I learned what I could about them and then made a choice in my life. I chose to ask questions, I chose to think for myself, I chose to align with those who have lived lives similar to me. My life, perhaps all life in general, is just a very complicated version of an age old question: Is it them or us, us or them, who do you side with?"

The man then closed his eyes and tipped his head ever so slightly. "That is why despite our past animosity I am willing to extend my invitation to you. I acknowledge and respect you as a person. I feel were we not constantly coming to blows and cross purposes that we could become very close friends. That is also the reason why my incentive to persuade you to follow me is something beyond mere trinkets or monetary solutions."

"And what's that?" Ichigo asked,

The man opened his eyes and stared unflinchingly at the man. "As a token of appreciation for your assistance, I will return your mother back to life."

Ichigo fist clenched tightly at the mention of his and Senna's mother, who was lost to a Hollow. "Don't fuck with me Ai-"

"I am not fucking with you, Kurosaki-san." Aizen interrupted, "I offer this out of the sincerity of my heart." The man calmly shook his head, stifling the young man's anger. Now it was time for him to lie a bit. "From what I heard, your mother was killed by a Hollow sometime after you joined Captain Soifon's roster. It was a most unfortunate tragedy and the world is made lesser with her passing."

Ichigo stared at him wordlessly, but still glowering with anger. "So why bring it up? If you could bring back the dead, you wouldn't need me in the first place."

Aizen sighed; the boy was as perceptive as he was wary of him, still, he had considered that possibility and prepared accordingly. "I can only use it once, obviously I would use it on myself; however, I am the only one with the ability and knowledge to do so. And with the requirement of the target being dead, I'm not a very good candidate. However, if proving my sincerity and making you happy would convince you to join hands with me, then I am willing to sacrifice one spell to meet you halfway."

When Ichigo bowed his head, obviously thinking his words over, Sosuke decided now was the time to press the time limit. "I'm afraid that is all the time we will have to discuss. I have dispatched an emissary to the human world, which this device will lead you to. You will have until midnight, five hours from now, to provide them an answer for what you will do. Stay with Soul Society, Leave the conflict, or Join me. I am not asking much and offer genuine incentives for all three of you to consider."

The man looked at Shaolin. "Your family and their freedom. The ability to be able to live without oppressive expectation or forced servitude." His eyes darted over to Senna. "The ability to protect the people you hold so dear, from a god that has abandoned them to self-destruction." His eyes then swiveled to the orange haired man in the middle, "And a place to live without fear of others for being different. To be able to stand up for what you believe in."

The man leaned back in his chair and looked over them all with quiet determination. "I hope you consider my words and reflect on the position you are in. Farewell."

The feed then cut, as the light created image retreated into the hologram projector. Senna leaned over to it and saw that there was an image of the city, with a green dot in the center and a red dot in the distance. Looking at it closely, she could see that it was coming from her old middle school.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Ichigo resting his head in his hands, obviously deep in thought. Shaolin was gritting her teeth, unsure of what to say to the man. The two girls watched the man as he sat there, before he pushed himself off the couch, his eyes obscured by his hair. "I'm going to the roof, I need to think."

The man slowly trudged around Senna and walked to the door before disappearing, her body shaking as he slammed the door shut. The young woman sulked her head, unable to really say anything. She also had a lot on her mind regarding the situation and Aizen's argument.

Turning her head, she saw Shaolin, also lost in thought, trying to rationalize something. Senna had remembered what Aizen had insinuated about Soul Society betraying them. In all honesty, she didn't really put any stock in the warning. She thought it was utter bull that anyone hurting for allies as badly as Soul Society would be willing to betray another when everything was on the line. Everything she had seen so far rationalized her situation. Soul Society and the Soul Reapers were the good guy caught up in a desperate struggle to protect mankind from both Aizen and the Hollows.

However, even though everything she had seen pointed to that conclusion, she could not turn a blind eye to one particular part of her prior thought. 'Were'. Past tense, no longer true. From Aizen's perspective: Soul Society wasn't the good guys. They were just maintainers of the status quo, servants to a god…that didn't care.

The Vizard dug her teeth into her lower lip, Aizen's argument clear in her mind. If what Aizen said was true, that the Spirit King, God, was as omnipotent as human and Shinigami claimed, then Aizen subtly unveiled a horrific truth to her. Every tragedy people endured, every atrocity that had ever been committed, the Quincy genocide, Aizen's rebellion, Masaki's death, every single one of these events was in the Spirit King's hands!

…and s/he did nothing to stop them.

"Shaolin-chan…" the girl whispered, her voice barely audible. As the silent captain's eyes drifted in her direction, she saw the doubts in her mind.

"Yes, Senna." Came the throaty reply.

"What Aizen said…it wasn't the truth was it?" she asked quietly, truly feeling what she was: a helpless kid in way over her head. "Was he just twisting things?"

The captain looked away from her and stared at her reflection in the television for a few seconds. She let out a sigh as she leaned back into the couch, still tense. "There was a great deal of truth to his words. I can't deny that."

That sank her spirit a bit, especially the part where Shaolin had confirmed to be their overseer, which speaking of. "Shaolin…sensei, why didn't you tell us about this."

"It didn't occur to me!" the woman snapped, causing the girl to flinch away at the sudden change in attitude. Seeing what she had done, the captain sighed again, her expression apologetic. "Sorry…" She offered softly, softening her features as she looked into her student's uncertain face. _'Still the idealist…'_ she thought to herself whimsically.

Getting up from the couch, she extended her hand to her. The young landlady looked confused, before she got up and took the hand."You need a haircut." Shaolin informed; a strange shift in conversation. The woman then led her over to the dinner table and seated the girl in a chair, before releasing her Zanpaktou Suzumebachi. "Eyes forward." She commanded when the girl looked over her shoulders; her confusion and desire for an answer becoming more evident by the minute. Doing as she said, Senna returned her attention to the wall in front of her, while Soifon ran her hands through her hair undoing any stylistics. "Let's talk." Soifon's voice said to the girl, her tone obviously implying to her original question.

"Why did you bring up the haircut thing?" her student asked immediately, as she felt the woman straighten her hair to where it ran smoothly with gravity.

When her hair was finally in it's natural state, Soifon stopped moving her hands, placing them on the woman's shoulder. "Because either way we'll be fighting something in the near future. It wouldn't do to have long hair." She answered coolly, her sharp golden needle resting against the calm Vizard's shoulder blade. "…besides, cutting you hair will take time, about as long as it would take to explain my reason." the woman added, revealing her true intention.

Alleviated by her friend's response, Senna kept patient knowing if given space she'd tell her everything. "And you know how to cut hair?" she asked quizzically.

"No. Not like a professional. I simply plan on straightening your hair back and then using Suzumebachi to cut a straight line. Your hair is nearly at the base of your neck," Senna felt the woman place her hand against the bottom of her jaw. "I plan to shorten it to about here, using simple field maintenance."

"Okay." Senna replied, as she slumped her shoulders, acceptant of her offer. "So…"

Raising her needle against a small tuft of purple hair, the assassin started to slide her fingers back and forth in a slow horizontal cut. "Yamamoto fears the power of Hollows, so when Kisuke Urahara proposed that you two be allowed to harness it to combat Aizen, he decided to quietly take certain measures. Shortly after dismissing Urahara from his office, the head captain contacted me and I requested I come to him for a series of secret missions."

"Does Yamamoto know who I am then?" Senna asked quietly, as she felt some of her hair fall down unto her shoulder.

Soifon brushed off the hair that had fell, before rounding up another small clump. "No, he doesn't. He would have made it a point in telling me about that."

"Mmm." The girl grunted taking some relief at getting some good news today. "So back to what you were saying."

Shaolin bowed her head to think, her hands pausing momentarily, before continuing in her cutting. "I was selected for the mission because I could approach you both without raising your suspicion. What Yamamoto didn't know was that I would…I would do anything for you and Ichigo. I undertook the mission to keep an eye on you because I knew you two would never betray Soul Society."

When the woman stopped moving her hands again, Senna could tell she was holding something in. "Well…that's part of the reason." Senna remained still, as the captain resumed her work. "The real reason was that I wasn't going to let anyone hurt you or Ichigo-koi. If I had backed away and let someone else take my spot…or if I had been who I used to be, you two would have been dead, shortly after he showed up trying to tempt you into joining him, slain because I or someone else believed they witnessed even the briefest of doubts or sympathy to Aizen's cause."

The woman stopped and wrapped her arms in a protective circle around Senna's shoulder, resting her chin on the top of her head. "I did the exact same thing to you as Shinjiro and Subaru did for me; shouldering the responsibility and keeping you in the dark. Protecting you, even against your will." A small chuckle escaped her. "I suppose I'm selfish that way."

"No…" Senna muttered as she touched one of Chinese girl's forearms with her hand. "You did what you thought was right…"

Another chuckle escaped the older woman, amused by the idea. "Thank-you; although, the matter of 'right' and 'wrong' is a concept I really don't want to think about anymore." She then pulled back and started stroking away at the remaining hairline, evening it out and flattening it. She stopped and admired her handiwork, before patting her shoulder. "There. All done."

Senna stood up and smiled as she turned to her friend. "Thank-you." She replied before growing serious. "So, what now?" she then paused and looked in the direction of the door Ichigo had left through earlier. "Or I guess what do you think Ichigo will do?"

The woman followed her trail of sight. In all honesty, she didn't really know what Ichigo would choose, but she did know that he would need help in deciding. "I don't know. This is his decision to make." She then looked at the shorter haired girl. "And yours."

Catching her intent, Senna glanced at her worriedly. "What about you?"

A thin smile graced her lips, "Whatever, Ichigo chooses, I will follow. I am merely going to make sure he understands all of the choices in front of him, before he truly commits to a particular path."

Sitting back down in the chair, she couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice. "You really think Aizen's words got to him?" She asked, despite knowing the answer; for all that he was, and all that he survived, at the end of the day Ichigo was still human, even if she had trouble remembering that.

"Aizen's words would get to anyone, Senna; because, he spoke the truth. While I am a bit leery about some things, especially the whole raising the dead promise of his, he makes a point." The woman crossed her arms and continued in her solemn tone. "I've been a captain longer than you've been alive. I've seen and participated in many atrocities, if the spirit king is worth my fealty, worth putting my life on the line to protect, then he in turn should be willing to protect those underneath him, something I have failed to see, if Aizen's rebellion and human history is any indication."

Senna seemed to deflate at her words. That was exactly the same truth Aizen had told her and the one that bothered her the most. "But he's still going to sacrifice the people of Karakura…my friends…" the woman's lips shifted uncomfortably. "Is it possible to bring them back, if he's the king?" she asked clearly uncertain. "Or is that just a trick to get us to work for him?"

"I don't know Senna." Shaolin said quietly, as she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Perhaps, it's possible. The cycle of soul reincarnation is the closest thing that I can think of that actually has the ability to 'resurrect the dead' consistently. However, the main problem with using the cycle is that it far too slow, since it was designed to give each soul returned to it an equal amount of life comparative to the other souls in the system. But I suppose if one _could_ manipulate the cycle speed of a particular soul in someway, speeding up their rebirth time, then the idea of 'instantaneous' resurrection isn't too far-fetched an idea."

"Then it could work? So Aizen's offer is genuine?"

"I couldn't tell you if it's genuine or not. That requires the power of future-sight, an ability no one possesses." She then removed her hands of her shoulder and clasped her hands instead. "I think it would behoove you to stop thinking in term of 'right' and 'wrong', 'good' and 'evil', Senna. The most we can do is make the decision that we are prepared to live with."

"What if I can't make a decision?"

"Indecision IS still a decision, but nothing good ever comes of it, only tragedies." She replied sagely.

When Senna nodded her head showing she understood her warning, Soifon pulled her hands away and started walking towards the door. When her hand touched the doorknob, she stopped when her sole student called out to her. Looking back over her shoulder, the Chinese woman waited patiently for her student sitting across the room to speak her mind.

"Ummm…" the girl shifted nervously from foot to foot, "what if my decision is…_different_…from yours?"

Shaolin lifted her gaze upwards, thinking over her words, before smiling as she turned back to her fellow clansmen. "Then stand by your decision, Senna. Even if we fight each other, there will never be any hard feelings." The woman walked back over to the sitting girl and stroked her cheek lovingly, a small blush on her face. "We're family." She said as she leaned in, "We love you." And pressed her lips against the teenager.

After a moment's pause, the young girl leaned into the kiss, yearning more of the older woman's lips. Sliding her tongue into her senior's mouth, she savored her taste as the woman giggled and renewed her assault. The two made out for a few more seconds, before the captain pulled away licking her lips with red cheeks.

"Was that supposed to sway me?" Senna asked demurely, having enjoyed the kiss quite a bit.

"Maybe…" she answered cheekily, as she hugged the woman tenderly, planting a small kiss on her forehead. "Just kidding. Promise me you'll think hard okay, Senna?"

The purple haired girl nodded softly to herself, slipping her arms around Soifon's hips and returning the embrace. "I promise."

Breaking away, the woman then turned and left the woman's apartment, giving her space to make her own decision.

(Earlier: Ichigo)

After climbing up the ladder that lead to the roof, the young Shinigami settled to resting his arms against the steel railing, his head hung low as he stewed in his thoughts, absentmindedly watching the headlights of cars go by in the street below. The buildings dotting the sprawling skyline lit up one by one, fighting against the encroaching darkness of night, defiant in its futile endeavor of keeping the city bright in absence of the sun, each light acting as a taunting reminder to the Shinigami of the passing seconds that counted down the hours and then minutes to midnight.

The man exhaled solemnly as he thought over the impossible decision. For the first time, he was at a loss. Up until now everything made sense, the path he walked was always clear to him, the boundaries and lines he would and wouldn't crossed defined, but now he was at a pause, his mind full of doubt. What Aizen had said, the atrocities he had committed, the promises he gave, the flaws he acknowledged, they all echoed in his mind. He was a man who knew the damage his actions would cause, how it would affect others around him, and he freely confessed to them, owning each one of his deeds. A stark contrast to the organization he had worked his entire life for.

Ichigo was no fool; he knew Soul Society and the Shinigami were not the angelic saints they tried passing themselves off as. They just so happened to have the power to free and pass along any souls they came across. That was their job; it didn't mean it came from altruistic reasoning. The Quincy massacre, the living state for Rukongai residence, the divide between the 'haves' and 'have not'. These were all the reminders he needed to see to know that Soul Society was not the heaven the word envisioned; instead, it was just a white shambling parody of the genuine article's splendor.

Another sigh escaped him, "I can practically feel the thunderstorm…" Ichigo muttered, readily able to feel the clouds darkening the horizon of his inner world, while torrential rainfall battered the glass and steel of the buildings and drenched the clothes and flesh of the cities lone inhabitant. Chancing a glance over his shoulder, he looked at the giant blade strapped to his back. "I know keep moving forward…" he then looked back over the glowing skyline. _'Easier said than done…'_

His musing was broken when he heard the clanking of steps on the ladder. Looking over, he saw his wife hunching over as she placed her foot on the rooftop. "Hey Lin." He greeted wearily, a tired smile on his face.

She returned it as best she could. "Hey yourself." She then walked over and stood beside him, also resting her hands on the cold steel railing. She shot him a concerned glance. "Are you okay?"

Her husband let out a low deprecating laugh. "Yeah, I'm peaches and rainbows, huha."

Shaolin smirked, as she hung her head. "Right. Dumb question." Turning around, she leaned her back against the cold metal. "So do you know what you want to do?"

Ichigo closed his eyes defeatedly. He had anticipated her asking that, as soon as she arrived and, to his dismay, he still didn't have an answer to give her. "I thought so." He heard the slight disappointment and reluctance in her voice. "Well, Ichigo…"

'_Here it comes.'_ He braced himself, having silently counted down, when she'd step in with some rhetoric about his lack of solidarity, before helping to pull himself together.

"Would you like to discuss it?"

The man turned in her direction, surprised by what she was insinuating. "Discuss it? I half expected you to yell at me for even considering it."

The woman placed a hand against her chin, as she looked over to a nearby billboard, thinking over her words. "No." she said finally, "I don't blame you for hesitating. This isn't a simple matter of right or wrong. Your decision will mean the deaths of thousands; I'd actually be more concerned if you just made a decision without pause." The woman looked back at him; she was about to say something when an amusing thought occurred to her. Pausing to give it some regard, she let out a chuckle when she found it to be true. "Hmm, now that I think about it, it's rather ironic. As of this moment, you are god." She said her lips curved into a wry smile.

Pushing himself off the railing, he turned fully toward her. "How do you figure that?" Ichigo asked confused by her strange metaphor.

The steely-eyed woman looked at him patiently. "Aside from the fact that you will determine who will sit on the throne of heaven?" she asked rhetorically, before continuing her observation. "Your decision will determine the sway of this war: of those who will live and die. In that respect, you are playing god." The good wife then took a few steps closer, lifting up three fingers just a few inches away from her cheek. "From what I can see there are three options before you: Stay with Soul Society, Leave the conflict unaffiliated, or Join Aizen."

Ichigo shook his head, disappointedly. "The way you say it makes them sound equally horrible." He groaned

Shaolin nodded her head, understanding why he said that, it was the truth. "Every decision will have it's consequences, both good and ill."

"Yet you leave it to me to decide." The man replied slowly, trying to wrap his mind around the situation. "I presume for the both of us?" another nod. "Why exactly?" Ichigo asked his silent wife.

The woman crossed her arms, rubbing them with her hands to warm them against the night's cold. "Because I trust and love you above all others. I believe whatever decision you choose _is_ the best decision to be taken."

She then looked down and grasped the hilt of her Zanpaktou. "We both know what the true face of Soul Society looks like, but if we can put aside these misgivings and concentrate on our mission, I'm confident that we can put an end to Aizen's ambition once and for all. The battle against the Arrancar will be long and hard, but victory will secure a world where no one else will suffer from Aizen's machinations ever again. Our world will return to the balance it maintained, before Aizen's uprising. Our allies, the Shinigami of Soul Society, will regard you as the hero that bravely defended the afterlife and all innocent souls in it."

"That's the official story." Ichigo replied knowing better of the situation. While, yes, he'd be a living legend, held in the highest of regards as the slayer of Aizen or facilitator of his downfall, there was more to it than the glitz and glamor, namely…

Almost sensing his thoughts, she continued in a more tired tone. "However, IF Aizen IS right, then is defending a god that simply lets his creations destroy one another truly just? Should we continue doing a job that is just a grandiose version of cleaning up the mess of another, who won't take responsibility for their own actions?"

Her tone drew heavier, as if she was resigning her to the questions their conscience would ask when no one was around. Lingering questions, that given the choice they made, they might never be able to receive or learn an acceptable answer to.

"Given the nature of the reincarnation cycle, should we even exist? Couldn't the spirit king manipulate it to where no Hollows would ever exist instead of maintaining the status quo of Hollows preying on the souls of plus and us being sent to purify the both of them to maintain the balance? Even forgetting the Spirit King, we both know of Soul Societies past dealing with others. Exile, genocide, scapegoating; you, Senna, and I would have to live constantly looking over our shoulders. We may be regarded as stalwart defenders of Seireitei, but that won't save us from others."

"An instant." Soifon then snapped her fingers to illustrate her point. "That's all it takes. One quick word or decision from the central 46 or the Sotaichō and we'd be bound and placed before the Sokyoku, stripped of all our power, the ranks we held, and the freedoms we enjoyed. If they don't kill us outright, I'd imagine that we'd be made prisoners in the maggots nest, or turned into slaves of the system, ready to be executed the moment we step out of line…or we'd be made to slaves to some household, treated little more than objects…or worse." The woman bit her lip bitterly, bad memories coming to the surface. "Personally, I find their ruthlessness hits a little too close to home for me."

The man grunted solemnly, knowing what she meant by that statement. The assassin was deeply reminded of her ancestor's ways. The teaching that those too disobedient to listen or too weak to endure, or in this case detractors of the status quo or fundamentally different from the majority of Shinigami, were to be considered trash, expendable, casually thrown away without regard for prior service or attachments.

He could already hear the rumors that'd be spread in his ears; the whispering of individuals willing to pay lip service when they were around, but would go on and on about how dangerous Ichigo and Senna really were amongst likeminded ilk. That the pair were time bombs ticking away, and needed to either be locked-up before they snapped or turned off.

_Permanently._

His thoughts then went to the next victim: Shaolin. Even after the war was long over and peace returned, once they publically came out about their feelings for each other, he was sure they'd be thoroughly chewed out for it. He could hear the court marshals and central 46 damning them for "selfishly putting Soul Society in danger by disrupting the chain of command in a crisis situation". He could just tell that they'd conveniently overlook the fact that his relationship with her had been on of the few reasons they won in the first place, right from the get-go. Even if he then vehemently pointed out how his relationship with her was one of the only things that could win her over and bolster the solidarity of the Shinigami forces in the 'Kurosaki rebellion', or inspired her to take her duties that involved him that much more seriously.

'_But no.'_ he thought, practically hearing their denouncement of his words out of sheer paranoia. They'd try to rationalize themselves, saying that things in that conflict only worked out by the disorganization of the Shinigami and the 'Infil-Traitors' lucky fluke, such an event would never happen a second time around. They would then turn around and say they had every right to scrutinize them. Because now, two of Soul Societies greatest assets, the infamous Ice Queen of Seireitei and the son of the legendary Miracle Worker, could be crippled into inaction, out of fear of something happening to the other, or become blinded by rage, losing sight of the bigger picture, if something did happen.

Another groan escaped him, as Senna, another innocent bystander, compiled his earlier problems with new ones involving her future wellbeing. What would Soul Society do to her once the dust settled, or heaven forbid her origins were exposed? As the daughter of the Miracle Worker and ex-captain of the fourth division, Masaki Kurosaki, would the higher ups in Soul Society, the central 46, the voice of the Spirit king, try to manipulate the naïve girl, force her to abandon her life in the human world, because she was a "threat" that needed to be monitored constantly? Would they secretly try to put a hit on her, as they had done to him during the invasion of Soul Society?

The man felt his blood begin to boil at that thought. It wouldn't be Soul Societies first attempt at trying to do things on the sly. If they were willing to kill, then would they do as his wife mused and try to enslave them? Would they try to experiment on Ichigo and Senna to figure out the 'hows' and 'whys' of a perfect Vizard, maybe even try to replicate one? It certainly seemed like something up Kurotsuchi-Taichō's way from the stories he heard during his tenure at 10. Would the Soul Society allow him to conduct an experiment that dragged them from their home and forced them into separate rooms to have intercourse with other participants in the hopes it produced offspring?

Once word of their relationship inevitably spread, would the experiment extend to include Shaolin as well? Would the captain be stripped of everything she had earned just as the two Vizards had been and taken to some dark, monitored, hole in the wall room at the R&D, selected for mandatory participation due to her history of being safely intimate with meta-Hollows?

Forced into having sex with the infinite number of volunteers/participants for the experiments in the same room, possibly even forced into kissing distance by sick perverted bastards exactly like Omaeda, as his presumably now thoroughly raped, pregnant AND mentally traumatized sister, who could do nothing more than cry -_beg_ for them to 'Please stop!' or shout 'I'm sorry! Forgive me! Just let us go home!' anything to make this all go away.

Shaolin would follow the same fate as her captivity sister with what dignity she could hold onto; as she was initiated just as Senna was before her: Forced to strip herself of her own clothing in a sexy striptease for their viewing pleasure and stir their arousal in anticipation of what was to inevitably follow, ordered on her knees to uncomfortably and submissively stroke and suck others off to their climax, have her promised lips ravaged by her many false lovers that slipped her tongue as she laid on her back while they thrusted deeper into her, throttle every single one of her urges to lash out and hurt the bastards when they covered her face and the rest of her body with the life creating fluids she couldn't or wouldn't swallow down into her stomach, silently take having her sperm covered tits groped and sweat coated ass slapped by the roaming hands of eagerly waiting participants, only allowed to comfort Senna after or during sexual acts involving her in accordance with their fantasies, pant and wheeze as she tried to catch her breath and focus her mind while her body shuddered against her will as they made her constantly reach her limits to pleasure, and then finally to cement her acceptance and degradation of the situation she'd degradingly told each one of her sexual 'partners' that were satisfied with using her body 'Thank-you for contributing to the success of the experiment. Please continue to do so.' with a bright smile forced on to her face, as they proceeded to pass her hyper sensitive body over to the more restless participants that were through with raping her partner Vizard and waiting for a chance with the disgraced captain, like she was just a jizz rag and not a human fucking being.

Eventually, during the hellish orgy, they'd be impregnated, but Mayuri, not one to let things fall to chance, would make absolutely sure that their current treatment continued for a few extra days. 'For the sake of assured fertilization of their eggs and the creation of a new Vizard' he'd say, neither woman would be given any rest. Aside from the necessity of sleep to let them have energy for their day, disposal of bodily wastes, and perhaps food, likely drugged with ovulation medicine to speed things along and supplements to keep their bodies tight and at the height of sexual fitness despite taking the many different types of cocks of participants, every single one of the girl's sexual orifices would be constantly pumped full of the fresh powerful sperm they expertly milked and collected inside their bodies that day, creating a veritable unending sea of unique human essence swimming freely in their wombs, ready to swarm and implant itself on the first ripe ovum either defiant protestant woman inevitably surrendered to biology and science.

THEN, once it was _finally_ confirmed, beyond all shadow of a doubt, that the woman was going to have a child, she'd be forced to carry the child or children of some man, or possibly female hermaphrodite if they branched out, that she likely didn't know, or worse in Senna and Shaolin's case someone they knew and hated like Omaeda or Mayuri himself. This was still assuming that the girl in question wasn't _still_ forced into having intercourse, before she gave birth to said child almost a year later which, just to pour salt on the wounds of her broken pride as a human being and newly awakened maternal instincts, would most likely be taken away before she could hold, even name her child, since the 'distraction' as Central-46 would proclaim, 'prevented her from focusing on her new duties of creating Vizards.'

And so the dark cycle of Vizard creation would continue, until the trio ran out of eggs, or in Ichigo's case sperm, or they died of exhaustion; although, Mayuri would probably try to prevent that outcome, at least until he was satisfied with the research and data they provided; which, given the possible limits of abilities and combination of genetic structure _just_ between having the trio intermingling with each other to establish a few baseline generations, -never mind the possible hundreds, if not thousands, of men forced on the exhausted girls that were successful in their mission of leaving them their legacy in their stomachs, or the coerced or cloned women tossed at the blue-balled Ichigo, medicated into a sexual craze- would take at **most** a few centuries, **MAYBE** a Millennia or two.

In short: it would never end.

An eerie chill ran down his spine, colder than even the breeze of the autumn night. What if they took thing one step further after destroying the trio's lives, by also trying to weaponize the children created by the mad scientist's government sponsored program, turning the stolen away children into soulless emotionally-deprived Vizards charged with defending the organization that created their unholy existence?

"Ugh…" the man placed the palm of his hand over one of his eyes, annoyance visible. "Problems a plenty…" he muttered through gritted teeth, trying to keep his spiritual energy and anger in check.

"Well, maybe." The less imaginative woman replied; her head tilted to one side, as she considered some of the prospective consequences of this outcome. "But, I'm sure we can weather them. Our loyalty has to count for something, right?" She kindly offered, as her hand slowly pried the one on his face away. When she saw he looked no more consoled, she decided to shift his attention away by informing them of the other obvious choice. "On the flipside, we could join Aizen."

"Aizen…"

Ichigo closed his eyes as he thought it over. Joining Aizen would probably be the second easiest option of the three. Between the veritable hybrid army known as the Arrancar, Kyoka Suigetsu's impenetrable illusions, the Hogyoku AND him, Sen, and Lin, three captain strength Shinigami, aiding the mastermind Sosuke Aizen and suddenly things turned grim for Soul Society.

The only indisputable threats Ichigo could see would be: the Sotaichō, the supreme commander of all Shinigami and master of all arts. Kyoraku, one of Yamamoto's students and unlike his partner Ukitake, possessed a healthy constitution. Urahara, the man with a mind to rival Aizen and creator of the Hogyoku. Yoruichi, the shape-shifting goddess of flash and master assassin, who'd be undermining their efforts with sabotage and subterfuge. And finally, Unohana, the sole student and successor of Ichigo's mother, a magnificent healer and friend to the trio.

Still…while they would be hard targets, they'd be fighting a losing battle, simply not having the numbers to mount any significant counterattack. It would just be a matter of time, before the Arrancar army quashed the threats through attrition and took housing in the Seireitei. Resting until it regained its impressive strength, before turning its attention to the spirit king himself, if he truly existed.

With total victory over Soul Society assured and Sosuke Aizen placed on the throne as ruler, a new world, a fair era for humanity, could finally begin. Ichigo's reward for his services? Not only would he regain some of the most important people he lost to get where he stood today, but he'd and his loved ones would have a place in the world of tomorrow, a home.

If Aizen was sincere about the sentiments he had about his mother, then he could be sure that the incumbent god would hold up his end and return her back to life. He and his wife, Shaolin, would also be reunited with the latter's surrogate siblings, Shinjiro Taiga and Subaru Kujo, further solidifying the trios resolve towards Aizen. Speaking of reuniting, his father, Isshin, or Ein, was, according to Shinigami reports and Kukaku's story, with Aizen in Hueco Mundo, so by siding with the man Senna was bound to be happy to know that he was okay.

His thought then turned back to his family as a whole. In Aizen's army and the future world, he wouldn't have to worry about his status as a half-Shinigami half-Hollow causing misgivings. He'd be celebrated as a hero that fought against the tyrannical oppression of others and changed the world. For once, his loved ones, the people he wanted to protect, could live their lives in relative peace.

"But…" Ichigo muttered, as the cons were once again in the back of his mind, drowning the earlier propaganda.

Assuming the whole invitation really wasn't just an elaborate bait to lure them to Hueco Mundo to kill them, then siding with Aizen would also mean betraying Soul Society, which in turn meant he'd have to fight some of his friends.

Toshiro Hitsugaya, Rangiku Matsumoto, Retsu Unohana, Rukia Kuchiki, while he knew in his head that he could theoretically find and subdue them; preventing them from becoming casualties. Deep down in his heart, he knew that they would never be able to look at him the same way again. No matter how many reasons he told or times he explained _why_ it was perhaps the best possible outcome, he could just envision them tiredly looking at him, their eyes saying what their mouths could not, over and over again.

'_I trusted you.'_

His thoughts turned inwardly, as he thought about the people he'd met, who had given their lives to help him survive so far, their deaths would remain unavenged. The images of Ganju Shiba, boldly flexing his poverty-earned muscles, and Hanataro Yamada, smiling apologetically after tripping, flared in his mind.

His heart sank at the implications. Sure, he'd get something out of it, but what of the others? Aizen surely wouldn't have the time, the patience, or assured loyalty of the requesters, to ensure a mass revival of the newly deceased. So the question became: How many?

How many would lose friends or family? How many Isane Kotetsus would he see praying at the cemeteries, hoping their friends finally found peace after dying alone and afraid? How many Kukaku Shibas would he see sitting in their unlit living rooms alone, drinking their sorrows away, eyes occasionally flitting towards the door, waiting for someone who would not come? How many Sennas would he see trying to keep the pain of loss bottled up, hidden behind a stoic expression or a painted up smile? How many Shaolins would he see, their lives flipped upside down and the personalities and ideals they once held shattered and broken all because of him?

_How many?_

His expression darkened further when he also considered that such actions would mean going against his vows as a Shinigami, charged with defending humanity. To allow Aizen's ascent he would knowingly allow the people of Karakura, innocent souls, people he swore to protect, to be sacrificed; if he was willing to relinquish not only the lives of those underneath him, but his own solemn word as man, what other price would he have to pay?

Even if he could get his conscience to rationalize it as a necessary sacrifice for long-term human gain, even if he could conceivably know that they'd be brought back when the dust settled, he knew that he'd have to convince Senna to see it that way as well. His free-spirited sister was raised on earth, even if she technically was a soul class individual, she made a life there and considered herself a human being at heart.

It wasn't much of a stretch for Ichigo to see her reaction being both angry and afraid that he'd go down this path, if Aizen hadn't swayed her opinion much. Ichigo would certainly have to think hard on the words he'd use to get her to see things his way, since she'd put up a lot of resistance to the idea of sitting back and allow them –_her people_- to die right before her eyes. He'd have very little emotional leverage, using her love of him wouldn't work due to her principals and conflicting emotion regarding him at that point and trying the family card was a bit of a double edged sword. His best bet would be a logical approach that detailed how and why it was better this way, but still contained human interest and empathy, her understandably concerns in that world. Failure to do so and the alternative would be…

The man shook his head, stopping the trail of though right there. He already lost a mother to a Hollow and a father to chance, even if they were on opposite sides and fought, he would never commit to slaying his sister in cold blood.

"What was our third option again?" he asked; practically nauseous from the first two fucked up choices and was hoping for some salvation in the third.

"Our third option would be to do as Aizen says and vacate the combat zone."

Apparently, salvation's brother, damnation, came with a letter reading 'F-U, Ichigo.' instead.

"Run away." He replied flatly.

"No." Shaolin corrected, wagging a finger tauntingly. "Contrary to what you might think there is a difference between: being sensible and knowing when to bow out graciously and being a self-serving coward. 'Running away', as you say, means abandoning one's problems and pretending to ignore it, hoping it goes away. We, on the other hand, have discussed and assessed the situation, weighing each option carefully on it merits, before deciding to disengage the situation to its natural resolution. We'd be making a decision of neutrality, and, considering the fact of Soul Societies eminent betrayal of you and Senna, I'd think leaving them to face Aizen alone would not only be poetic justice, but fair, as neither side will have an overwhelming advantage."

The woman shrugged her shoulders, nonchalantly. "Of course, by cutting our ties, we won't be able to return to Soul Society, regardless of the war's outcome. If the Shinigami win, we're traitors and deserters, if they lose, I doubt Aizen would be happy to see us and might consider our resurgence as going back on her word."

"(Groan) If this is the good news, don't tell me the bad." He wheezed exasperatedly, his tone bringing an amused smile to his wife's face.

"The silver lining, Aìrén," she said with a small giggle, "would be that we'd be free to do what we want for the rest of our long lives here." Her smile disappeared as she returned to her usual serious disposition. "So long as we remain in the material world, generally outside Aizen's domain, we can go wherever we want. If you want to stay in Japan, we can. If you want us to move to my ancestor's homeland, we can. If you want to live on an island in the middle of the Caribbean, we can."

The woman shrugged as she tilted to her one-side as if considering something, "Sure, we might have to conceals ourselves and conform a bit to day-to-day human necessity, like getting a job, paying bills, or learning new languages, but we can have something we've never had before. Peace. You, Senna, and me, we can all live together in one place, never again having to deal with thoughts related to war or death. It…" the battle-hardened woman's eyes filled with a sense of longing. "It is a tempting thought."

Ichigo opened his mouth to say something, but closed it immediately afterward. He already knew the answer to what he was going to say and what she would likely parrot as well. _'People will die no matter what; I'm going to have to accept that.'_ He thought to himself.

Taking a step closer to Shaolin, he touched her cheek with his hands, a tired expression on his face. "You've said 'we' a lot. Don't you have an opinion on the matter, Love?"

The young captain quirked her brow, surprised by his question, but complied with his request, if the answer would help him out. "Yes, I do." She replied with gentle nod, before, just as slowly, shaking her head negatively. "However; it is strictly: I don't trust either faction of the war."

"Okay, so run away?" he surmised, trying to read between the lines.

"I didn't say that Ichigo." She replied as she mirrored his earlier action and touched his cheek. "I said I don't trust either the forces of Soul Society or the forces of Aizen, but I do place my trust in you and will follow you down the choice you make. Whatever you decide-

"Will drag you down with me if I fuck it up!" he argued, his hand dropping away to his side. "Ah…" his breath hitched, seeing what he did, he looked away shamefully. "Sorry, Lin. I didn't mean that…just frustrated." He apologized.

The woman could tell that wasn't all of the problem. "Is it really just 'frustration' Ichigo? Or is it more?" she coaxed.

He glanced back at her, his eyes tracing her knowing look, before returning them to his feet. "No…I'm just…scared that I'll make the wrong decision. I'm okay with laying my life down, but having others…you get hurt because of me. I don't want that on my conscience." He confided to his wife, feeling like a scared child admitting a wrongdoing to a parent, rather than a confident Shinigami and team leader.

The woman continued to stroke her distressed husband's cheek, trying to ease his nerves. Sliding her hand away, she reached down and clasped his hands as he stared at the ground. "Ichigo," she whispered lovingly, "For better or worse, we're partners now." The captain then pulled both their hands towards her, lightly pressing them against her still flat stomach, the resting place of their future joy. "And for this one too."

The young hero perked up at what she said, confused and curious. He saw the demure bemusement and joy behind her small kind smile, before he looked back at the spot where their hands were connected. _'And for this one too.'_ As her words echoed in the recesses of his mind, realization finally settled in and his heart nearly leapt out of his chest.

"Shaolin…" he whispered the name of the now blushing Tsundere with a barely contained smile. "You're…?"

The red-faced girl had a sideways smile on her face, her eyes were successfully diverting away from the man's face, lest she burn with even more embarrassment…or was it passion and pride that lit her up? She wasn't sure. "Yes, that's part of the reason why. But…" she looked him in the eye to show how serious she was…

But, she didn't get to finish speaking as Ichigo swept her off her feet, carrying her bridal style in his arms. The joyous man spun the surprised woman around in a circle, a contented laugh on his lips that even she found herself joining in. Slowing his body back down, he stared deeply at his diminutive lover, her expression playful and uncaring that his prior reaction and treatment of her fell into the hated 'pampered princess' category, all that there was, all that he could see, was a woman unbidden giving all her love and adoration to him.

Leaning down slowly, he almost smirked when he saw her melt as he captured his lips. The pair's lips broke away and reunited in a quick tempo, Shaolin wrapping her arms around his neck, while he snuggled the arms upholding her body closer. Breaking away from yet another brief but hot touch, Shaolin touched her forehead against his and continued her prior train of thought.

"Ichigo…you've done so much for this world. For me. I don't want you to shoulder that burden alone. You're not invincible, no one is. So this time: be weak, be selfish with your choice, be human, Aìrén! Let me protect you. I WANT to protect you. I want to protect Senna. I want to protect our children. I want to protect the world you envision, the one worth saving. I don't want you to think that whatever decision you make today will condemn us and the people around us to death; rather, think of the decision as the world that we will live in together."

Slowly one at a time, the captain removed her legs from his grasp, but kept her eyes firmly on his, as she allowed herself to stand up beside him, pressing her body ever so closely against him, her hero.

"Other people will use the cause of 'Defending the world' as a grand excuse to get other to die for them." She said calmly; only to then shake her head. "But not you. Even if they are strangers that you've barely met, you value their lives and are reluctant in forcing them to spill their blood any more than necessary. That is an admirable quality. It's what makes you a leader among men and the reason people turn to you and listen to you and are willing to follow you, much as I do!"

The girl fell silent as the cold night air swept by them, ruffling their clothing. A soothing ambience to contrast the initial point of this rooftop meeting. "That's why…" the solemn creamy skinned captain said, "That's why even if we choose the wrong decision this night, even if we becomes the enemies of the world, I'll protect you for as long as I live, as I know you will do for me." She then leaned in and planted another fleeting kiss, "That's why Aìrén…" she whispered lovingly, "I love you and will never abandon you, we're family."

The woman's words brought a smile to his lips, as he could feel the storm of uncertainty subside in his inner world. He had finally come to a decision. "Well, I'll be…you finally came out and said 'I love you'; although, I think you did mention you'd never love a traitor." He jeered playfully.

"That-yooou." The girl puffed up her cheeks, mock ire dancing through her posture. She then let out a calming breath, seeing that he was trying to rile her up, well unfortunately, she wasn't going to sink to that level. Crossing her arms over the chest of her uniform, she huffed to herself, her haughty commander smirk on her face. "Well…you're a hero to me." She said matter-of-factly. Seeing him quirk a brow curiously, her devilish grin grew. "So, your argument is null and void!"

"Oh, really now? And what makes your opinion so empowering, oh noble princess?" he asked, his response dripping with sarcasm.

"Because, I'm Shaolin Kurosaki, your very proud wife! And as your wife I have the _divine right_ to say that you, Ichigo Kurosaki, are whatever the hell **I** say you should be!"

"Ahahaha!" the man chuckled to himself, smirk widening by the second. "What a bossy queen you've become! Maybe I should shut you up with a kiss."

"You wouldn't dare, little boy." She flirted back, her taunt practically declaring how much she'd truly enjoy another kiss.

"Ooh, I dare."

As he was leaning down to capture the feisty captain's lips, he caught sight of a movement out of the corner of his eye. Keeping thoughts of Soul Societies agents possible approaching them in mind, he made a small familiar signal with his free hand as he looked past the woman, knowing she'd recall it's meaning and act stereotypically for their unexpected guests.

That was when he fully spotted Senna hunched over the top of the ladder, one knee planted against the graphite, while her other limbs were bracing against the cold steel. Judging by the stillness of her body, it seemed she had come up at somewhat inopportune time, but didn't want to move for fear of breaking the serious conversation…

Or maybe it was the flirting lovebirds part that made her feel out of place…he wasn't quite sure.

However, now that she felt the man's eyes on her, she let out the breath she had been holding in for some time. "Sorry about ruining the mood." She apologized, as she stepped onto the rooftop. The woman seemed nervous, though that was probably a given considering the way he left after Aizen's invitation.

"It's fine. We were just reaching a bit of a conclusion." He informed the young woman. Hearing the word conclusion, made her shift uncomfortably. He could see that she had reached her own decision on how best to handle the situation and came to discuss and compare, possibly even try to persuade them to favor one action over another.

That was the determined front he could see and a small part of him was glad to see her ready to stand up; however, his more dominant instincts saw beyond that and saw the girl his sister was. She didn't want to push the tentative issue; afraid of the answer, the possible outcome, that their decision wasn't the same as hers, or more horrifically that their differences of opinion were irreconcilable. She would be alone…and it had frightened her deeply.

"Ichigo…" she stuttered out, unsure how to proceed. It was then that he knew what he had to do. "I think we-"

Ichigo pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Shaolin. "So you're going to be an aunt according to Lin-chan." He interrupted, forcing the girl's words to die in her throat. He then started walking towards her. "Since we've got a few hours, before meeting up with whoever Aizen sent, why don't I make some dinner to celebrate being alive?"

Senna tilted her head curiously, as to why Ichigo was suddenly saying these things at random. When he got next to her, he placed his hand on the top of her head and ruffled her hair. "I see Shaolin gave you a haircut too." A wire thin smile appeared on his lips. "Well, at least she improved over hers."

Said woman feigned annoyance, as she walked over. "I can still hear you."

The man jutted his thumb at the eighteen year old. "Senna said it." He replied, quick to shift the blame on the dumbstruck girl.

Luckily for her, the captain wasn't buying it. "You'd blame this sweet innocent girl for your crimes?" the shook her head, but maintained her playful smile. "For shame, I thought you a hero!"

"Aaaassassiiins don't fight _faaaaiir_!" He playfully sang out his occupation.

The young woman looked between the two of them strangely, before she felt her lips turn upward into a smile. They were joking around. They were trying to blow off the seriousness that they had no doubt felt earlier, the same seriousness her arrival had brought back in. It was…nice of them. "Ahaha," a giggle escaped the human world Shinigami, "Yeah, you're right, Shaolin. But, he DOES need to have some flaws, he's not Mr. Perfect."

'Mr. Perfect' scoffed as he started to make his way to the ladder. "It's not like I'm making you dinner or anything, or have saved you both more than once." As he placed his foot on the metal rung and began his decent, he gave them one final smirk. "Come on, sometime today ladies." He called out to them before disappeared below the roof line.

The two women smiled brightly as they slowly made their way to the ladder.

Forgetting their troubles, if only for just a little while.

(Four hours later.)

Back in Shinigami form, Ichigo pulled out the device Aizen had given them. The beeping red dot was still in the same area as last time. "You ready?" he asked as he looked behind him to his two compatriots.

"Good to go!" Senna replied cheerfully in her spirit form. After dinner, the trio sat down to discussed their respective decisions, each person speaking about their fears about the other choices. It was a tense affair, but things remained civil, even as they talked over the pros of certain choices. Still, while it had taken sometime and careful examination of evidence, the couple successfully convinced her to seeing why the decision Ichigo made was the best way forward.

"Whenever you're ready." Shaolin nodded, as she adjusted her Onimitsukido outfit, having left her Taichō Haori behind in case it caused their rendezvous to attack them by mistake.

Ichigo cracked his knuckles briefly, before turning forward. "Alright, remember their Arrancar, so no sudden moves."

The trio then disappeared in a flurry of flash step, coming out in the middle of the school's track field. Looking around the area without abandoning their formation, they saw nothing out of sight. Chancing a glance at the electronic device, he saw that his avatar was besides the red dot. "Should be right-"

He stopped when he saw a small black hole appear in front of him. The hole expanded outwardly, before disappearing, dropping in its place three women, who crashed against the ground.

"Ah, damn it! That was lame." The blue haired one laying on the top of the crumpled pile said, as she turned herself over to get a good look at him, holding a device similar to his. "Oh, this must be the gu-OH SHIT! AMBUSH!"

"Then get off us so we can fight." The pale woman with long black hair replied, as she shoved at her heterochromia fellow off her body.

"Both of you, get off!" the third darker and most scantily clad of the group barked.

"This is who Aizen sent?" Senna asked as she looked over to Ichigo, who was deadpanning at the clumsy trio.

"I guess…" he replied, as he stepped forward. "Hey, I'm just here to talk."

Once the three women straightened themselves out of their crumpled mess, they stood in a line. Franceska and Cyan kept an eye on the two extra Shinigami, while Emilou kept a wary gaze on the man. "We were told about you." she said, before her eyes drifted away from him. "Not them."

"Aizen had a change of plans when he saw us with him, so he extended his gracious invitation to us as well." Soifon answered, as she too eyed the dark skinned woman cautiously.

"I take it you're the leader than Ms…?" Ichigo inquired getting the woman to look back at him.

"Emilou Apacci." She nudged her head to her left. "Cyan Sung-sun." then did the same to her right. "Franceska Mila-rose."

"Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Soifon."

"Senna."

"And we're here to give an answer to Aizen." Ichigo said before taking a step away from then. "The answer is no. We won't join him."

When the trio heard his answer, their hands instantly grasped the hilts of their Zanpaktous, an action mimicked by the female Shinigami. Only Ichigo remained unmoving as the two groups stared off. The young man glanced at the women beside him, before raising a hand level to his chest and then lower it down slowly, signaling them to stand down, which they did confusing Harribel's three beasts. "That was close." Ichigo said with a carefree smile.

"You can try to act more concerned when people pick a fight, Ichigo." His kid sister chastised as she sheathed her Asauchi. "Although, I really don't see why they got hostile in the middle of _enemy_ territory."

Mila-rose snorted, "It's cause were Hollows, fighting is what we do." She replied sarcastically, knowing what Shinigami thought of them.

To their surprise, they received yet another unconventional answer. "Hollows aren't mindless creatures. They have dreams of their own." She raised her hand, pointing at the group. "You're proof of that."

As the fraccion looked at each other in disbelief at having their personal existence outside of their Hollow nature acknowledged, Sung-sun turned in their direction, lips hidden behind her white sleeves. "You're…letting us go? Just like that?"

"Yeah." Ichigo replied, placing his hand in his pockets. "Our problem isn't with you, it's with your master Sosuke Aizen." The man then turned around and started walking away. "Still, sad to see your loyalty wasted on him, but what can you do? Take care you three; hopefully, we don't have to fight."

As the other two Shinigami turned and followed behind the man, the three Arrancar were left in stunned silence. They had come in expecting the worse; believed that, if negotiations fell through, they'd have a fight on their hands. Instead, he tells 'no hard feelings' and walked away. They could actually see why Aizen might want him on their side.

And were now just a little sad to see him go.

"Thank-you, Kurosaki-san." Apacci said head bowed respectfully, as the man she gave thanks for was long out of earshot and walking further away.

The other two quickly followed their friends lead in expressing their gratitude. When the three Shinigami were gone. Mila-rose snapped her finger and opened up a gargantua for them to leave and report back to Aizen.

(Later: Hueco Mundo)

Sitting on his throne, Sosuke rapped his fingers against the arm of his chair, patient but anxious. He was waiting for Harribel's fraccion to return with hopefully favorable news, or better yet, Ichigo with them. The man perked up when he saw the door to his chamber open up, but he soon slumped his shoulders again when he saw it was Harribel. The Espada had a colder look in her eyes than normal, which meant she'd found out about her fraccion's part of the mission.

"My fraccion have returned from the world of the living, Aizen-sama." She reported, but did not kneel like usual.

Aizen paid it no mind and continued as casually as ever. "And were there any new members in their group or some message to give me?" he inquired

The teal-eyed woman shook her head, "They said he remains with Soul Society."

A long heavy sigh escaped the man's throat, disappointment evident in his posture. "Such a pity, but alas."

Crossing her arms over her impressive chest, the cold but irritated Espada decided to get some answers of her own. "Aizen-sama, would you care to explain to me why you sent my fraccion without my consent? I was already a willing participant of your plan, I would have gladly returned to Karakura again."

Sosuke closed his eyes and nodded his head, hearing her words and her argument. He sat there for a few seconds, before getting up off his throne and slowly walking down to meet her. "You make a good point, Harribel. However, my plan today was little more than a gamble. It had risks and no guarantee for a reward."

The man paused and lifted a hand open palm up, "Grimmjow was an Espada that was nearly killed upon first entering the combat zone. Antenor was a former Espada and she died to help see your mission through. You must understand that as a commander I must prioritize the lives of the individuals I send out. On your first foray into the human world, you had support, this time you would be alone, and if you were discovered, you would die alone."

Aizen crouched down and sat upon the stairs, remaining eye level with the woman "As much as you may not wish to accept it, your fraccion are more expendable then you are: that's why I sent them. If they died, it would be a regrettable, but manageable loss."

The woman before him continued to glare at him as she considered what he was saying. When her shoulder slumped ever so slightly, Aizen knew she agreed with his point. "Every life is precious, Aizen. That's why some of us are fighting." She chided, before dropping her hands to her side. "I understand that you enacted this plan to gain an ally that would help mitigate the losses I speak of. I can respect that, but please don't go behind someone's back to do it, Aizen-sama. People have friends who worry."

"I understand and I will try to adhere to that in the coming war, but you must understand sacrifices must be made." Aizen reminded as he got up from his make shift seat. Harribel agreed, before bidding him farewell and leaving him.

Another sigh escaped him as the would-be god placed his hands on his hips. Once again, the man slipped through his fingers, it truly was a shame that men of their caliber, men of such promise, were forced to try and end the other's life instead of grasping the reigns of destiny together.

"Only way to win now is to cross the barrier ourselves." The man muttered, his thoughts drifting back to the Hogyoku. Reflecting on its success rate, he smiled to himself darkly, as he turned his full attention to the battle ahead. "Still a practice run would be prudent."

It was time for war.

(Post-fic banter)

[Toshiro: Still a captain, still short. Still considered Ichigo's friend despite hardly being shown to hang out.]

[Rangiku: Still doesn't get enough screen time.]

[Grimmjow: Has an attitude that matches his poor leadership skills. Do not insinuate that he jacks off with a woman's touch.]

[Ulquiorra: Quite capable of juggling and singing songs. His business as a birthday clown is unusual bad despite his talents.]

[Yamamoto: Craggy old man that bounces between being a hard old man and Aizen aged up. Masaki used to serve him tea and give massages back in the day.]

[Kisuke: Currently unavailable as he's waging war on the 'Kurotsuchi scientific emporium'…support your local shady inventors-revealed-to-be-exiled-Shinigami. Buy Kisuke.]

[Isshin: Do not allow him and Masaki to be in the same room together. Their sickening sweetness is powerful enough to rot spiritually enforced teeth.]

[Nemu: An android that is technically the younger sister unit to Kisuke's Ururu. Has shown stalker like tendencies to a certain Quincy, explaining it as quantifying experiment of the 'Urahara charm', much to Mayuri's chagrin.]

(Post-fic banter end)

Author reminder: For those of you that choose to leave a review (or PM), I would like to hear what you would have had Ichigo do when forced to make his choice in this chapter. Your feedback is important to me. Again, thank-you for reading the story.

-Sincerely,

Blackout2010.


	35. When world collide I: Peace through War

Author response to the unknown review:

To unknown reviewer known only as 'Super climber' from chapter 29

And I quote: 'Holy Shit, I just conquered the Everest of fanfiction'

Sorry, not to stop on your dreams and achievments, because I really don't want to be that guy, but there are authors that put those kind of chapter lengths on a consistent basis, sometimes even more. So yeah, there are a lot of people that write more than me. Still as long as you enjoyed it.

To unknown review known only as Jason from chapter 34.

While I am of the opinion no option is wrong, I can understand how you came to such a conclusion. Yeah, SS hasn't exactly been pro-Ichigo and company in the story, but in all actuality that's only a select few of individuals, not everyone of that opinion. SS is populated with people who do genuinely mean well, but just aren't in a position to do anything. Rukia, Hanataro, Isane, Ukitake, Kyoraku, Urahara, ect. Ect. These are people that would be punished by going the way of Aizen, them and many more. Is it fair to put one man's misery over the misery of others? One needs to remember to take Aizen's words with a grain of salt after all, he's got nothing to really lose, but like I said, I believe in all the options to varying degrees and thank-you for your input.

* * *

Prefic banter:

Blackout2010: Sound off!

Shaolin: Arc 1: The getting acquainted arc

Rukia: Arc 2: Trouble in Karakura town

Ichigo: Arc 3: Clearing the name: Infil-traitors.

Senna: Mini Arc: Loose ends of the heart.

Aizen: Arc 4: The Arrancar and Vizards arc.

Blackout2010: Ladies and gentlemen: Welcome to arc 5 and technically 6, the final arcs of the story: The world war and battle over the skies Karakura.

Production Cast: [Applauds]

Blackout2010: I would also like to take a moment and thank everyone that gave me what they thought Ichigo should have done last chapter. The results were surprising: 4 went with Soul Society, 4 said neutral, and 3 said decided to go with Aizen. So yeah, very divided fan base, still I'm pleased and still encourage you to respond to the question with an answer. I'm always eager to hear your opinions.

Blackout2010: Now it's been a long time to get here suffered a lot of tragedies both in fic, out fic and of course people around me, Eothr Si'lan, god take mercy. I hope that this story has been as fun for you guys as it has been for me. Hehe, I say this before things got to hell, haha. Anyway, this following arc…well as the inner sane voice of Krieg the psycho says on occasion 'This…is gonna get ugly.' Brings some tissues and steel your selves, because it's time to wage war.

* * *

Chapter 35: When world's collide: Si vis pacem, para bellum (1)!

Today was the day.

Those four words rang throughout all the minds of the Shinigami present, not just Senna's. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Shinigami were gathered in Urahara's underground training facility; all standing before the large gateway that would lead the assault squad into the belly of Hueco Mundo.

Some of the people here were like herself. They weren't part of the assault squadron but belonged to the Karakura defense team and were over here instead of in their posts because either friends or loved ones were on the opposite team and they wanted to see them off.

Everywhere the young adult looked she could see some Shinigami shaking each other's hands giving fond respectful farewells. Others far less informal, grinning at each other, arms slung over their shoulders, as they shared a laugh or gave last minute advice. Some of the other Shinigami reminded her a bit of Soifon and her tsundereness, threatening the wayward Shinigami saying that there'd be hell to pay if they didn't come back in one peace while their partner just smiled and said sure. But more had abandoned any notion of rank and gave small romantic gestures and looks of adoration with their partners, some even breaking down and crying in their arms.

Senna had to admit she did find it a bit odd to see the Shinigami act like…humans. For a long time, with the exception of those she saw frequently, she had considered all the Shinigami to just be faceless strangers working alongside her with the same intention. Now, not so much. They, captains, the lieutenants, the various seated officers and unseated officers, the trainees, all of them, they all had families, friends, loved ones of their own…and she knew that some of them, maybe even most of them, wouldn't be returning back to them. (2)

She could only close her eyes and steel herself, praying that everything worked out.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, the hybrid girl turned around to see her loved ones, Ichigo and Shaolin, the ones she fought for, smiling back at her. "Hey, I was looking for you." She said quietly.

"Sorry about that. We're making sure our personnel were intact." The young man informed, thumb point to a tightly packed brigade of ninja-esque Shinigami. "We'll be heading out in about five minutes."

Senna grunted as a smile slowly formed, "Oh, well, I'm glad I caught you guys." She then looked around, seeing the large crowd of people. "Do you think we can go somewhere a little private?"

Looking around the area, Shaolin raised her arm and pointed to a series of rock formation. "Let's go over there."

With a quick nod, the trio disappeared from the crowd and slipped behind some large outer-lying ridge of rocks. However upon arriving at their destination, they quickly discovered that they weren't alone, as they crashed a make out session going on between the hidden Shinigami.

The participants briefly glanced over in their passionate haze at the new arrivals. They only registered the black uniforms of the first two and were about to completely ignore them until they saw the white Haori around the third girl, which lo and behold, turned out to be captain Soifon staring back at them, an eyebrow raised.

Quickly pushing off their respective lovers and trying to cover themselves up, they all tried to play off being caught by the notorious hard-ass captain of two.

"Am I interrupting something?" Shaolin asked tentatively, yet still maintaining her poker face, which did nothing to change their understood version of her intent in questioning.

"Uh…no-nope, right Uzuki-kun?" the light skinned red haired Shinigami asked the man he had been kissing just moments ago, while the heterosexual couple behind them looked away, not having the courage to speak up.

"Absolutely not, Harold-ch-KUN!" the short boyish Uzuki sweated as he pulled his boyfriend's hand, "C-come on, Captain Soifon obviously needed to talk with these guys, so let's beat feet."

The three Kurosakis sweat dropped, when the four Shinigami ran away in a panic, obvious not wanting to get a write up for 'inappropriate behavior', Shaolin in particular didn't know what to make of it. "We could have gone to another spot…" she said to no one in particular, cringing at being given such a wide berth.

Ichigo placed his hands on hips, exasperated at the turn of events. "Well, Shaolin, I guess your presence really CAN clear a room." he pointed out tellingly.

Senna scratched her cheek speechlessly. "Yeeaaah, no kidding." She added in a tone of amazement. As the initial shocks began to wear off, the girl turned back around to continue with her prior thought, but noticed that the two of them seemed somewhat nervous, as they were red faced or diverting their attention, as if ashamed of something. "What's wrong?" she asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

The blushing Taichō was the one who spoke up first. "We ummm…" she chanced a glance at Ichigo, who had an equally embarrassed look, before turning back to Senna. The Chinese girl placed a hand against her forehead, to help formulate words and stave off her uneasiness. "Look, we know what this about."

'_Ohhhhkaaaay? Not weird.'_ The girl's inner-monologue echoed, as she kept straight face, rolling with the punches. "Oh, well tha-"

"And that's why we want to apologize." Ichigo blurted out, cutting off the now really confused girl

"Apologize?" Senna asked cautiously, had they done something to her that she wasn't aware of? It didn't sound like them. "foooor what?" she asked for clarification.

"For…" the couple reddened further. "You know…last night."

"Last…night?" She thought back to what happened, after a few seconds she turned just as red as them. "Oh my god! Really!?" she shouted, incredulous that they'd bring that up of all things.

Shaolin was a bit taken aback. "Look, we just, just, we're sorry that we kept you up last night, okay!?" she hastily explained knowing that things had seriously gotten out of hand. "I mean, well, you know, I went to his room to talk, then he looked at me, I smiled back at him, he held my hand, I wrapped my arms around him, we shared a kiss, you know one thing led to another and we just…we just got c-caught up in the heat of the moment! I mean we were gonna be fighting a war today and I'm already pregnant so what could it hurt!?

"No, no, I mean (sigh)." She closed her eyes, trying to get the many vivid images both real and imaginary and the erotic sounds and moans that had carried through the thin walls out of her head; despite her Hollow's lack of presence, it was a surprisingly hard task for the priestess. "Look. I appreciate the concern and yes I did hear it through the wall, but _NOOOO_! I did _NOT_ call you over here to scold you for doing…_'Couple things'_!" the red-faced girl air quoted.

"Ah, I ahh getcha." Ichigo chuckled nervously along with Shaolin, embarrassed for their jump in conclusion. "S-soooo yeah, umm, forgetting that, haha, forgetting about our stupidity there, what did you, ahh, want to talk about exactly, sister dearest?" He tried to play off like two of them weren't acting like total spazzes.

The blushing girl scratched the side of her cheek demurely, having calmed back down a bit. "Oh, er, I didn't really want to say anything…" the girl then walked over and wrapped a hug around her Sensei's frame, surprising her, before turning to the side a bit and doing the same thing with Ichigo. "I really just wanted to hug you two and wish you good luck. I didn't know if that would have been okay with Yamamoto watching us back there." She revealed her pure childish intentions through a haze of an adult's calmness.

"Ah…" the two acknowledged, also remembering that the Sotaichō was present to provide one final speech, to those who were going through Kisuke's gateway to Hueco Mundo, before he accompanied Senna back to center of town.

"Well, thanks," Ichigo reciprocated her feeling as he shifted his body from one side to another, trace amounts of concern in his eyes. "So are you going to be okay? The Shinigami at site B aren't giving you a hard time right?"

"No, Kyoraku-san and Ukitake-san have been keeping my mind off things, they introduced me to my guards, and even though Omaeda is there he hasn't bothered me…yet. Yamamoto made sure nobody disturbed me when I was laying the ground work for the seal, so now I just have to charge it and wait."

The two understood what she meant, since it was discussed in the captain's meeting that occurred a few days after turning down Aizen's offer. Urahara had informed them of their two-pronged assault and after carefully examining their strengths and weaknesses, had concluded that Ichigo, with his capability for Bankai and years of experience, would be the best choice to go to Hueco Mundo, whereas Senna would be better suited to laying her giant seal over the skies of Karakura in an ambush formation. That way no matter which area Aizen was in, there would always be at least one person not affected by his Kyoka Suigetsu, which meant he could be killed. But, being the ever meticulous individual he was, Kisuke also conscribed his nephew Uryu into joining the Hueco Mundo excursion with surprisingly little qualm.

"That's good. I was actually a little worried about you, since well you'll be alone…"

The kind girl smiled softly, "Sorry to worry you, although…" she looked over at Shaolin. "Are you and the baby going to be okay in Hueco Mundo?"

The expectant mother chuckled to herself before pulling on the silver sash wrapped around her waist. "Do you know what this is Senna?" when she received a 'no', she continued. "This is the stripe of inverted silver. An extremely durable piece of armor that is used by wrapping it around one's body. It can cushion blows and endure lots of stress which is why I've wrapped it around my stomach for the safety of the baby."

The girl looked surprised by how highly the captain spoke of the obi. "But isn't it just a thin layer of padding, kind of like your Taichō's Haori?

"Looks can pretty deceiving there Sen. Yeah, it looks as flimsy as her Haori, but that strapping is strong enough to keep her anchored from the back blast of her missile launcher Bankai, so it can definitely take a beating when push comes to shove." Ichigo informed, the now awed girl.

"Quite. Plus, I've taken some pills that will fight off any symptoms associated with my condition." She pulled out a small white bottle with cranking top from her pocket, it's contents rattling as it was pulled out. "I have about an hour or two before I'll need to take another dose."

Their conversation was suddenly halted, when the booming kido enhanced voice of Yamamoto called out to everyone in the general area. "Attention all Shinigami present, I require all those listed for the mission to Hueco Mundo to form up with their squad. Taichōs, I request your presence at the forefront at once."

Feeling the reiatsu of the kido fade, the two called for Shinigami turned back around to Senna whose once determined face was now marred with concern. "I guess that's you guys." She started wringing her hands nervously, obviously worried about them. "aaahhhmmm…"

The girl went quiet, as she seemed to be holding something in. After a few seconds, the girl dived forward wrapping her arms around the both of them. "Y-you guys better come back!" she spilled out, her tone wavering between a plea to stay safe and a sad tone begging them not to go.

"Senna…" Ichigo muttered wryly, sparing a small glance at Shaolin, who was returning his tired solemn look with one of her own. The two rubbed her back soothingly, knowing that she'd been trying to downplay how worried she really was for them, but at the end of the day she was still just a kid watching her family march off to battle. Pulling away, Ichigo cupped her cheek, a warm smile on his face. "We'll come back. We'll end this war together."

The girl's radiant smile returned, her nerves relaxed by his words. The silent smiling captain watched the interaction with interest, before leaning in close to Ichigo and giving him a playful knowing jab to the side.

The man turned and looked at her, mock annoyance in his eyes as she rolled her own in kind, nudging her shoulders ever so slight in Senna's direction.

The girl locked out of the loop tilted her head confused, as the man let out an airy sigh, before settling his gaze on her. "Hey Sen." He said quietly, taking a step closer to her, his body towering over her own.

"Yeah?" she asked as he went mildly red in the face.

The man bobbed his head, as he thought over his words. "When we get back." He paused as he looked down into young woman's expectant face. "You, me and Shaolin can be a family together in peace."

After speaking his promise and reassurance, the Shinigami then slowly started to move his face closer to hers, eye-lids slowly sliding down bit by bit. The young girl's back slowly straightened in response, as her lips parted open knowing what was coming, as he was barely inches from her face and coming closer.

"Soifon-Taichō and Kurosaki-Fukutaichō, please return back to your squads at once. Preparations are underway." Yamamoto reminded them once again, giving pause to the trio.

The human girl looked on anxiously as the man let out a weary sigh, knowing he didn't want to get on his bad side so soon. "I seriously think we got bad luck." He mused to himself, drawing a giggle from both girls. Leaning in closer, he then kissed his sister on the forehead and gave her one last hug, "You be careful alright."

The closed eyed girl heard and appreciated his words to her. "Mmm, I will."

The man then pulled away scratching the back of his hair as he returned to work mode. "Let's go Lin. Don't want him yelling at us again."

"Right." The captain replied knowingly, before she watched the man disappear in a flash step back to his position. She then turned to Senna, who was a bit surprised to see that she had lagged behind. "Senna…"

"Yeah?" the slightly disappointed girl replied

The spirit smiled arrogantly as she leaned in close, her face hovering a few inches from hers. "Don't look so down, 'Co-sister' he WAS about to kiss you." She teased tauntingly, before giving her a peck on the cheek and disappearing in a blur of flash step, leaving the disappointed AND frustrated girl in silence.

After a bit of loud world shaking internal screaming, Senna made her way back to the crowd of Shinigami not involved with this departure. Before her eyes, stood many tightly formed groups of Shinigami (and one Quincy and one Vizard), and in front of them stood the gateway Urahara had constructed for them to enter through and the Taichō's taking part in this mission along with the Sotaichō.

The aged old man looked over the various divisions entrusted with this important mission and then to the line of Taichōs behind him, his hard eyes giving them all a brief showing of respect. Turning back around, the man raised his cane and stabbed it against the ground calling everyone to order. Once the scattered whisperings of the crowd were silenced, the old man spoke in his low commanding voice.

"Ladies and Gentleman, Shinigami of the Seireitei, today we find ourselves on the verge of crisis. Never before, has the continuation of the afterlife been more at risk then now. Our enemy, Sosuke Aizen, has amassed an army of Hollows to break through our forces and place himself as the spirit king, the god of all existence. He has done everything in his power to destroy our way of life."

"He has twisted the trust placed in him by others, he has forced us to fight our loved one, he has caused us to point the finger of blame at the innocent, and, in some cases, taken precious things from us that we will never get back.

The old man paused as he looked at the crowd below. Most were listening intently to his words in silence, but he did spot the occasional person nodding their head in agreement, the fire of determination lit.

"As a Shinigami, our duty, our pride, is to the preservation of order, of the lives entrusted to us that we tirelessly defend night and day. We fight battles, we wage war in the name of that duty, and today will be no different!"

The aged man's spiritual energy began to flow around his persons, awing some of the Shinigami at the passion that he was taking in his address. "You gathered here today will journey into the heart of darkness itself. Hueco Mundo, the land of the Hollows, is your destination. A fierce battle lies ahead of you all, but I am confident that you will rise to the challenge. We Shinigami have endured from the day I first received my powers and established our order to now, take heart in that fact, we have out endured every other spiritual race. The Shikusho you and your captain's wear, they mark you as something part of a whole, some bigger than any one man! Fight today, so that we may all live to see the next! Remember your training and Godspeed."

The crowd erupted into a huge roar, pride beating in the hearts of the Shinigami as they readied themselves to plunge into the horrors of the dark world of Hueco Mundo. As the Old man stepped away from the stage, Kenpachi Zaraki walked forward and took his spot, an ecstatic grin on his face.

The undefeatable man looked over to the left most section where his squadron was. Down in the front were Yachiru, Ikkakku and Yumichika, awaiting his speech. Zaraki chuckled to himself, "Well, that was entertaining. Unfortunately, I'm not much for talking. So, I'll keep it simple. Squad 11, today is a good day to die! We're up against the best of the best! An army of the most badass Hollows in existence." The man paused as a trademark laughter escaped his throat, a laugh mimicked by the berserker force he commanded. "I know sounds like fun, huh!? So let's get in there and start this thing! Move out!"

The squad let out a thunderous cheer, before following after their insane leader into the dark portal, teleporting them to their starting position. As the last Shinigami of the battle happy squad disappeared, Urahara, who was in charge of managing the logistics and monitoring the situation, rapidly pressed button on his keyboard, redirecting the next site for the next squad.

Next off the line was the mad scientist Mayuri Kurotsuchi. A gleeful look mirroring his compatriot captain. "Well, well, well, I don't normally find myself in agreement with him, but for once he says something that interests me. The worst of the worst will be here and that does sound like a tempting opportunity to gather some good specimens." A shark like smile appeared on his face. "Unlike the other half of my division, you are not the brightest, but you are the most skilled at capturing and killing." The man leered forward menacingly, his eyes on the lone Quincy that was glaring back at him. "Others are here due to circumstance." He then turned and with a motion of his hand beckoned his company to join him. "Now do your best out there or there will be hell to pay later…if you survive!"

The mad scientist and his beleaguered company vanished into the rift provided, as the leader of the exalted Kuchiki stepped forward. The regal captain's eyes fell on his sect, the biggest of the remaining three groups. "Squad 6," his eyes fell to Rukia who was smiling at him; he resisted the very tempting urge to smile back. "And friends. It is no small secret that we are all different. Some like myself were born into the upper nobility."

He extended hand at the forefront of his groups, where Renji and Rukia proudly stood side-by-side. "Others such as my Fukutaichō and Rukia Kuchiki did not, but today these differences of class mean little. Today we march forward as equals to strike down those that would topple our way of life, the very order that separates us from the beasts. Soldier of squad six: bottle your fears, raise your swords, and march with pride, we go to war!"

A loud cheer echoed from the man soldiers as they followed the proud noblemen into the gateway behind them. When they disappeared, the fourth captain turned to her right and gave a small nod to Soifon, before stepping forward.

The ever-serene captain of the fourth looked over her squadron of combat medics, spotting both Kotetsu sisters trying not to look nervous in front of their subordinates. It made her smile. She then took half a step back and bowed humbly. "My dearest Shinigami, brothers and sisters of the Fourth division, I stand before you not as your captain, but as Retsu Unohana, fellow Shinigami and a proud member of our order."

Straightening back up, she was pleased to see she was already winning over her starry-eyed soldiers, now for some extra motivation. "As Yamamoto has said: This is a crisis and we must rise up to the challenge! Although, we may not be the strongest, or the brightest, our determination shines brightly in our hearts, lighting the way for others to follow. We save our allies without need of thanks, because there is no greater feeling then aid given freely. My fellow Shinigami, please, I ask of you, lend me your strength, lend Seireitei your strength, and let us go forward to protect this world we hold so dear."

The portion of the fourth division assigned to this mission erupted into a thunderous roar of approval as they practically charged in after their captain, fueled by her words. As the crowd disappeared, leaving the stunned captain of two gaping at what Unohana could do, Soifon turned back to her group. The group was the smallest since it consisted of only Onimitsukido members, while the rest of her division was assigned to either defend Senna in Karakura town or protect the Soul Society as a line of defense.

Stepping forward, the woman put on a face of determination, her eyes washed over the crowd and when she spotted Ichigo giving her a nod of approval; she made her address. "Members of Onimitsukido. I would like to take this moment…and thank-you." She paused and took in the looks of the members of the crowd, glancing at one another quiet but noticeably surprised by her calm attitude. "The reason I wish to thank you is for your dedication. Many times have I, or someone else, tried to break you, make you quit, or second guess yourself, but you've held through, and became the best of the best. Today, our target fancies himself a god; you know him and I know: he is Sosuke Aizen. He has lied to and manipulated us; avoided righteous justice and caused us to lay our hands on those we would never dream of touching."

She paused as her squadron remained silent, but it was obvious that they were taking her words in. "I know behind your masks and trained expression that you are angry and I don't blame you. We've been made fools of, our pride was tarnished, but most importantly, he made it personal. He crossed a line beyond forgiveness. We can't let him get away with that, so I want you all to take that anger and use it to focus on our mission: We are the Onimitsukido, the secret police force that brings even Shinigami to justice, and we WILL bring Sosuke Aizen down, no matter the cost. Move out!"

The final crowd let out a resounding 'yes ma'am!', before following after the diminutive woman into the floating portal. As the last Shinigami, disappeared behind the veil, Urahara pressed a few buttons and closed the gateway before shifting in his chair to the machine behind him, taking over as mission control.

While that was happening a voice from behind Senna called out to her. "Senna-san, we must leave at once. Urahara and the Vizards have this area covered." Turning around the true Vizard found herself staring into the face of the old Sotaichō looking at her firmly.

Sparing one final glance at the gateway her friends and family disappeared into, she offered one final prayer for their safety before turning and heading back to her battlefield.

(Hueco Mundo)

Exiting out of the portal, the second squad captain touched down on the sands of the hollow world. As her soldiers began to flow through, she took a moment to observe her surroundings, the desert she was in expanded as far as she could see under the night time sky, directly in front of her was a large white compound some kilometers away, stretched across the sea of sand. _'Well, at least we know where our target is.'_ She thought to herself, as she turned to glance behind her, hearing someone approach.

Coming up from behind, Ichigo raised his hand and saluted her, per usual to at work relations. "Everyone is safe and accounted for Soifon-Taichō. We're ready to go on your orders." Ichigo reported

"That's good." The woman reported, as she pulled out a small communicator from her pocket. "This is second division commander Soifon. We've arrived in tact, over."

A few seconds passed after her transmission, when she received no reply she reported again. "I repeat. This is Soifon to Urahara; we've arrived at our destination, over." Once again, a worrying silence. "Urahara are you there?"

Her question was answered when the voice of Mayuri Kurotsuchi emanated from the device. [Ceases your harping at once! Can't you tell that our communications have been jammed?]

That gave pause to the woman. "Kurotsuchi-Taichō, then why is it that we can communicate with each other?"

[Because we are in the same dimensional plane as each other, we are able to communicate freely, however I'm sure Aizen has done something to—Hmm? Hold on. Nemu, you have finished your scanning? Well, then, give me the data at once.]

After a small clicking sound, the captain heard the sound of static coming from the device. The woman lowered it away from her ear, since it seemed he didn't want to be disturbed just yet. Looking behind her at her lieutenant, she decided now would be a good time to give some formation orders.

"Ichigo," she whispered quietly, "I want you to organize the men into four lines made up of groups of four. The front most lines will be our scouting team, the ones closest to us will be our advanced guard," the woman looked him in the eye, her expression brokering no room for discussion. "You'll be with me at the back. We need to ensure you get there in one peace."

Ichigo placed his hands on his hips and nodded, his expression consternated. He wasn't happy with the idea of having others laying down their lives while he was protected, but he knew that they'd have it no other way. He was the only hope the Shinigami had if Aizen faced them here. "On it." He replied swiftly.

Turning away to do as his superior officer ordered, Shaolin turned her attention back to her communicator, after it flared to life. [Hey! Can everyone hear me?] the voice of Kurotsuchi asked.

"Roger."

[Yeah, yeah.]

[Loud and Clear.]

[Please share your findings, Kurotsuchi-Taichō.]

[Very well. After analyzing the data, I have confirmed a few things about our situation. Shortly after our arrival, a strange power coming from the facilities before us washed over the surrounding area, effectively cutting us off the outside realms. In laymen terms, we've been trapped here with no ability to communicate with the Soul Society.]

[That doesn't sound good. What about Urahara-san?] The voice of Unohana asked with obvious concern.

A hint of anger was detectable in Mayuri's voice, but he kept his tongue civil. [He will be able to monitor the situation, but he won't be able to lend any further assistance without risking the Vizards.]

[What about our mission? If we go in there and kick there ass will whatever's jamming things go away?] Zaraki asked, hoping the answer was anything vaguely resembling a 'yes'.

The others could hear the mad scientist gritting his teeth in annoyance. [I WAS getting there. Urahara is more than likely going to try to patch things through on his end; we will facilitate this by taking the castle. If we can find the source of the jammer and destroy it, we will be able to return back to the World of the Living and or Soul Society.]

[Heh, easy enou-] Zaraki paused, while a rumbling was heard through the communicator. A loud roar filled the ear's of the other captain's while Zaraki's insane laughter filled the air. [Ahaha! Holy shit! Even the sand is dangerous! I love this place, come on boys; let's get started! CHHHHHHAAAARRRGE!]

Soifon and Ichigo looked at the communicator that was filling up with the sound of footsteps and battle cries. The captain pressed a button and put Zaraki on radio silence, as she returned it back to her mouth to speak. "If we must take the castle, then so be it. Second Squad beginning infiltration. Soifon over and out."

Putting the device's audio volume to the bare minimum, the captain turned to her group and ordered them to advance, while Ichigo and her took to their positions, at the rear of the formation. It was to be a tense march for sure if there were monster hidden within the sand.

(Hueco Mundo: Sosuke Aizen)

Walking down the steps that led from the tenth floor to the ninth floor, where his war room was located, Sosuke Aizen found all the Espada in their respective seats, going about the usual precedings that occurred before he called things to order. His number two Espada, Barragan Luisenbarn, was leaning over the table towards his counterpart the number one Espada, he was going about his usual business of talking to her in a husky Hispanic accent, wooing trying to charm her into going out with him underneath the starless skies of the desert dunes to make 'sweet, sweet, passion with each other' as he put it. Despite it being hidden the Primera gave a smile and turned him down gently with a 'I'm sure there's a girl out there for you, unfortunately I'm not her.' which then caused him to start crying a waterfalls worth of tears, calling her a goddess of mercy for her straight forwardness and concern with his emotions, which she playfully took in stride.

The Espada beside the primera, Harribel, rolled her eyes and called Luisenbarn desperate, which only served to make the dirty old man turn his affections to her. He proclaimed that he was a man of love and connoisseur of beauty all with a 'Harribel, mi amorrr~', which again was met with much eye rolling from those gathered, with the exception of Espada Seven and Eight who chuckled merrily at his attempts to flirt with the much younger collage of women.

Number four was merely watching the proceedings and was thankful when he spotted their leader approaching. The fifth Espada was talking amicably with the Espada to her right, since Grimmjow was in the same foul mood as always, which the eighth Espada was most certainly not helping with his lame jokes and puns. The ninth Espada was following suit with four with the dignified silence act, but was meditating until things were called to order. The tenth one was leaving back in his chair tossing pieces of chocolate into the air and catching it in his mouth, occasionally muttering a curse when they hit his glasses instead.

Looking to his right, he saw the black haired man in white business suit leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. His eyes watching his every movement as he continued his gait with Ichimaru and Tosen at his side. The man changed his posture, seeing what it was he was going to do as he fiddled with the blade at his waist. On the opposite side of the wall a red haired woman was leaning against wall boredly, hoping that things were going to getting exciting around here before she just decided to ditch and strike out on her own.

"Greetings everyone, I have an important announcement to make." Aizen said as he sat down in his chair at the head of the table.

The man didn't get another word in when the eighth Espada slammed his hands down into the table and slowly began to rise out of his seat. With all attention to him, the cow masked Espada looked back at Sosuke with admiration. "I knew with perseverance that this day would come and I am glad that you deemed it worthy of the attention of all the Espada, so I'll pick up as to the purpose of why we are here."

The man looked upward to the ceiling beaming with pride, oblivious to Sosuke's raised eyebrow. The man took a long drag of air through his nostrils before he continued. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Espada, today marks a day where all our lives will be changed. Man, woman, child, it matters little." The man then pulled out a large piece of parchment from underneath the table and threw it on the table, the roll of paper going all the way to both ends of the table, complete with illustrations and advanced detailing.

It was…elaborate.

"For the longest time I have been working on this, trying to get it pushed through." The man then extended his hand to the still questioning Sosuke Aizen. "And now, with his blessing, I can finally unveil it. Behold the 'Bad joke comedy club!'" he roared proudly, his heart dancing with joy at the stunned silence of most of his audience or faint 'oohs' and 'ahhs' of the other starry-eyed members of the room.

"This comedy club has been a long standing dream of mine to create and will be the first step in wide spread entertainment in Hueco Mundo. It will have a bar and grill serving the latest drink specials, margiritas, tequila, alcohol and of course Soda for the minors. It will also have an outside and patio set complete with swimming pools and Jacuzzis. Their will be live singers both famous and locals, as well as dancing and live musical performances by Mis amigo's Barragan's fraccion. There will also be comedy routines, both stand up and free style, ventriloquism courtesy of Cifer, and of course open mic nights for both karaoke and duets. The Bad Joke™ will be open seven days a week from noon til three in the morning. This place will be _THE_ premier hotspot for entertainment this side of the spiritual plane." The man emphasized, jabbing his finger against the table with each syllable.

Seeing the need to intervene, Sosuke committed himself to talking. "Rudbornn."

The hollow ceased his explanation as he looked back at their leader. "Si, Sosuke, something you wish to add?"

"Yes." He said calmly, taking in his excited face that would soon falter with his words.

"Is it about that water park idea?" He baited practically salivating with that long held idea being pushed through as well. "Is 'The sand and sun beach casino, restort and waterpark'™ going through too!?"

"No." he said coldly, "In fact, I am sorry to say, we are not discussing that at all, mi amigo."

The Arrancar fell silent for a few seconds, as he looked between the stoic Aizen and the large diagram in front of everyone, obviously in thought as he took in his words. "Oh…I…I see." He quickly muttered in a low whisper while everyone else sweat dropped. Quickly rolling back up the parchment, the man placed it back underneath the desk and still standing up saluted everyone in the room. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the room. It has been an honor serving with you. I have an appointment to keep with Mr. Rope and Ms. Balcony, I will go die now with no regrets."

Once again everyone except Sosuke and the first two Espada sweat dropped. "Rudbornn, sit down and shut up." He ordered with the barest traces of a smile.

"Yes, sir." He responded as he sat back down obediently, but before Sosuke could enjoy this new feeling of order, the Primera turned to him with disapproval in her eyes.

"Nanashi-sama. You shouldn't tell your friends to shut up. It isn't nice."

"You should listen to her mijo." Barragan jumped in, an incredulous look on his face. "You see this is why you don't have a woman by your side."

"You don't either." He countered with a deadpan.

The oldest one at the table backed into his chair slightly and showed off his muscular arm. "There is no one woman that can resist the power of my virility."

"Virility?" Tia Harribel replied skeptically. "You can't even spell that."

"Ha, I accept your challenge!" the man barked, colossal grin on his face. "Virility. V...A…R…ehh…" the man stumbled as he tried to think what came next. "-ILITY! Ha!"

"Clearly." Ulquiorra muttered distastefully.

Either not picking up on his sarcasm or choosing to ignore it, Barragan leaned forward as he looked at Harribel. "What of you senora Harribel? Surely you must feel my aura of empowerment."

"I should?" the blonde woman replied, eye brow raised mockingly.

"Si!" the man thundered, "You can see it in my arm, look." The man clenched his fist so that his biceps tingled and transformed into a mound of impenetrable muscle. "This is the virility that is evident in my people," he then turned his head, "Look at mine nieto! See those pythons he calls arms? He could crush a tree with a but a single flex."

"I suppose." She replied slowly, not finding it super impressive since she could do the same thing with her fingers, the same as anyone else in the room.

The old man still remained oblivious as he continued his ranting. "See! Even you can feel it in your bones. Now…" the man leaned back into his chair, arms crossed like the dignified emperor that he was. "Senora Harribel, you are a woman of good breeding and my nieto he is young and foolish, but pure of heart. You must teach him well and turn him into a man of pride!"

Harribel eyes narrowed considerably, "Oh my god…you dirty old man."

"Abuelo…please." The gentle giant replied back, trying to ease the situation.

The man seemed to ease up, holding his hands up defensively. "I'm just saying she is a fine woman that leads her fraccion of beautiful, beautiful women with dignity and poise. I approve of her, nieto! The children that the two of you could create together will pass on her beauty and intelligence and our virility for GENERATIONS TO COME!" the man shouted as he rose from his chair, a waterfalls worth of tears falling from his eyes down to his muscular chest.

"Barragan, callarse! No one want to hear that." Sosuke shouted amongst the ewws and blanches of the other Espada.

"Ja, I just ate." The chocolate eater at the end of the table declared as he clenched his side, a sick gurgle emanating.

The boisterous Segundo sat back down in his chair. "Estoy lo siento amigos…I just wanted grandchildren." The man apologized, comforted by a small hand on his shoulder by the merciful goddess across from him. Giving a slight nod he turned back to his grand strategist. "Enough of us, Sosuke why have you called this meeting to order?"

The Espada watched as the man's eyes switched from the comical and easy-goingness they just held to cold and serious. The very air in the room changed and the soldiers in it just as quick to adjust. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the room, the war has begun, we have been invaded."

At the proclamation, all the Espada at the table leaned forward, eyes hardened up, showing they were listening intently. Hitting a few buttons that were built into the table, a topographical image of Hueco Mundo showed up, with five red circles surrounding it. "Our sensors have picked up the entrance of five groups of Shinigami that have entered our dunes. They will be here soon."

He then raised his right hand gesturing to the Primera Espada. "I have already activated the gateway negator, which will trap them here in the meantime while my forces will ride with me to Karakura town where the rest of our enemies remain."

The man stood up and looked over the assembly. "Espadas 2, 3, 4 and their fraccion will be coming with us. In addition to that, Stark and Lilinette and our other guest will be coming along. Everyone else will remain here to defend this place." His eyes then fell unto the eighth Espada, who noticed it as well. "As a senior member of our ranks, you will have on scene command and of selection battle placement. My standing order to you is to defend the Primera at all cost."

The Espada nodded as he got up "It shall be done."

"Good. Then move out."

On command the group got up from their chairs and those called stepped outside to get their entourage or to take position somewhere in accordance to their commander. Placing a hand on the veiled visage of the primera, he stopped her before she gave her farewell to her fraccion. The man handed her a black orb, a caja negacion. "We have already discussed your place in the plan."

"Si."

"And you know your orders?"

"Si."

The man then turned away as others began to head up the stairwell. "Then I leave it to you…Grand Fisher."

(Human world: Senna.)

Finishing another round of chanting for her seal to ensure it wouldn't be breaking or malfunctioning at a crucial moment, the daughter of Masaki Kurosaki opened her eyes and uncrossed her legs. She was floating in the air high above the streets, near the center of town, her ward, invisible to the naked eye, but upon feeling the touch of her hand, glowed a faint light blue.

The magical rune encrusted tetragram laid flat in the air 60 feet across. The spell went through buildings and would hit anything within it's radius on her command, it didn't matter if they were above or below it. The Arrancar and Aizen would be toast.

Looking back over her shoulder, she saw the head captain talking to a Shinigami she didn't recognize. He responded back roughly, before his eyes slide past the face of the person and rested on her. Which made Senna face forward again, shivering inwardly. It was always uncomfortable when he looked at her like that; it had all started when she brought up the very technique that she laid down.

The man had come with her to provide oversight, but when she was creating the seals and wards to provide structural integrity to it, she felt uneasy as the man stared at her as if he were seeing a ghost, although Senna did have an idea as to who he was reminded of. Still, when questioned about it, she decided to play it safe and act dumb, saying that it was an ability of her Zanpaktou, which wasn't a total lie. While the aged Shinigami did seem skeptical, he didn't force the issue, though she didn't know if it was out of regard for her or himself.

Looking forward again, the girl nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw one of the stationed Shinigami, Marechiyo Omaeda, sitting in front of her cross-legged, a scowl on his face.

The girl sweat dropped feeling the animosity radiating off him, but she could certainly understand why. After the humiliating defeat that cost him his rank as second in command, his embittered object of lust, Captain Soifon, busted his ass down to the very last possible seated officer rank, number twenty, effectively making him have to work extra hours and training sessions in order to keep it. Adding insult to injury, Ichigo then lived up to his promise and ordered Marechiyo to be positioned in Karakura town when the war broke out. Saying that he wasn't going to risk the lives of those behind enemy lines by having him endanger them, but wasn't going to let him get away scot-free. If he wanted to live, he had to fight, which obviously put a damper on him as he had to take it with a bitter '…yes, sir.'

"It's you. Again." The demoted twentieth seat grumbled darkly to the girl that was always hanging around the two objects of his obsessions.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, the girl tried to keep things civil with the man. "Omaeda-san." She said with a slight nod. "Can I help you with something?"

"You're the bitch that refereed the match." He repeated more hatefully, talking more to himself than her.

Her eyebrows twitch with annoyance, the girl glared at him. "Yes, I was the official to the match, but if you're going to try and accuse me of favoritism, then go somewhere else. I'm busy trying to save people's lives."

"You're just a weapon." The venomous man spat coldly "Once this war is over you're ass is going back where you belong."

Keeping her temper in check before she revealed anything serious about her, the woman fired back by saying. "Well at least Soul Society is going to remember my name in a hundred years, you're claim to fame is your parents and ancestors."

The man's face started to turn red, but before an altercation could occur, a hand touched the man's shoulder calmingly. Looking away from the other, both Shinigami were staring into the rather alert face of Shunsui Kyoraku. "You weren't going to hit a lady were you Omaeda-san?" the bearded man asked carefully, his spiritual energy barely visible, but definitely auraing his body. "I mean she is our guest, so we should be magnanimous, right?"

The man stopped glaring as he rolled his shoulders, breaking free of the hold. "Yes, sir."

"Glad to see everyone getting along." He replied whimsically with a cheery smile. Looking away from the portly man, he saw the girl look away in shame knowing that he was subtly admonishing her as well.

"Of course, Kyoraku-san."

"See ya." Marechiyo replied as he slipped away back to the wayside, content with silently venting elsewhere.

Once he was gone Senna looked back at Kyoraku whose easy going smile was replaced with a bit of a frown. "Thank-you Kyoraku-san." Senna muttered as she looked back at the man, expressing her gratitude.

The captain tilted his straw hat back so that he could get a better look at her. "While I'm glad you're as nice as they say little lady you don't sound all that happy."

The girl sighed, "He called me a weapon." She said, placing her elbows against her legs as she hunched forward. "I'm not. I'm a person, not a thing."

The man chuckled as he kneeled down in front of her. "Your mother was just as much a humanitarian as you." He replied. The man paused as he saw the girl's breath hitch as she looked up at him, shock and horror in her face. It was odd. "Was that supposed to be a secret?" he surmised the only conclusion he could think of.

"Y-yes…" she replied fearfully wondering how exactly this man knew if she had barely spent more than ten minutes with him. Her heart then sank, if he knew…what about the rest of the captains? Looking behind her, she glanced back at the Sotaichō, who was distracted with his conversation with captain Komamura. "Does he…?"

The pink-coated man let out a hum before speaking. "No, he probably doesn't know, but I think he has some suspicion about it."

Then calmed her down a bit. "Then how do you know?"

"Ukitake and I were told by Yoruichi a long time ago that you were her daughter." He informed quietly in accordance with her silent wish to keep things under wraps. Touching the transparent magical circle, he continued. "I've seen this seal in action once by Masaki, but once was enough. She used it in an alternate spiritual plane full of enemies. Ukitake and myself were sent to guard her as she laid down the groundwork and powered it up. It took about three hours, but once it was done we entered the Senkaimon and saw the magic happen." The man closed his eyes and shook his head as if batting away a bad memory. "100 percent. That was the kill ratio. There were no survivors. The destruction was so bad that we had to cut off all Senkaimon that led to that dimensional plane."

"So you recognize the seal." Senna concluded

"Yeah. It doesn't look entirely like how I remember it, but I can tell this is Masaki's seal." He then glanced at her thoughtfully "I hope you can control it, Senna-chan."

"Like I said in the meeting, as long as you aren't standing in the area of the circle when I activate it, it won't harm you." She nodded and smiled, "But thank-you for the concern."

Shunsui smiled back as he got up. "Don't worry kid, I trust you." He then rubbed her hair playfully. "As for your little secret: Every woman should have a little mystery to them, so consider me just throwing away the key."

"Thank-you."

"No worries." The man paused when he felt a small disturbance in the spiritual energies. Something was coming. "Love to stay and chat but we've got company, I gotta get back in formation or the old man is gonna bite my head off."

In a flash the man was gone as the girl got up, Shakujo in hand. All around her the Shinigami were in tight formations, her three guards hardening up their stances in front of her while the Sotaichō walked into view from behind her. "Remember the plan Senna. I will try to weaken Sosuke Aizen, you will then seal him away at the first opportunity. Do not exert yourself, we need you alive, understood?"

Senna nodded, "Yes, Sotaichō-san."

The old man glanced at the young girl briefly, a faint image of someone dear to his heart appearing alongside her. Refocusing on the task at hand, he looked forward as the very air in front of them began to warp and contort to the presence of Arrancar. "It begins." he muttered.

(Ichigo and Soifon)

Thanks to some combination of luck and skill, the Onimitsukido arrived at the entrance of the white fortress their target was holding up in without incident. Upon reaching the underpass corridor that led inside, Soifon moved to the front most position with Ichigo close at her side. After a quick series of orders, they advanced down the narrow corridor quietly, eyes searching the darkness for any hidden foes. They kept at their advance until they ended up in a roundabout hallway that split off in various directions.

"Great, more choices." Ichigo wheezed, hands moving to his hips, annoyed.

"Indeed, Kurosaki." The captain said as she looked down every which way, before turning back to her partner. "Fortunately, unlike the last time, we don't have to stick to just one choice."

"That's true." Ichigo said, as he turned to his fellow soldier, ready to give them marching orders. "Alright, listen up. We have multiple pathways ahead. Since most of you are already in groups, I want each of you to go down in groups, five per each route, Soifon-Taichō and I will take the main one straight ahead and any Espada that might try to interfere, so you can work. Remember people, we're not here to get into any grand scale fights, that's the eleventh's job, if you think you gotta run from a fight then run. We're here to locate Aizen and kill him, failing that whatever is jamming up our communication. Are my orders to you understood?"

The assassins gave him the salute of Onimitsukido, the sign of ultimate obedience. "Perfectly clear, Kurosaki-Fukutaichō!"

"Move out." Soifon finished for him.

Once all the other Shinigami went down the routes per their orders, Ichigo turned to his wife and clasped her hand, his thumb caressing the back of her hand gently. "Are you alright? Is the medicine still holding up?"

"Yes, Ichigo-koi." She replied as she dug into her pocket and pulled out a small pill bottle, it's contents rattling with the lightest of touches. "Although, I wish I didn't have to wear the stripe of inverted silver, it's a bit tight." She complained as she popped open the top of the bottle and dropped a pill in her hand.

"Unohana said you can't afford to be hurt there, that's why I went and got it from the warehouse. If it can withstand the back blast of your 'corrupt' Bankai and not snap in half then it can cushion a few strikes of sword blows if you wrap it around yourself. Bett-"

"Better a little uncomfortable then a little dead, I know." She repeated carefully as she threw the pill into the back of her mouth and swallowed it in one motion. Suppressing a shudder, the woman felt her body warm up before cooling back down.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered as she put the cap back on her medicine, before pocketing it. Once she had done so, she beckoned him to follow her down their selected path. "By the way Ichigo, I've been meaning to ask you, how do you feel?"

The man glanced at his diminutive partner. "How do I feel? What do you mean exactly?"

The woman extended her hand at the surrounding walls of their environment to illustrate her point. "This world, Hueco Mundo. You are part Hollow on your father's side according to Senna, so I was just wondering if you're being here has been affecting you at all."

Ichigo looked away as they crossed through an area filled with columns. "Well, when you put it that way, I guess it has." He answered as he came to a halt, fist resting against his side. "I feel focused here and my spiritual energy feels calm and settled. It's kind of odd. I always thought the Hollow world would be some death world filled with monster and I know were on an important mission, but I just feel…at ease."

"Really?" Shaolin replied with a hint of surprise. "I find myself somewhat in agreement. I do still feel a bit on edge here, but I also feel like I've just returned to a home away from home."

Ichigo smirked when he considered that the reason she felt more attuned to this world than the others was probably because of their hybrid child she was carrying, a fact he couldn't help but tease about. "Home away from home, huh? Well, I could see it now. I can build us a nice little cottage out here." He took half a step back and raised his fingers up as if holding an invisible camera. "Riiiight over theeerrre. It can be our winter home, so you don't have to worry about getting sick in the middle of winter like you always do in Soul Society."

Shaolin rolled her eyes as she giggled, enjoying his fanciful thoughts. Very well, she'd play along. "Really? Well, that is so kind of you; but what about all our Hollow neighbors? I'm sure that once they see a newlywed Shinigami couple move in, they'll probably start thinking 'more will be coming' and then they will until finally there goes the neighborhood!"

The man dropped his hands back down as he faced her, taking her words into consideration, before raising them back up. "Well, I'll have to set up a nice wiiide fence first and maybe a sign in the middle of it that says 'IchiSoi space here. Get your own!', if the other Shinigami wanted prime desert real estate like this then they should have gotten there first. As for our Hollow neighbors, well…I suppose you and Senna could join the local female Arrancar book club. I'm sure that'll help smooth over relations, especially once they find out Sen is half-way like them and you're going to have a ¼ mixed child."

His wife's body started to convulse with laughter at the detail the man was putting in to the absurd idea of giving them a second home in the land of their mortal enemies. "Le…hahaha, let's just focus on the mission and save the flirting for later, Mr. Kurosaki." She offered kindly.

"Alright, Mrs. Kurosaki." The man said, as they resumed walking through the forest of columns, keeping an eye out for any enemies. It wasn't long before they felt the presence of another.

Slowing down the pair came to a halt as they pulled out their respective swords. Waiting for their stalker to make a move. They wouldn't have to wait long as powerful cero came from behind them. "Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo roared as he wheeled around and crushed the energy beam with his signature skill.

While he kept their eye on the rear, Soifon saw a figure descending upon them from above. The Arrancar twist their body and shot out two tornado like gust straight at them.

Calmly grabbing a hold of Ichigo's clothing, she flash stepped them both out of harm's way, while the gusting winds crushed the pillars around them. Safely concealed, the pair looked around the edge of the pillars, back to where they had been standing and now see it occupied by two Arrancar conversing with each other, one male the other female.

The white skinned woman had purple hair done up in a pigtail a bony ornament hanging just above her hairline. She had a white puffy ballroom dress with gloves, stockings, and boots that only left her arms and thighs exposed. Two purple triangle tattoos ran down her cheek as she scanned the area, tapping her strange whip against her hand testily.

The man beside the woman towered over her. He had a very large muscular build, but a youthful face. His skin was a deep brown hue that matched the shaggy hair that obscured his eyes. He was taller than Ichigo and his white uniform had cut off shoulder exposing his powerful arms, around his left arm was a bony brace.

From what the spying pair noticed, the woman seemed to be deferring a bit to the man, which led them to conclude he must have had a higher rank than her, which meant he must have been one of the Espada. "I see only two." Shaolin whispered,

"I sense only two." He confirmed the situation.

"We'll take out the leader first an-"

Her planning was interrupted when the woman shouted, "They are over there hiding like cowards, Sado-sama!" she pointed in their direction, having located their spiritual signatures through all the interference.

"(Sigh) Take out the woman first. Double team the other one later." They both replied monotonously to the other, before they slipped around the columns and showed themselves. The pair took note of the sensor girl's smirk and raised their Zanpaktou defensively.

However; before the two forces could clash, the man placed a hand on the woman shoulder. "Un momento, Cirucci!" the man requested. Cirucci looked at him warily, before allowing him to step around her, trusting her Espada's order. "Gracias." He thanked, before turning his attention back to the Soul Reapers, or specifically the orange haired one. "You, the one with the zweihandler, what is your name?"

"Ichigo." He replied as he gripped his sword tighter, figuring Aizen told his Espada about him. Unsurprisingly the man smiled to himself, however unlike the cocky smirk of someone striking pay dirt, he seemed more pleased to make his acquaintance.

"So you are the one Harribel's fraccion told me about, it has been a long time, Ichigo." Seeing the man's guarded expression, he decided to introduce himself. "Mi nombre es Yasotora Sado."

"You look more like a chad to me." Ichigo replied of a stereotypical surfer name, which the giant youth seemed to find humor in.

"I see you've retained your good natured humor." He said as he shifted his hidden eyes over to the woman beside him. "It is also nice to finally meet you in person Captain Soifon; it has been a long time."

The woman narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Have we met?"

Yasotora looked at them quizzically, before letting out a low hum, figuring out what the problem was. "Si. I am the Septimo Espada Yasotora Sado."

"Septimo?" Soifon repeated unfamiliar with the Spanish language.

Fortunately, for her, Ichigo knew what he meant. "He means the seventh."

"Correcto; however, you may know me by a different name." the man lifted up one of his arms and flicked the bracers, which began to release some of his spiritual energy. "Stand proud, Gigante entre los demonios."

The brace started expanding all the way up his arm, wrapping it up in a black and red covering. The center of his body cracked loudly several times as it stretched out his height, while his hair blew back revealing his eyes to them. A vest of thick hair appeared over his shoulders tied together by a mask with large eyeholes and horns.

It was…oddly familiar.

Ichigo stared at the now 15 ft giant's mask trying to place it somewhere. He could have swore he knew it. "Gigante entre los demonios (Giant among devils)." He whispered to himself trying to work out the pieces.

"Wait. We really know this guy?" Shaolin asked Ichigo incredulously.

"Giant among…" he repeated, until it finally hit him. "You couldn't be…"

'Chad' smiled serenely as he nodded, "Yes, I am also known as Giant Devil."

Now even Soifon knew exactly who this person was "You, you're that Hollow that was after Screamer, the one Ichigo and Yamada helped!"

Ichigo's sword lowered a bit, his guard relaxing. "Well this is an awkward situation."

Cirucci the only one not having an odd reunion sensation turned to her master. "We must still fight them my lord. It is our orders, nay our duty to protect nuestra familia."

Giant devil looked at the smaller woman and nodded, "Te escucho." He then returned back to the reapers in front of them and took a step forward. "Ichigo, I know of your reputation. I challenge you to a fight of honor."

"A duel?" the challenged man replied

"Si. You and me. Hombre a Hombre. Just us and our abilities."

Ichigo cast a glance at his wife, before turning his attention back to him. "I'll agree if you answer a question to me."

"Only if I may ask one of you in return." He replied just as quickly.

The young Shinigami took half a step back, and leaned over to the woman whispering something in her ear. Her face remained impassive as she listened to his words, before she nodded and started to walk away from him, heading out of the forest of white marble columns and to the walled edge of the room.

Seeing this Sado glanced down at Cirucci who nodded, before doing the same as the female Shinigami and parting out, going to the same wall that the woman had sat down and seemingly meditated at.

Satisfied by the results so far, Ichigo looked at his opponent and fired his question. "Yasotora-san, you once told me that you didn't trust Shinigami, so why is it that you'd align yourself with Aizen?"

The towering Espada nodded solemnly. "He has earned the trust of mi abuelo Barragan Luisenbarn and myself. He is our ally that has seen us through many difficult situations. I do not consider him Shinigami, he is as he treats us: Human."

'_Okay, so that's where he's coming from.'_ Ichigo thought to himself. "And what do you get out of it?"

"The ability to be taken out of this Hollow existence, to be transformed back into a human being with mi familia, to live without the need to hurt others anymore." He replied yearnfully of the deepest wish he and some of his friends held.

Ichigo bit his tongue at hearing the wish. "Aizen is going to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of innocent people just to get to the throne of god, how many families will you allow to be broken up to get there?"

The Arrancar's body shook and his eyes sank to the corner at being asked the question. "I…" the man shook his head and refocused "I think you've asked more than one question, so now it is my turn."

"Alright. Shoot."

"Ichigo. Why is it that you have invaded our homeland? When we first met, you let me go instead of killing me like any other Shinigami, yet now you and your kind wage war on us, tell me: what has brought you here?"

"The same as you." Ichigo said as he looked away from Giant Devil and over to the side. Following his line of sight, he saw the two girls on the wall, one keeping an eye on them, while the other meditated. "See that girl with the Haori?"

"The captain."

"Yeah, she's my wife. I'm doing this for her." He then looked back at his opponent. "I'm doing this for my sister, I'm doing it for my friends and family who died because of him. I've come to Hueco Mundo to find and kill Aizen to bring him to justice for his crimes and prevent him from harming anyone else ever again."

Sado heart sank as he started to put the pieces together. "So when you spoke of the families…"

"Yeah, I already know what it's like." The man then raised his large cleaver in front of him. "That's why I can't let you stop me."

"For my family, I can say the same." The gorilla-like Arrancar raised it's arms in a boxing stance.

Finally hitting the impasse, Ichigo ran forward towards the towering beast. As the soul reaper came closer, the Espada clenched his fist tightly and slammed it directly into the ground in front him, creating a resounding shockwave that cracked the ground into jagged chunks.

Although it did little to slow down the assassin who deftly moved through the broken terrain with ease. "Hraaaahhh!" Ichigo roared as he jumped off a half split plate of land towards the gorilla.

Grabbing tightly one of the loose pieces, the young giant flipped it upward as he sunk back, forcing the Shinigami to cut through the make shift barrier. Once his attack was launched, the giant surged forward, throwing it's meaty fist at the airborne man.

Just as the attack was about to connect, he disappeared in haze of speed and reappeared on the giant's side. Turning his body, the Arrancar brought his extended arm around to club him the Shinigami, who blocked it with the edge of his sword.

Ichigo gritted his teeth as he braced his body against the strike, once he felt all the monster's momentum run through, he shot out his spiritual energy and stopped his skidding. "My turn!" he yelled as gripped the back of the blade with his freehand and yanked it down.

A grunt of pain escaped the Espada's lips as he pushed himself away from the large weapon. He took a moment to inspect his wounds worryingly. _'He is most definitely strong. To cut through my hierro and my ressurreccion enforced arm like it was nothing.'_ He looked up at his opponent, who was letting out a small breath to steady himself. _'I better be careful.'_

"You're no ordinary reaper, Ichigo." Chad complimented as he rubbed away at the cut, before extending his hand and grabbing a nearby column, his biceps tingling as he ripped the heavy stone pillar out of the ground, spinning it in a slow heavy circle. "But I am no ordinary Hollow."

"Exactly how I remember; except, this time, it's not a telephone pole." Ichigo muttered as he glanced away from his enemy and briefly looked over at his wife, who was sitting in the lotus position a few feet away from the female fraccion; her eyes open watching them both intently and words silently spilling out of her mouth.

Turning his attention back to his club-wielding opponent, he felt more assured knowing things were going well, he just needed to be a bit more careful in finishing this fight.

On cue, the giant gripped the weapon with both hands and swung the makeshift weapon, forcing Ichigo to drop down to his knees to evade it. As the attack floated overhead, the young reaper flash stepped forward to the exposed monster, sword raised to come crashing down. "Shield Plate del gigante (Plate shield of the Giant)!" the Espada roared as the blade came close to his black encased arm.

The arm bulged violently as a pair of strange fin-like appendages formed into the shape of a targe engraved in his arm, catching Zangetsu's attack, as the loud metal of steel rang through the area.

Having stopped his opponent, the monster shoved forward with it's plated arm, tossing him back into a clumsy recovery. Raising the white marble Column overhead like a spear, Giant Devil took careful aim as he threw the pillar at the recovering warrior.

"Oh, shit!" Ichigo cried as he back flipped to avoid being pierced by the thrown tool, before having to roll to the side as the weapon toppled forward, one final ditch to hit it's intended mark.

However, that was just the beginning of his problems as he saw the young man staring at his open fist a small green light radiating on each fingertip. "You will not dodge this, Kurosaki." He informed the acrobatic soldier as he closed his fist, spiritual energy surging. Planting his foot in the ground, he stepped forward as his arm screamed of power, "El." He snarled as the Shinigami gave one final glance to his wife. "Directo!"

A white high-powered beam of energy surged forward ripping up the very ground in front of the Shinigami. Pushing himself off the ground, he decided to match it point for point. Quickly running his hand over his face, a hellish grinning skull mask appeared over his face, red lines running across the side and two horn extending from the side. "**Getsuga**" The warped voice of the Shinigami cried as he raised his feather-like Zangetsu a red surge of hollow energy encasing his sword "**Tenshō!**"

Both strikes collided between them crushing the floor and immediate columns underneath the intense strength pitted behind each blow. The red moonfang rippled against the white beam, splitting off along the sides as it toppled over the white pillars surrounding the Giant Espada, while 'El directo' was forced down into the ground shooting a blinding smokescreen hiding the Shinigami.

As the blinding light settled enough for Sado to make out his surroundings, he made a move to return to a more defensive stance when he suddenly found that he could not move his body. Glancing at his body he saw three seperate rings of golden light penetrating him around his waist and both his arms, binding him almost like…

"Bakudo 79: Furu Genkai Rikujōkōrō (Way of binding 79: Full limit: Six rods prison of light)." Muttered the Shinigami's tiny captain, who was standing on a toppled over pillar one arm extended to him and the other…

The septimo Espada's eyes widened when he saw his fraccion that had backed out was also bound to the wall by three piercing light rays, two going through each of the 'wings' of her dress and the final one embedded in her dress draping between her legs, struggling to get out to assist her master.

"And Bakudo 30: Shitotsu Sansen (Way of binding 30: Beak-Stab triple beam)." The damnable woman voiced emotionless voice, as she turned her head looking to something just beyond his shoulder.

With great effort, he turned his head to see, his opponent standing on a half erect pillar behind him, staring down at him with a Cero of all things pointing at the back of his skull, ready to take him down. "Nice timing, Shaolin." He thanked the focused woman, his voice returned to normal.

"It was your plan, Ichigo." She remind as she turned back to the Espada, showing no signs of letting up the kido anytime soon.

Her words triggered the Hollow's memories of the exchange prior to the battle. What he had initially assumed was the man giving reason and requesting her to accept the duel had been a trick in order to pin them down and take them out.

'_So foolish.'_ He thought to himself disgustedly, now deeply wishing he could use his arms and go into his segundo estapa to make them pay for their underhanded tactics. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted Shinigami." He rumbled darkly, loud enough for both of them to hear.

"Well, we are Assassins, Espada-san." Said the woman,

"We don't fight fair." Her partner finished, as he raised the output for his cero to the point where it changed from the traditional red to a personalized ember orange, the telltale change heralding when a cero crossed over into gran rey territory. "Do you admit defeat?"

"What is the point?" he replied, seeing no difference with answering the question.

The two Shinigami shared a look with one another and nodded. "I'll take that as a yes." Ichigo said before closing his fist and bringing it back to his side, the attack dispelled. In tandem, the captain lowered her arms, as she straightened back, the binding spells used on both Hollow dissipating, allowing them to move.

'_They…let us…go?'_ The word echoed in the recesses of Yasotora's mind as he dully heard the sound of the male assassin jump over towards his counterpart, the pair quick to launch into conversation. Turning his head to look past the pair, he saw his fraccion on her knees staring just as dumbly as him, while the two continued to converse in a language neither understood.

Sado's attention was called back to the situation, when Soifon, apparently ending their conversation, said. "Alright, let's get a move on."

As the two hoped off the pillar and started walking away, the Espada found his voice. "W-wait!" he cried out. The two Shinigami stopped and looked back at him expectant for reason that he halted them. "Why…" Why 'a lot of things' he thought to himself, but settled for the one that matter most. "Why did you spare us?"

Ichigo spared a glance over at the man's fraccion that was also desiring an answer, before turning fully back to his defeated opponent. "There's no point in fighting you anymore. You were defeated and acknowledged your defeat, so we moved on back to our original objective."

"Kill Aizen-sama." He repeated, which the young reaper nodded.

"That's right. Our mission is one thing and one thing only. Kill Sosuke Aizen and end his ambition once and for all." The man placed his hand in his pocket a demure smile on his lips. "I'm here to protect my family, not run through this place tearing apart the families of others."

Sado silently reflected on his words, before resealing his ressurreccion back into his bracer, returning him back to his humanoid form. "You are still killing my kind to do so."

Ichigo looked away, his head bobbing slightly as he thought it over. "I can understand your plight, Yasotora-san. I'm not exactly normal either." Narrowing his eyes in concentration, a semi-liquidy white substance began to formulate around the edges of the right side of his face, hardening up as it traveled along his skin only stopping when half of a Hollow's mask was created, the eye it covered glowing an eerie gold as opposed to it's usual brown. "I'm not a Shinigami. I'm a being that crossed the barrier like you and became a Vizard."

"You are no different from us…?" the shocked voice of Cirucci carried through the air over to them.

"In a way, yeah. In fact, it's one of the reasons Aizen wanted me on his side." He admitted to the pair, "He offered me a home, a place to live with people just like me without fear of being thought differently of."

'_Just like you.'_ The words of acceptance repeated in Giant devil's mind, word he would have longed to hear. "Yet, when offered it, you refused." He stated quietly, recalling the closing words Harribel's three beasts had told him about their encounter with the Shinigami.

Ichigo nodded; although, it wasn't a nod that stemmed from utter confidence in one's self, or from forced direction by another's influence, rather from a decision not easily reached but acknowledged. "I refused because: even though I knew I could protect my family, that I could possibly save some of my friends, and that I could gain back several people important to me, I also knew the cost of doing it. Even if it was only temporary: How could I live with myself knowing that I sacrificed the lives of others, for my benefit? Taking the lives of others when you're fighting for your life is one thing, and killing those deserving of their crimes is another, but to sacrifice the souls of innocent people who depend on you for your own gain…"

The man looked to his side and pulled his hand out of his pocket, clasping the hand of his beloved. "That's an unforgivable betrayal and I don't deserve the right to be called a human being for that. If you want to change this world you need to start with yourself; from what I've seen, Sosuke Aizen has never given up anything he valued to his ambitions, he's only spent time refining and working towards his goal. That's not the same thing. Anyone can take the time out of their day to do that. What has he lost that gives his mission so much more meaning then those around him? If he considers you family, then he only stands to lose what he never had to begin with. Like I said, not sacrifice."

The man cocked his head to the side, inquiry on his mind. "Tell me something: For your loyalty to his cause he offered you and your grandfather a way to return to being human again, right?"

"Si."

"What about the others?" he asked knowingly, "What did he promise them? Look at some of the allies you have, do you honestly think all of them want to return to being human? I've met Grimmjow, and honestly I think he could care less about going back to the way he was, he looks like someone that just wants to fight forever. Tell me does that sound like part of a united front or someone using a means to an end?"

Yasotora bowed his head contemplating his words. He would admit that some of his allies did not seem to possess the same ideals that he shared, yet they worked towards the same goal. He knew his grandfather trusted Sosuke as much as he did him, but now he was entirely unsure what to think.

The muscular teen closed his eyes as the words of his abuelo rang in his ears, providing a modicum of reassurance. Lifting his gaze back up, he spoke. "If what you say is true, then I will help you."

The two Shinigami raised their eyebrows in surprise, while the man's fraccion got off her knees and quickly ran over to his side. "Sado-sama do you know what you are saying!?" she asked in a panicked flurry.

The man looked at the aerial dancer before nodding. "Yes, I do." He then turned back to Ichigo. "He has spared my life two times now; that at least shows me he is sincere about not killing unless he must. Had I heard such a thing from any other Shinigami I would not believe them and continue the fight until the bitter end. But…he is different. He fights for the same reason I do…I should at least hear his plight."

Taking in a breath, the youth crossed his arms over his chest. "Ichigo. You will not find Aizen-sama in this world."

Picking up on what he meant, Soifon cursed. "Shit. So this was a trap."

"Correcto. Sosuke Aizen has split his army in half, one to greet your invading force and another to take Karakura."

"We were told about something jamming our communication with the Soul Society, does Aizen have something to do with this?"

"Si. He has created a force field around Hueco Mundo that was activated just a little after your arrival. Things can come into this world, but nothing can escape it."

"Fuck. Then we really need to find that Ichigo." Soifon urged as she began to fiddle with her communicator to create an automated message for the other captains to hear once they had a moment.

"Where can we find the device that powers the barrier, so we can shut it off?"

Surprisingly, Cirucci answered the question. "You misunderstand. It is not a machine to be turned on or off, it's a soldier catalyst."

"Soldier catalyst?" Ichigo repeated not liking where this was going.

"Si. Though only the Espada are privy to the specific informaccion about the device." Cirucci explained as she turned her eyes back to her master, who continued where she left off.

"The one you must kill to lower the barrier and allow safe passage out of Hueco Mundo is the Primera Espada, who resides in the centermost building protected by our second in command, the Octava Espada, Chelute Rudbornn."

The orange haired Vizard quirked an eyebrow at hearing that the eighth Espada was the second in command. Didn't the Espada work from number 10 each differing towards number 1? "Why is Chelute Rudbornn in charge over you and the others?"

"Because he along with my abuelo and Sosuke, make up the three conquerors of Hueco Mundo, the ones who amassed this army. His special ability allows him to make clones of himself called 'Calaveras' to do his bidding and serve as the innermost sanctuaries guards gaining him the moniker: Uno de los conquistadores del Hueco Mundo: El Soldado infinito (One of the conquerors of Hueco Mundo: The infinite Soldier)."

"The same sanctuary the Primera is hiding in." Ichigo repeated, not liking what the implication of 'The infinite Soldier' had on things.

"Si. They are in opposite sides of the building. Chelute is located on basement floor ten; the Primera is located on the tenth floor beside the transfusion gate that leads back to the human world, the Calaveras are spread throughout the surrounding area to slow down tus aliados with more being made with each one slain to at most a hundred active at once."

"So if you go for one, you have to leave the other." The reaper surmised, since attacking the Primera meant allowing reinforcements to arrive, while attacking Chelute and the calaveras meant wasting precious time while Aizen and his forces attacked the Shinigami in Karakura town. "That's not good." He looked back at his superior officer. "Shaolin did you-"

"Relayed and sent, Ichigo." She replied as she placed the device back into her pocket. "Let's leave the others to deal with the Espada guarding the Primera." She closed her eyes pensively. "We need to minimize your expenditure of Reiatsu, so we'll have to proceed quietly." Turning around she looked down one of the exit ways. "Although, considering we don't know the layout, getting there will be…problematic."

"That's…hmmm."

Their prayers were answered when the Espada took a few step closer to them. "I will guide you." He offered,

"Sado-sa-"

"No, Cirucci. I am no longer Sado-sama the Septimo Espada. I am…" the man lowered his head, his eyes obscured by his hair. "not sure what I am."

"So why are you turning your back on tu familia y nuestros ideales?"

"Dos razones: la primera: Mi abuelo told me to always repay my debts to a man of honor. Even though, he cheated in our match, he fights for the same reason I do, which means-"

"He has something important to him that he can't lose." She finished glancing vaguely at the woman beside the Shinigami. "Y dos?"

"I trust him. If leading him to the Primera Espada will save lives then it is worth it. If he succeeds, there is no point in us fighting, as he and his people had the right of way; however if he dies, then this only proves that our cause is just. This war need not continue any longer than necessary, comprende?"

"Si." Cirucci said with a small nod. "Then in that regard, I shall fulfill my role as your fraccion and accompany you Master-Sado." When her master was about to speak to contest her, she added, "Your grandfather would not be able to live with such a loss." The man then closed his mouth, silently acceding to her.

"If I may interject." Soifon interrupted, "Sado-san," said being regarded her, "Is it possible you can lead him to the Primera Espada in a route that will avoid a majority of our opponents?"

"Si." Came the low reply

"Then Cirucci will accompany me." She said with finality in her voice. "The two of us will go separate routes. I'll try to draw their attention so that you'll have less problems to deal with."

The ballroom opera fraccion narrowed her eyes on the captain. "Why the hell should I leave my master in the hands of your boyfriend?" she asked coldly

"Why the hell should I consider the alternative of leaving my husband in your hands?" she replied just as fiercely, electricity shooting between both girl's eyes.

"Shaolin/Cirucci." Their respective partners called out, trying to get the women to back down, which after seeing that the both of them were okay with idea, did. "Alright, 'Chad-"

"Yasotora Sado. Ichigo-san." Giant Devil gently corrected the Shinigami who just stared back at him incredulously.

"Riiiight." He drew out unamused, "Look, I'm not one for formality, and saying Yasotora Sado all of the time is kind of a pain in the ass, so I'm gonna just stick with chad." He then jutted his thumb at himself. "And you can just call me Ichigo."

The Espada was about to open his mouth to correct him again, before closing it resigning himself to the face that he doubted it would make a difference. "Very well."

"Great. Now before we head out." The lieutenant said, as he turned to his wife, wrapping his arms around her smaller frame and planting a small kiss on her forehead, both of them uncaring for their semi-hostile audience. "Please Shaolin." He whispered low, but loud enough for the Arrancar to hear. "Please, be careful. I lost too many friends in the last war…and I nearly lost you. I don't want to lose anyone else."

The woman closed her eyes, hearing the fear and concern in his voice. "I know Yojimbo, I know." She replied, as she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, stubbornly refusing break this possible last moment together. "We'll survive this. I promise."

After a few more seconds, the pair pulled away; a fleeting look of longing in their eyes, that was quelled behind a wall of forced determination. The orange haired man turned back to the solemn Espada and said, "Alright let's go."

Giant Devil nodded and the pair turned and ran off in the direction the two Shinigami had been heading prior to the skirmish. Once the two had disappeared beyond the darkness of the corridor, the purple haired fraccion looked back at her 'partner' and felt her chest clench a bit.

The captain had her eyes closed, a thin layer of mist around the rim of her eyelids. The woman had refused to watch the man she loved run off to his possible death, but upon looking at the woman's fist shaking at her side, Cirucci could see that despite her reassurance to her partner, she was just as worried about him.

For a moment, the fraccion saw past her mental image of this captain, who had not so long ago pinned her down and nearly killed her, or the Shinigami in general, who hunted her kind without remorse. What she saw was someone wishing this war never took place and the people she loved didn't have to get hurt. Cirucci saw someone not so different.

But, it was only for a moment.

Wiping the unreleased tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, the woman turned back into her assassin mentality, as she glanced at her partner. "We'll go an alternate way to the Primera Espada, understood?"

"Si." She replied slowly

The captain expression didn't change, but it seemed she was glad that she was being cooperative. "Good, but first." She raised a hand apathetically at the pig tailed girl, "Bakudo 4: Hainawa." She cast the incantation, as a thin yellow rope of light materialized in her hand and snaked around the Hollow's wrists tying them up.

"Hey what the hell is this!?" she snapped, slightly afraid that this was another trap set by the two Shinigami to take them out.

"Relax, it's more of a formality than anything else." She answered lowering her hand back to her side. "You're an Arrancar, so I can expect you to break it without trying."

Looking back down, Cirucci tried pulling her hands apart and had to stop herself from breaking the kido instantly. When she looked back at up, the captain shrugged. "You see?"

"So why cast it in the first place?"

"Because this identifies you as my prisoner. I doubt the Shinigami are going to kill you, if you're tied up and standing right next to me." She explained to the woman.

"Un prisionero, eh." She repeated distastefully,

Soifon sighed frustrated with her suspicion, "Look, just serve as my guide and I'll cut you loose once we've gotten close enough, fair?"

"Supongo." Cirucci replied which earned her a confused look.

"What?"

"Yo dije: 'Supongo que tienes razon.'" She reiterated, but once again she was met with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, genial." the obviously exasperated woman sighed. "Usted no habla español. Excepcional, sólo mi maldita suerte."

"Wǒ kěnéng bù huì jiǎng nǐ de yǔyán, dàn rúguǒ nǐ bùxiǎng ràng wǒ qǔxiào nǐ zài wǒ de yǔyán, wǒ jiànyì nǐ jiǎng rìyǔ." The captain replied, this time leaving the Arrancar wondering what the hell she just said.

"Que?"

Taking Sanderwhicc's tone as a sign of confusion, the captain turned around, showing her back to the woman as she answered her question. "I said: 'I may not speak your language, but if you don't want me to curse you out in my home tongue, I suggest you stick to Japanese'."

Cirucci narrowed her eyes with glare strong enough to burn a whole through her head. It only intensified when the captain lightly tugged on the rope in her hand, an arrogant smile on her face. "Come on, lead the way."

"I fucking hate you." She cursed as she started shuffling by her.

Soifon rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't be the first."

(Elsewhere: Rukia Kuchiki)

Sheathing her Zanpaktou, as her latest opponents disappeared into a fading of reishi, the officer of thirteen temporarily assigned to her adoptive brother's division let out a sigh. After splitting up to 'bring these dogs of war to heel', Rukia had gotten into a few battles with some of the lesser Hollows and occasional numeros Arrancar. Renji had helped quite a bit before he went down his own way, leaving her to mop up down the route she was going, her destination the same as every other Shinigami, the central most building. "It almost feels like Ichigo's invasion of Soul Society again. Everyone trying to get to the same place." She muttered with a hint of amusement, although her thoughts were not as high spirited. _'Hopefully, no one else dies for me.'_

Shaking her head, clearing her mind of such thoughts, she returned to the task at hand. "I don't have time for that." She looked around the wide, high-ceiling room she was in. "I wonder where everyone else is? I haven't seen anyone for a while." She tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling. "I guess this place is a lot bigger on the inside."

"Good to see you find some appreciation in our architectural skills." A deep sounding voice rang from out of the Shinigami's sight.

Placing her hand on her weapon, she looked around scanning the area for her opponent. "Where are you? Show yourself!" she shouted frantically.

"I am right behind you." The voice whispered into her ear, their breath swaying the back pieces of her hair.

Whirling around she drew her weapon and struck, only to hit air. _'What the hell?'_ she touched the back of her neck with her hand. _'I could have sworn…'_

"Oh my, you are far too slow, Shinigami." The voice stated matter-of-factly, again from the area behind Rukia. "Should I slow down for you?"

Taking half a step back, Rukia looked back the way she had been heading and saw someone in her way. About twenty feet away from her was a tall black man. He had a pair of white earrings and around his neck was a teeth-like necklace. His uniform had strange black horizontal lines, most likely keeping his shirt together.

The man's eyes were closed as if he seemed to have been meditating before her arrival. Opening his eyes, two golden pupils glared at the Fukutaichō. "Is this better? Can you see me now?" he asked condescendingly, not truly caring if his 'altruism' did convenience her.

"You don't look like those other Hollows." Rukia stated, sensing the very air around this one was much more foreboding.

"Astute, Ms. Shinigami. I am not like the numeros you have faced before me;" he craned his neck back, revealing a tattoo under his jaw. "I am Zommari Rureaux, the ninth Espada." The man informed as he lowered his skull back down to normal, his head quirking to one side at an disturbingly odd angle, observing the wary woman. "What of you? Are a being of power?"

"I am the Fukutaichō of thirteenth division, Rukia Kuchiki."

The man cupped his chin as he thought about her words. "Fukutaichō is the second strongest in a division, but you are of the thirteenth…hmm dos y trece es igual a veintiséis?" the man started to laugh aloud, much to Rukia's chagrin. "The twenty-sixth strongest against the ninth!? This will barely be a warm up!"

"Don't underestimate us." Rukia hissed as she brought her weapon around, silently grateful that Zommari didn't seem to compute the difference in their respective structures. She'd need to use that to her advantage.

Zommari's expression returned to his general stoicism, but a small smirk remained on his lips. "I have waited a long time for this war between us Hollows and you Shinigami to break out. For far too long has your kind forced us to crawl around in the dark, killing us like animals." A dark chuckle escaped his lips. "But now the tables have turned, but fear not in Aizen-sama's infinite mercy I shall teach you the meaning of amor." The man crossed his arms over his chest. "Soon you two will sing his praises and offer your body and soul to serve his greatness."

"Not in this lifetime! Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" she commanded the yuki-onna in her blade, who turned her blade powdery white as a white ribbon extended from her pummel. Returning her hands to her side, sword pointed at her enemy, she controlled her breathing as the Espada observed her carefully.

"So that is the pinnacle of the constructive skills you Shinigami possess, the Zanpaktou, a weapon forged purely of your soul." Zommari intoned as he took a step to the side, carefully circling her, eyes on the weapon. "Very impressive, this is the first time I've seen such a beautifully crafted instrument of death." The man stopped after his tenth step as he drew his sword. "I think I'll take it off your corpse as a trophy once this farce is over."

The man then disappeared in a blinding display of speed. Knowing of his capability, Rukia brought her weapon behind her prepared to cut forward. "Some no mai! Tsukishiro!" she yelled as she swept her blade, a pillar of ice rising all around her. Feeling the other spiritual pressure, locked in the ice, she looked over her shoulder to see the black man's fist embedded in the wall of ice, his stoic expression showing his annoyance of the situation as he tried to pull his hand free.

Zommari tsked as he raised his other hand up quickly. "Bala." He intoned as a small yellow light appeared in his hand; on the other side of the sheet of ice, his enemy's eyes widened when she saw what he was going to do.

Thrusting his hand forward, Rukia flash stepped away escaping the blast and falling ice. Taking a moment to inspect his hand, the Espada rotated it a few times before breathing on it, trying to warm it back up. "Clever little trap reaper." He said quietly, eyes darting towards the left where the girl was resting on one knee, her other hand touching the ground lightly. As he turned to her, the hollow sneered, "But if these little ice tricks are the full extent of your abilities, then this battle is already over."

Rukia smirked confidently as she got up, blade at the ready. "It was enough to get you, Hollow." She then gripped her blade harder as the smiled died away, "In war the slightest mistake can mean your life, don't be so full of yourself."

Rureaux smirked at that, finding it almost funny. "You only got me because you used one of your trump card abilities, I have not." The man then pulled out his sword, while the girl tensed expectant of his ressurreccion. The man closed his eyes. "Let me see how fast you are."

Those words and the sound of a footstep were all the warning the noblewoman received before she was forced to block a sword strike directly in front of her. But the real kicker was, Zommari hadn't moved a step, instead it was another version of him pressing his blade against her.

However, before she could shove the enemy of her, the Espada disappeared along with the weight against her weapon, the only enemy left was the one standing a few feet away blade held up as he pressed his forehead against it.

Fsssh.

"Shit!" Rukia heard the wound of sonido as threw herself out of the way as another Zommari that appeared behind her tried to run her through. Just as soon as the attack finished, once again the Zommari was gone. Looking around her surrounding, Rukia was trying to keep a cool head. _'What the hell is going on? How is he doing this!?'_ her eyes shot over the man. _'I sense him over there, but…'_ looking back over her shoulder, she continued. _'I sense him over there, and to my left and right too. It's like he's everywhere.'_

Feeling another crackle of spiritual energy, Rukia looked to her right and thrusted forward, piercing through the chest of Zommari that tried to attack her. Blood shot out of the back to her satisfaction. _'Got him!'_ she thought to herself, however her triumph soon gave way to horror as the man on her blade disappeared once again.

"Very impressive." The voice of Zommari complimented from the same damn spot Rukia knew he was at.

"No…way…" she mouthed as she glanced behind her, the man's clothing, the spot she pierced, the blood on her blade telling her it was a hit! Nothing…he was completely untouched.

"What's wrong?" he questioned when he saw her looking at him so strangely. "I was merely giving you praise for successfully hitting my Gemelos Sonido."

"Gemelos Sonido?" Rukia asked, knowing nothing about this advanced flash step ability.

"Si, my Gemelos Sonido allows me to create a tangible afterimage, which is what you attacked." The man brought his free hand to his chest. "You attacked my after image here," he then touched the blade of his sword. "Blocked my strike here." And then finally pointed a few feet away from where Rukia stood. "And dodged my attack there." The man lowered his hand back to his side, while his sword was raised horizontally to his body, daring her to move. "However, those were merely after the fact attack." He smiled darkly. "How can you presume to have hurt me, when I have been standing here and merely sonidoing to each particular spot to strike you, before returning?"

"So is that your little magic trick?" she fired back at him, her tone bitingly cold.

"My trick is not over. You see, I am going just barely faster than normal. Do you know how fast I can really go?" the man asked before disappearing in a burst of speed, reappearing a moment later with five images, completely encircle her position. "I can create five, Rukia." They all said at once.

Swinging her sword she cut through the first three in front of her, although considering the way they backed away in a strange haze she was sure that they weren't there. Rukia was about to back around to continue her desperate struggle when her body rattled and pain flared up throughout her being. A scream escaped her lips as she felt her sword arm fly uselessly off her body, the blood squeezing out of the writhing limb. Her throat was silenced as blood shot up her throat, when she felt two steely cold blade sticking through her torso and abdomen.

The perpetrators, two Zommari standing in front of her, their blades buried and coming out of the otherside of her. "Ahh, ukk…" Rukia spilled as blood crept out of her wounds and mouth. Closing her eyes she tried to pry one of the blades out with her free hand, but before she could bother, both clones disappeared replaced by another swords running from her back to her front, severing her spine.

"Did you really think you had a chance?" Zommari whispered into her ear from behind her.

"Kai…en…bro…" she mouthed before she slumped her head, dead.

"Praying to your god before you died? Foolishness." The man snarled as he shoved the woman's filthy body off his weapon. The corpse collapsing in front of him. He quirked a brow at the body, before he used his Gemelos Sonido, encircling her body again with his clones. "Finish it." He ordered them as he walked over to the severed arm that was clinging unto the beautiful weapon the girl had.

As his faux-clones began driving and pulling out their swords out the reaper's body in a mad frenzied bloodlust, Rureaux pulled the woman's Zanpaktou from her severed arm, examining it fondly since she wouldn't need it where she was going. The hilt was cold to the touch, but it was a slight chill rather than a biting freeze, and it's design, from the pristine white blade to the ribbon that extended from the pommel, was alluring to the eye. He was willing to liken it to a blooming flower that endured even the harshness of winter. "Exquisite." He whispered about his new trophy. "I believe you were called Shirayuki? A name given to you by your ex-master." The man smirked, just like the girl it must be dominated and placed under his control. "In that case, I will rename you…how about." His eyes looked back at the broken stabbed corpse, laying in a large pool of it's own blood. "Rukia."

The man started to chuckle at that. It had seemed that he had indeed been able to live up to his promise to the reaper and not only did he teach her love, he also got her body and soul to be used for Aizen's cause. Today was a good day.

Before he could sheath his sword and go about his merry way, he heard the screaming of his afterimages, before they disappeared in a flurry of blood. Looking behind him to see if that the woman was actually alive somehow, he saw the corpse still there but surrounded by pink floral petals the likes of which the ninth Espada had never seen.

The sakuras seemed to glide through the air in an unearthly way, it hung in the air before returning back down into the shadows straight ahead of him. Looking straight ahead, he saw a figure emerging through the pink and black haze. It was a rather youthful looking man with silky black hair and a cold steely eyed expression, that held just a hint of something colder in his eyes. Around the man's black cloaked shoulders was a white coat.

Seeing the man, Zommari had to admit he felt an intense attraction to this man. The very air about him commanded his attention and refused to let him look away, his entrance was…mesmerizing. "Outstanding." The Espada whispered reverently. "Truly an entrance worthy of your position."

Glancing at the man's stoic expression, he saw that he gave some small regard to the corpse between them and then back to the sword in the Espada's hand. Rureaux's smile grew; it seemed he wasn't the only one to get another's attention. "Are you perhaps a captain, sir?"

"Yes." Came the reply, sounding more like a growl then a cordial response. Before Zommari could sit on it further, the captain solidified what he was thinking. "Tell me, were you the one that killed that Shinigami?" he asked, pointing his bladeless sword at the slaughtered woman.

The Espada scoffed since he was obviously asking a question he already knew the answer to, still he'd humor him. "Si." He replied confidently, his eyes drifting to the body. "I taught her about amor, but her body couldn't handle it." He then lifted his hand that was holding up his 'rukia' sword. "She gave me her weapon and allowed me to name it after her as proof that she understood my teachings in her final moments." He replied with a cruel smirk on his face, eyes watching the captain's gaze flinch from an internal pain.

"I see." The man replied with a scowl on his face, his air of indifference falling away as he barred his teeth. "Allow me to introduce myself:" The man's spiritual energy flared out, pressing heavily against the Espada, forcing him to bend his knee ever so slightly. "I am Byakuya Kuchiki, brother of Rukia Kuchiki."

Zommari barely heard the man's words as he tried to concentrate on getting air into his lungs, the area seemingly devoid of oxygen due to the man's suffocating spiritual energy. Steadying himself, the man ignored the cold sweat rolling down the back of his neck. _'Such…power.'_ He thought to himself, before shaking his head. _'No if he's related to her then it's just a showing. He can't be that much stronger.'_ He rationalized to himself. "Forgive me. I was at a momentary pause." He tried to play off, which seemed to annoy the Shinigami further. "Of what division do you captain? The same one as that child?" the man forced himself to laugh. "If so, then I don't think I'll have any more of a work out then be-"

The man's words died in his throat as the captain slowly began to slide off the Haori from his shoulders, one arm at a time. When the jacket was off, he held it forward with his left hand, the back exposed showing a strange symbol.

It took a moment for the significance to occur to the Espada but when it did the man took half a step back, his mind reeling. "S-six…seis!?" when he received a cold nod, the man in white held his sword out before him, levitating it in midair, he then slammed his hands together to activate his ressurreccion. "Suppress, Brujeria."

Byakuya watched as the sword bent at an odd angle once, then twice, before releasing a smokescreen around his soon to be victim's body. Preparing himself, he dropped his coat without regard and held out the hilt of his sword, the sakura petals returning and reforging the blade.

"You taught Rukia about 'amor (love)' Hollow." He then pointed his sword down. "Allow me to show you 'odio (hatred)'." The man then dropped his sword, "Bankai."

As the newly resurrected Hollow appeared from behind the smokescreen, eyes all around it's body which now resembled a strange pumpkin creature. Zommari saw two never-ending columns of blades rise up past him ominously. As he eyed the swords cautiously, Byakuya spoke up, his voice dark and menacing. "You have many eyes…I can't wait to puncture them with my sword."

And just like that all the blades turned pink before erupting into a shower of petals all around him. Zommari was practically cowering in fear as his head swiveled to and fro trying to see where an attack would come from, when nothing happened after a few seconds, he looked at the captain who was smiling, finding obvious joy in his torment. "Afraid are you?" he asked rhetorically, before shaking his head disgustedly. "Pathetic. If I wanted to kill you like this, I would have done so."

The man raised his hand up before thrusting it to his left, in response the petal soared up and disappeared, replaced slowly by an a large encircling columns of swords hanging in the air. "I want you to burn this image into your head, Hollow." The man spat hatefully, cursing the man to his death. "You are the third person to witness this, but the first to be killed by it."

Seeing that no quarter was to be given, Zommari focused one of his eyes on the captain's head and shot out his amor to gain control of his body. The beam was intercepted by one of the swords that flew from one of the columns, independent of the motionless man.

Still to his relief, the sun shaped tattoo appeared on the glowing pink sword, though the captain seemed to also be able to see the symbol from his edge. "You cut off my ability to control it didn't you?" the captain asked having felt his connection to the weapon sever suddenly. As Zommari's eyes widened in response to his words, the noblemen knew he hit his mark. "That won't work on me."

With the wave of his hand, the sword broke apart into individual sakura petals before reforming again into a sword pointed directly at the espada's chest, the sovereign tattoo no longer upon the weapon. With a quick cut of his hand, the sword flew forward as Zommari braced himself unable to move to avoid it. The strike came closer until it dived down at the last second. A cry of pain escaped number nine's lips as the eye was ran through the by the sword, the burning feeling of blood and sting of pain, flaring all along his nervous system.

"It seem those eyes give you some form of ability doesn't it." Byakuya stated coolly as he started to walk forward, the blades encircling the two of them slowly moving, positioning themselves at various angles to impale him. "I'll pluck them out one by one."

Then with another wave of his hand, the pink swords flew towards the multiple wide-open eyes, seeking to join it's fellow sword in killing the enemy.

Reacting on instinct, Zommari quickly dived down into his large circular underbody, through a strange fleshy hatch. Once he did so, the bottom half morphed from it's strange semi-circle appearance became a protective dome, encasing him. The eyes that were to be targeted faded away replaced by an orange pink skin with bone design.

Byakuya watched as the attack perforated him from all angles and a muffled but definitive scream of pain rang in his ears. The captain's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, not at all satisfied. "Your lesson in hate isn't over yet Hollow." The captain muttered darkly as he recalled the petal back to his side. He knew exactly what to do now with this cowardly little bastard.

Inside his protective shell, Zommari was clutching his chest as he spat up more blood from his mouth. He was covering one of the eye on his head with his hand the feeling of blinding pain transferred over to his real eyes, although thankfully, it still retained it's ability to function. _'So this is a captain.'_ He thought to himself grimly. "Entering this form was a mistake, I cannot evade him or defend myself. I need to fall back for now."

Spitting some more blood out of his mouth, he was about to exit out of hid protective dome, when he felt the captain's spiritual energy spike through the roof again. There was no more time to plan, he needed to get out of here. Blowing away the upper half of his embryo technique, Zommari found himself free of all the swords, both those impaling his body and the ones hanging in the air. Instead what stood in there place was the captain standing in front of him with a pair of white wings and halo forming around his body, a long white beam of energy sticking out of his hand. "Shukei Hakuteiken (Endscape: White Emperor Sword)." He called out as he charged forward blade at the ready.

The white forged wings flapped forward increasing his momentum towards the stunned Zommari. As the white sword touched the Hollow's skin, an unholy cry rang throughout the halls of the ninth espada's layer followed by an eerie silence.

Kneeling down, covered in the blood of the Hollow, Byakuya Kuchiki released his technique as he glanced over his shoulder back at the enemy. What had once been what amounted to an organic tank was less then that. The entire middle had been cut away by his emperor sword, just two hunk of pink circular flesh remained to the left and right, the blood still pumping, arteries and veins flailing around cut away from their natural connections. Bones? There were none left.

Sheathing his sword, Byakuya noted that just below the monster's corpse was a door, turning away the captain let the gateway to hell do his work for him, as he walked over to the body of his adoptive sister.

Once he was right next to her, the infallible leader kneeled down and stretched his hand out to touch her. His hand was just inches away when he stopped. He glanced at his blood stained hands, before wiping them against the ground.

He wasn't going to let the taint of that Hollow or any other Hollow desecrate her corpse. Once he was done, the man slung his hand underneath her leg and back and pulled her up. She was…a mess to say the least.

Her eyes were still open. Her body was pierced at multiple angles, bones broken, blood coming every wound imaginable, her skin long cooled. The man's heart sank as he pressed the armless side of the girl against his chest. "Don't worry Rukia." He muttered to himself, his stoic tone returning once again, although… "I'll make sure you receive a proper burial." The man turned around ignoring the obvious battle induced sweat that was dripping from his eyes, as he turned in the direction of the central building, the place he needed to go. "And I'll kill every last Hollow I find." He promised as he marched off into the darkness, the sakura petals of his Bankai following behind the man, on his hate-filled quest.

(Ichigo and Chad)

"Seriously, how do you not get lost here?" Ichigo asked the bronze-skinned youth for umpteenth time since he and the two girl separated.

"I would assume it's the same with the Seireitei." He responded back. "Sosuke informed us it was quite a labyrinth and modeled this place after it."

The Shinigami sighed tiredly, "Yeah, but we have the sky to navigate. Ughh. Just-just forget it never mind."

"If you say so." The local replied ever solemnly, causing the other youth to sigh again.

"You…are a tough guy to hold a conversation with."

"Really? Hmmm…I get that a lot actually." He said as he looked at the smaller man. "But I like listening to others talk. You learn a lot that way."

"That's true." Ichigo said with a small tilt of his head, "By the way what happened after I let you go that one time? What was going on with your grandfather and stuff?"

"Why do you ask?" the man said more than a little wary about the sudden personal turn in conversation. Ichigo could understand it.

"I've never really had a 'father figure' in my life. But…I do know that my dad cared about my sister."

Seeing the sad look in his eyes and taking it as a sign of sincerity, Chad continued. "He was worried about me especially after I told him I was involved with reapers. Despite past misgivings Barragan sent Screamer to find someone or something according to Aizen's plan, I wasn't aware of this at the time, although when I told him what Screamer was really doing, he thanked me for putting down that mad dog."

Ichigo put his hands on his hip, a sardonic smile on his face. "Aaaand I'm still ass out of gratitude. Hows that for appreciation." He sighed to himself

Surprisingly, Yasotora responded to that. "I appreciate you for what you did."

"Thanks chad." He answered with a smile as he looked ahead. "So how much further is it? I'm almost afraid to dawdle while everyone else is fighting."

"It's right here." Chad said as the turned down another corner and came to a long Hallway that had some kind of light coming from the end of it. Walking down to the other side, Ichigo looked up and saw a bright blue sky and the sun shining over the smooth desert sand. Scouring the area were large towers sticking out of the ground, but in the distance he could see his target. "Welcome to the innermost garden, Ichigo."

"Innermost garden?" he questioned, "Why call it that? And why is the sun up? We couldn't have been here for more than an hour."

"Be at peace, I will explain." Chad said as he pointed his hand to the sky above them. "That is actually a specially made refractive mirror designed to look like the sun and provide light to the residence who live here." The man then kneeled down and patted the earth. "This area has been turned into it's battle formation setting. The houses that should be here, creating the city of las noches, are taken to a special underground facility and the area is filled with sand to protect it and allow us to fight without destroying our homes."

"Damn. Now I feel bad." Ichigo muttered to himself, the gravity that he was invading and killing the citizens defending their home falling on his shoulders. It was made slightly worse by the fact that this place was like the reverse Seireitei. The Rukongai citizens that had to fend for themselves, were instead held within the protective walls of las noches. "We better learn from this."

"Learn from what?" Chad asked confused by what he just said aloud.

"N-nothing." He shook off as he pointed straight ahead, "Is that the place?"

"Si. That is where the Primera Espada resides, beside the portal that the other half of our forces went through to go to the human world."

'_Well, at least I can leave immediately once that obstacles is out of the way.'_ He thought to himself, glad that he wouldn't have to wait around for Kisuke to re-establish the connection for safe travel back home or to the other battlefield.

As he was a bit lost in thought, Ichigo noticed a strange spiritual energy coming from the direction in front of him. It was a bit warped and odd…but familiar. He have to deal with it before he could move to the building itself apparently.

Taking a step forward, he was surprised to see that the big guy didn't move. "What's wrong?" he asked his guide who had a fierce look in his eye.

The man turned around and looked over his shoulder, to which Ichigo now saw someone else stepping out of the shadows. It was a woman wearing a white full body outfit, with a single black line going from her collar over one of her extremely large chest. Her green hair was quite long and capped by a skull shaped ram helmet, running over her cheeks and nose was a red rectangular like war-paint.

Her posture was full of poise, even as she stepped out of the shadows and into the sunlight where they'd fight. Looking up at the sky above, she smiled softly before looking back at the top of them, her expression solemn and fierce. "Bienvenido al jardín interior, Shinigami."

"Guard captain and quinta Espada: Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck." Yasotora greeted cautiously, as he stood in between the captain of the police force and the one who personified the will of war.

"Hola Septimo Espada Yasotora-sama. While I trust you are in good health, I fear you might have taken leave of your wits by helping this intruder."

"Ever courteous." He replied as he looked around the area. "Where are your fraccion? Dondochakka and Pesche are almost always at your side."

A sad look flickered across her eyes as she stared at the ground. "Dondochakka and Pesche are down below guarding the city beneath the sand, while Tesla and Nnortia are elsewhere in the inner garden engaging the Shinigami's forces." She then took a step forward, her resolve hardening up as she put her hand on her sword's hilt. "Now what of you? You have been a staunch believer in our cause and advocate for peace, why have you thrown it all away to help our enemy?" her eyes narrowed on the unflinching man. "Depending on your answer I may have to take your life."

Understanding the threat Ichigo took a step forward hand on his Zangetsu, but before he could Sado, held an arm out blocking his way. Looking at the former Espada, he saw the man shake his head. "Go. This is my problem. I knew that I would have to deal with it eventually."

Chad saw his eyes flicker from her back to the seven tattoo on his back. "You have your own mission, you must understand."

That seemed to do it as Ichigo took a step back; a wary expression on his face. "Alright, but be careful." Skipping back half a step, the Shinigami turned around and ran off into the distance.

With the Shinigami now gone, the muscular youth turned his attention back to the jade captain. "Sorry to keep you waiting." He apologized, which she accepted though it did little to assuage her will to fight. "You asked me why I have turned my sword against you. My answer is that I have not. I am validating the justness of our cause by using that reaper."

"Justicia de nuestra causa? You are speaking in riddles. Some of us were thrown in this existence in the first place by those Soul Reapers, what is wrong with us trying to return back to the existence we once held. If that is your excuse, then that is unforgivable!"

"Should that come at the lives of others? Lives just like yours that will be thrown into a position which they can never get out of?"

"This all started by the Shini-"

"This all started not by the reapers, but by the spirit king." He interrupted

The woman nodded in agreement, glad to see he wasn't totally lost. "Si! Es pore so eso que necesito-"

"Para probar la justice de nuestra causa, Nelliel!" he shouted back as he thrusted his arm back behind him. "That man is the only reaper that I place my trust in and he is the one I place on the scales. Should he succeed then he is proof that we are wrong Nelliel! That our plan to sacrifice other to change things IS wrong."

"And in the other scenario? Should he lose?"

"If he should fail then we are in the right. Thusly we may continue on our march to the spirit king." He calmly stated his fatalistic point of view on the situation.

The woman shook her head disgusted with the man. "I can't believe you Sado-sama! If you wish to gamble with your life and dreams then that is your business, but the moment you start gambling with the hopes and dreams of everyone else in las noches on something you can't possibly know, then as the guardian of the police force, it become my duty to defend against it."

Yasotora sighed, it seemed he would not be able to get her to back down, still he would at least point out her one flaw. "Perhaps I am gambling with everyone's hopes and dreams." He admitted while the jade guard captain eased her posture. "However that is not so different then what Sosuke Aizen and we Hollows are doing now. We are placing everything on the table in this battle and yet we could not know whether we are doing the right thing. We can only trust in Sosuke…"

"That's…" the woman fell silent at that. She tilted her head downward, eyes facing the sand before shaking her head. "Entiendo, Yasotora." She muttered as she pulled out her sword and pointed it at him, eyes facing forward challengingly. "Irreconcilable: that is where we are at. I do not wish to fight you and would ask that you move out of the way, out of respect both for your position as an Espada and friend."

The man brought up his fists and clenched them tight for the rough battle ahead. "But as your friend you know I cannot do that. I always repay my debts and stand by my decisions."

Nel frowned, "And that's what I hate about you the most."

* * *

End fic banter:

Rukia: Lord brother, please stop!

Byakuya (chocking Blackout2010): I will. Right after he expires for what happened.

Blackout2010 (tapping out): Uncle! Uncccccle!

Rukia: Brother, please stop! He…ahh…it was a stunt double!

Byakuya (drops blackout): Really? So then…you are alright?

Rukia: Of course, besides it was only my character that was killed not me.

Blackout2010 (gasping for air): Rukia! Your brother's a fucking psychopath!

Byakuya (irritated): What did you call me?

Blackout2010: [points away] Look it's Zommari.

Zommari (sweat drop): Oh dear.

Byakuya (smiles dissonantly): Zommari! My friend, I wanted to have a word with you…in private.

Blackout2010: [clasps hands together] Thank-you for your noble sacrifice.

Rudbornn: While you're waiting for your next chapter to come out, why not come on down to 'The Bad Joke Comedy club'™ for a good laugh before making summer reservation at the 'Sand and sun beach casino, waterpark and resort'™. We have beautiful half naked male and female Arrancar here, what's not to love? See ya soon!

* * *

Author's apology:

Hey ya'll Blackout2010 serving up another round of apology. This time for the lack of quality for these next few chapters. The reason for this is burn out related to fighting. Fighting really isn't my forte especially for something that's a visual medium, so I apologize if the fight's aren't that great because well…there's only fighting which gets hard to write after a while. Unlike the SS arc which was spanned over several days this was all done in one, so I also apologize for that, especially if it made things difficult to follow. Lots of simultaneous events going on is a difficult issue. Again, I thank-you for your patience with a newbie like me and I hope the story continues to entertain you. Till next chapter, Blackout2010 out!

* * *

Guidepost of the soul:

1. vis pacem, para bellum: Is latin translates into 'if you want peace prepare for war'.

2. I wanted to make a bit of a point to show that even faceless mooks (Shinigami, Hollow whatever) actually have importance and sentience within the story, even if their ultimate fate is cannon fodder. Ever Soldier has a name and a family after all, they aren't numbers to simply be calculate on a KIA report.


	36. When world's collide II: Punch line

Prefic banter

Blackout2010: Greetings and salutation my very yummy looking viewers out there to another installment of your scheduled featured program. Today, we will be looking at the anatomy of an insect and why it is bad to step on them with the full force of a human stomp.

Ichigo: Ummm…or not?

Blackout2010: Wait…you mean…

Ichigo: Yeah, wrong program dude.

Blackout2010 (sweat drop): Ah well…that's embarrassing.

Rudbornn: Do not speak of shame of which you cannot comprehend. (cries in a corner) Oh mr. rope and ms. Balcony you're the only one who understands me.

Blackout2010: Uhhh…uhuh. (sigh) Ladies, if you'd please.

Shaolin/Senna: Blackout2010 doesn't own the original source material Bleach. That belongs to Tite Kubo, please sit back and enjoy your featured presentation.

Uryu: Buy Kisuke.

Nemu: Buy Kurotsuchi.

Yachiru: Buy popcorn!

Everyone else: ?

* * *

Chapter 36: When world's collide II: Punch line (to a bad joke)

(Kenpachi Zaraki)

Placing his sword back at its usual resting spot against his right shoulder, the blood soaked leader of the eleventh division spat at the ground distastefully as his merry band of warriors were fighting a group of identical clone Arrancars that called themselves…it was like a drink or something Cala-vodka or whatever…

The man wiped the dust and sweat off his forehead, frustrated. Sure, his friends were happy fighting these guys, but for him they just weren't a challenge. Aside from that stupid sand creature Hollow thing back at the entrance, he hadn't come across a half decent warrior in god knows how long. Glancing back over his shoulders, he was going to say something to keep his mind off things when he stopped.

He had forgotten that he let Yachiru down to go 'play' with some of the lesser Hollows, leaving him with nary a person to talk to. "Fuck, this is boring." He complained, as he walked forward through the blood red sand filled with the bodies of Shinigami and Hollows. He was about to give the orders to keep moving when out of the corner of his eye, he saw something fall from the top of one of the buildings.

The impact sent up a huge cloud of dust, but what really caught his eye was the fast approaching object heading straight for him. Smiling to himself, the man brought his sword back to his side. "Finally someone with some guts!"

Swinging his sword wildly, he intercepted the attacker's blade, maniacal grin on his face as he shoved the man back. The speedy swordsman was a blue haired man with an open jacket that revealed his toned abs and light skin. Running across his lower jaw was bony set of teeth.

The man's eyes widened for a moment in realization, before he sneered nastily. "Fuck! Still not him, just another goddamn mook!"

"Who you calling a 'mook' pretty boy? I think I could stomp you without even trying." He taunted back, malicious grin widening by the second.

"You ain't Ichigo," the agitated man shot back quickly, "so go eat a dick and die you pirate-hobo!"

That got Zaraki's attention. "Wait…you fought Ichigo?" he asked shock evident in his voice that soon gave way to anger. "I've been looking for that son of a bitch for two years now!" he roared, venting his frustration at the injustice of the situation. "And…and you get to fight him? Just like that? What the fuck!?" the man cursed.

His quick tempered anger soon gave way as a clarifying thought occurred to him, that made things easier for him to what was really going on now with this jack-hole. "Oh, I get it. You're looking for him because you got kicked your ass kicked didn't you?" he taunted with a wide shit-eating grin.

Right on the money the volatile man exploded, his sore spot hit. "Shut the fuck up cabrón! I'm Grimmjow Jaggerjack the future motherfucking king of a world filled with carnage!"

Kenpachi laughed merrily seeing he was goading into a fight someone that was defeated by him. That was good enough for Zaraki, since if this Arrancar lost to Ichigo, then he needed to beat him in order to stand a good chance against the Fukutaichō that took Seireitei by storm two years ago. "You had your chance Hollow. You got your ass kicked by Ichigo, so get to the back of the line and wait like everybody else who wants a piece of him." The man's spiritual pressure flared out, pressing uncomfortably against the panther king.

Grimmjow's eyes flashed momentarily. "Then how about I just kill you and take your spot!"

The sixth sword then blitzed forward at a near inhuman speed at the grinning fool. Slashing into his chest with his sword, the blood flying spraying against the sand. But, to Grimmjow's surprise, instead of recoiling backwards, the man jus thrusted his sword downward where his head was, no fear at all in the man's posture.

Throwing himself into a sideways roll, the Espada narrowly dodged the strike, only to push himself backwards again with his hand, avoiding a wild swing aimed for his head by mere inches.

Twisting his body around in the air to land back on his feet. He clasped his sword in his hand and charged forward, blade poised to impale him.

With a delighted smile, the lumbering Kenpachi took half a step forward, before thrusting his leg out catching the Espada in the chest and forcing his back beneath the dirt. Raising his blade above him, he thrusted down to rip into the chest of the hollow, but was stopped when the desperate Hollow grabbed a handful of sand and threw it into the man's face blinding him.

With the weight of the goliath of a man no longer pressing on top of chest, Grimmjow slide his legs around, sweeping the captain off his feet as he got up, spinning his body in a semi-circle, he jutted his hand right next to the man's head, a charged cero ready to fire. "Adios!" he yelled

The resulting blast engulfed the both of them in a huge cloud of dust and smoke, obscuring both combatants. For a few seconds nothing stirred, until the voice of Grimmjow yelped and his body was thrown through the cloud, an eye patch-less Zaraki smirking at him as his body hit the dust. "Well, that was fun! I gotta say I like your style." The berserker complimented his opponent that in all honesty would have been a great addition to his squad, if he didn't have orders to kill.

Grimmjow growled at him, before spitting out some blood from his mouth. "Holding back, eh?" Pushing himself off the ground, the violent man's bad temper started to act up. Beside the Shinigami, the visages of that asshole sneering at him appeared, taunting him about his weakness. With those eyes that just looked like they were looking down on him.

The man's fist clenched tighter, cracking in response. He defied him, the king, and took out all his subjects worthy of following him! He wasn't going to lose till he mounted Ichigo's head on his trophy wall. Sheathing his sword, the man snarled at Zaraki. "Then I'll show you my true power! First you, then him, and finally the world! GRIND, PANTERA!"

Kenpachi watched as the man's body became cloaked in whirling wind, but even he could feel that his spiritual pressure was spiking upwards. The man licked his lips when the armored monster emerged, the eyes of a hunter set dead on him.

Arching his back, the Espada let out a loud primordial roar, shaking the very sand around him. "Holy shit! Now we're talking, time to have some fun!" Zaraki yelled as he ran forward with reckless abandon.

Seeing the oncoming juggernaut, the panther king pointed his elbow forward aiming for his kneecap, before firing small powerful bony spines out, clipping the man and causing him to flip end over end towards him. Using his enhanced speed, he dashed forward and kicked the man in the chest, shooting him upward. Crouching down, the man jumped, speeding forward like bullet, before slamming his elbow into the man's back with a bone crunching force.

Zaraki's body sped towards the ground but Grimmjow was not done. Opening both his hands two red ceros appeared, he pulled his hands back, elbows bent to brace himself for the recoil, before pushing them forward, firing both beams at the blood soaked captain's body.

Seeing the light coming from behind, Zaraki turned himself in the air and with a mad swing cleaved both incoming ceros in half, causing them to fall to the ground around and shoot up two large pillars of sand. Time seemed to slow down as the two of them looked at each other, the golden auraed form of Zaraki staring back into the apathetic disgusted face of Grimmjow.

Slamming into the ground, Zaraki didn't waste a second jumping back to his feet from his back. He watched the monster spit out something out of his mouth as he brought both hands close together. A red cero once again forming that quickly changed color into a blue one. Zaraki placed his blade back against his shoulder with his right hand as he raised his left hand.

And then beckoned him to bring it with his middle and index fingers.

A loud battle cry erupted out of the Espada's lips as he shot downward, body perfectly straight to increase velocity, gran rey cero charged beside his face. Zaraki just waited their expectantly, shit eating grin on his face, heart dancing with the joy of battle.

As the energy blast collided with the towering Shinigami, the maniacal cry of laughter filled Grimmjow's ears as he drove home the attack, propelling the man backwards through the sand. Huffing to himself the man wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Why won't this fucker die!?" he angrily asked himself, as he gathered reiatsu into his arms.

As the bloody sweat and bruised Zaraki got back to his feet, he threw off the Haori he was wearing as he once again ran forward having the time of his life.

"Come on fucker! I got something for ya!" Grimmjow yelled at the top of his lungs as he swept downward with his claws, his signature attack the desgarron primed and mimicking his motions. Bringing his arms back, he launched his attack. "EAT THIS! DESGARRON!"

The man swept his hands forward, the two clawish lines following the motion and heading straight for the battle happy captain, who saw the attack coming for him. Grimmjow's tired grin on his face soon morphed into horror as the sprinting captain avoided his ultimate attack by jumping into the air, over the attack and plummeting straight to him.

All the while laughing without a care.

The brittle sword slashed into the throat of Grimmjow, its entire length running him through and pinning him to the ground as the captain looked over him as the light faded from his eyes. "Grimmjow right?" the unkillable captain muttered, "I'll remember your face." He promised, before pulling his sword out, severing the man's neck and spilling more blood on the messy dunes.

A few feet away a door appeared, the gateway to hell ready to take its latest victim. "When you escape hell come find me, we can fight forever." He told the dead man as he turned away to go about his business.

"KENNY! KENNNY!" the high cheery voice of Yachiru called out to him over the battlefield.

Looking to his left he was about to give his regard to her, when he saw her face morph into horror. "Look out!" she screamed.

Turning around, Zaraki saw a six-armed hollow with six scythe-like spears coming down at him from above. He was just about to raise his sword up, when someone's barefoot touched his shoulder and pushed it down as they jumped up, heading straight for the hollow. It was definitely a woman, but certainly not Yachiru. She was about 5'7'' had short flaming red hair and a large D cup rack barely contained by the ratty worn out clothing she was wearing. The woman's taped up knuckles slammed into the side of the surprised praying mantis fraccion's head.

After the strike, the woman then grabbed the man by the back of his collar as she twisted in the air, causing the both of them to change trajectory on their way down, the Arrancar's neck cradled against her shoulder blade.

A sickening crack echoed through the air as the woman landed on her ass while her opponent's body went limp. Letting go of the hold around the guy's face, the woman dug her hands into the sand to push herself up.

"Kenny! Kenny! Are you okay!?" Yachiru cried, as she shook the stunned man from her usual perch to no result. The man continued to stare at the woman, jaw open as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Fucking pathetic. I leave the Rukongai and come to this place looking for a decent challenge, still nothing." The red head muttered to herself, just loud enough for him to hear her words. "But…" she slowly turned around, her dark brown eyes darting back at the man, she knew quite well. "But…sometimes you get lucky."

"Yachiru." Zaraki muttered,

Not knowing of the significance of the situation, Fukutaichō Kusajishi spoke up. "Yeah, she's got the same name as me, Ken-chan!" the little pink haired girl gushed. "I was just walking along fighting Hollows when bam! We ran into each other, isn't that funny?"

"You haven't changed a bit." The older woman taunted, placing her hands on her luscious hips. "Even if you are bigger than me now, you still look like some dog that dragged itself out of the sewers."

Zaraki's stunned silence soon gave way to solemn look. "Mutt." He replied aloud, which brought a reminiscent smile on Yachiru's face. It was what she used to call him back before he had a name.

"You don't miss a beat." She answered cheerfully, as she cracked her knuckles. "So when did you get all prim and proper and join the Shinigami? Want to fight the good fight or something?"

Now Zaraki smirked, "Something like that." He repeated with delight as he squatted down and let his Yachiru off his shoulders. This was gonna be a good, good day for the captain. Once his adoptive daughter was out of harm's way, Zaraki looked back at the original Yachiru, some tears rolling down his eyes. "Damn, I'm really getting sentimental here. All these years, I've been looking for you to settle the score and here you are. The one person I admire."

The tomboy-ish woman swiveled her neck to the left and right, cracking it as she rotated her shoulders. "Fancy talk ain't gonna save your ass. I hope you can do better than the twenty minute struggle you put when you were just a mutt." Sliding her right foot back, she raised both her fists up, "Let's do this."

Kicking up a backdraft of sand, the woman sprinted forward with a grin matched only by Zaraki's. As the speed runner came closer, the unkillable captain swung his sword, trying to separate her upper and lower body. The woman just ducked under the attack and slammed her taped right hand into his stomach, pushing his body upward momentarily before slamming into him with her shoulder.

Zaraki staggered backwards a few steps from the intense force behind her bone crushing blows. It was exactly as he remembered her. Again, the woman came charging at him, trying to keep him on the defensive, but this time he was ready.

Stabbing his sword in the ground, the man lunged forward and shoulder tackled the woman in the stomach, planting her on her back. Once there, the man raised up his fist and started pounding away at her face. The man sat there for about three or four seconds wailing away, busting the woman's lips and blackening her eye, before he was silenced by a kick to his groin from the savage girl.

Getting him to stop, the woman grabbed a hold of his black Hakama and pulled him into a massive head butt, staggering him further as she slipped her leg out from underneath him and kicked him off her. Getting back to her feet, she spat out some blood as she wiped her busted lips.

Twirling her body around, the woman slammed her heel into the neck of the dazed man, throttling him into the dirt, ripping his shirt in half, exposing his sword bearing side. Stopping to catch her breath, Yachiru rasp-berried. "Come on mutt. Those muscles of yours can't just be for show."

"Of course not." Zaraki replied as he pushed his carcass off the ground slightly, turning his gaze over to her, a bright eager smile on his face. "I just wanted to savor this, not every day you get to great fight like this, especially in a war that could end the world." The man got up and rotated his left arm, popping it back into place. "Ready for round two?"

The devilish woman smirk grew wider as she widened her stance, arms stretched out in anticipation. "I can go as many rounds as you want."

With a high laugh, the juggernaut of eleven ran forward to the inviting woman. Waiting until the last second, the woman dived out of the away avoiding the bum rush. As her toes dug into the sand, the woman lay sprawled on all fours, as the giant of man skidded around and charged back at her.

As he made his step forward, so did she. The two of them running towards one another in a twisted game of chicken, neither giving up. As soon as the two were within three feet of each other, both of them slammed their fists into the others face with bone rattling force. Zaraki stifled back a groan of pain as did Yachiru; however, the crucial difference in body size and stature proved to be in the captain's favor, as the woman's body staggered backward because of the force and her lack of girth to stabilize her.

Pressing his advantage Zaraki grabbed her shoulders and started kneeing her in the stomach in quick succession, causing blood and saliva to fly out of her mouth and unto his chest. Bringing his kneecap up again for the fifth hit, the woman caught it with her right hand, and wrapping her left around the back of his calf, thrusted her body forward taking him off balance.

Still holding unto his leg, the fiery redhead slowly started to strafe in a small circle, gathering momentum as she dragged the man's body against the biting sand in a circle until he started to fly up off the ground.

Zaraki barred his teeth as he couldn't do anything against the G-forces being used against his body, nothing except glare hatefully at the sadistic bitch swinging him around faster and faster. After a full minute, the woman released the man flinging him through the air as she collapsed to the ground from dizziness.

Kenpachi hit the scorching dunes with incredible force, each skid twisting his body to hit a different part, before being turned over. Skidding for a third time, he came to a stop when his chest ran into his Zanpaktou that had been discarded at the beginning of the fight. "Ughhh…" the man groaned sickly as he pushed himself off the blade barely penetrating his chest.

Once he freed himself, he laid on his back staring up at the sky, huffing to himself, trying to catch his breath.

"Kenny! Are you alright!? Kenny get up!" the voice of Yachiru cried out some distance away, trying to give him precious moral support. The tiny girl watched as her father figure pushed himself up, body obviously throbbing in pain, gave her a reassuring nod, before getting back up to his feet, albeit after a stumble.

Zaraki clasped his hand around his imbedded sword for stability as he looked ahead of him, his opponent also slow to get to her feet. Looking down at his sword contemplatively, he closed his eyes for a second before pulling the blade out. "That was pretty good Yachiru." The man gave his utmost respect. "You, Grimmjow, Ichigo, there a lot of big fish still out there, and I'm gonna fight them all."

From her spot, the weary woman shuffled her body to face him. "Oh yeah? Sounds like you got something big then?"

"Something like that." The man muttered as he placed the sword in front of him, gripping it with both hands. "You've shown me a thing or two, now let me show you something. HmhmhmhmhahahaHAAHAHAH!"

To both of their surprise, Yachiru was also laughing and sporting an equally insane grin. "Well, come on! Don't keep me in suspense! Hit me with everything you fucking got Mutt!"

Raising his sword above his head, he could feel his spiritual energy going into the blade. "It's called Kendo." He then brought his weapon down, creating a gigantic shockwave of energy, blasting sand, dust and his opponent into the ground with its power.

Zaraki stood there for a few seconds, trying to catch his breath despite the pain and fatigue debilitating his body, looking through the cloud of dust. As if slowly began to settle, he could see the form of Yachiru. The red haired woman was covered in sand, dirt and blood. Her ratty tattered clothing was almost completely destroyed, the barest traces of a sarashi wrapped around her breasts and barely held together shorts. Though her legs were quivering, she still maintained her maniacal smile. "That was…pretty awesome." She muttered, as she slowly started to fall forward. "Let's…do this…all the time."

Smiling to himself Zaraki dropped his sword. "Sounds good…to me." He then fell forward as well.

Finally moving from her spot, the small Yachiru ran over to where Kenny had fallen. "Ken-chan are you okay!?" she asked to her unmoving father figure. "Kenny?" she repeated again, shaking his body with her hands, tears starting to pool around her young eyes. "K-kenny…?" she chocked

(Yasotora 'Giant Devil' Sado)

As the walls crumbled around him, the ex-Espada's body was blown through the wall unto the sands of the inner garden. His body covered in scrapes and bruises as he once again pushed his fifteen-foot frame off the desert floor to look back at the woman slowly trudging to the hole in the wall. Huffing to himself, the man closed his as he rested on his knees, while the fifth Espada who had released her Zanpaktou, stared back at him emotionlessly.

"Are you done yet?" the centaur girl asked, as she wiped some dirt and blood off her cheek, lance at the ready.

Chad pushed himself up, his body staggering backward momentarily as he tried to gather his wits. He could tell she was being sincere in her efforts to get him to surrender, since, as of the moment, he was the one far worst off, but his conviction would not be shaken so easily. "You're as strong as I remember, Nel."

"Empty words, Yasotora." The proud knight proclaimed, her lance tipped in his direction. "You have not even begun to fight! You remain ever in your first release knowing full well that you would stand no chance against me." The woman then jumped through to the other side of the wall, her hooves landing lightly on the sand. "Either show me your conviction to your cause or get out of my way, so that I can run down that Shinigami, before he dooms us all."

"No, mi amiga. I was not talking about your strength in your arm, but in your conviction." The Gorilla-hollow corrected himself, which brought a cold frown on her face. Raising his left arm up, his eyes looked over the bony bracers wrapped around his elbow. "I had hoped I would not need to use this to stop you, but I have no choice. If my words will not reach you then perhaps my fist will." The man then flicked the bracer with his finger, a dark spiritual energy began to radiate from it, and encase his form, forcing even the fifth Espada to flare out hers to maintain her stance. "Be warned: I don't have complete control over it."

As the centaur girl lowered her spear and steadied her stance, the man uttered his release. "Segundo Estapa: Atlas: El gigante demonio (Atlas: The Devil Giant).

The final limit broken, a bright blinding light flashed from the man's body, as walls of sand bursted upwards from the force of the release. Clutching her skull helmet to shield her eyes, Nelliel kept her guard up as the dust began to settle. The towering monster's form had shrunken almost entirely back to his original height, but still taller than normal at seven feet. The man's brown hair was parted by two grand horns extending from just above his forehead, revealing eyes that were now a haunting gold color.

The upper half of his shirt was completely gone exposing all the muscles of his chest and arms, which had increased in size and number. Four arms extended from the man, two of them where they were normally, one in a sleek black and red color scheme while the other white and black, and the other two extending from his back and holding a large marble sphere that was as large as a small car, held near weightlessly off the ground.

Taking a gorilla pawed step forward, the young man looked at his transfigured left hands, closing slowly into a fist with such force, that the guard captain heard the muscles and bones crack despite the distance she stood from him.

Steeling her nerves, Nel gripped her lance and let out a battle cry as her lower half reared its legs up triumphantly, reinforcing her earlier confidence. Galloping ahead, the jousting knight twirled her lance in a small circle before placing its deadly point in front of her unmoving target.

Unafraid the world holder scowled at the jade charger, whose hooves dug and kicked back the sand. In a swift motion, the man's back arms, threw up the marble sphere in his arms over his head and to his front ones. Catching it, he held it out defensively as the spear collided into it with intense force.

As Nelliel struck the large obstacle, her entire body felt like it was shaking intensely as if she was caught in an earthquake. Baring her teeth, to stop the shaking she could do little when the sphere was removed out of the way and replaced by a thick black right hook.

A yelp of pain escaped the woman's lips as fist met face, but her introduction to pain was not over as her head was skyrocket backward by left uppercut. Staggering backwards, the last thing she heard before a colossal force slammed into her was "El Directo!"

While the centaur girl was taken off the ground and sent sprawling back into the building. The horned youth let out a vicious roar, before giving chase into the depth of the shadowy building. Jumping through the hole, the four-armed man crashed against the ground, finding nothing but himself there. _'Where did you go?'_ he asked himself as he looked around, finding himself once again in a forest of marble columns.

After a few more steps, he heard the familiar sound of hooves beating against the floor. It was definitely ahead of him, until… "Over there?" he looked to his right, before turning back over his shoulder. "No, there."

He didn't have long to muse as a barrage of lime green balas came screeching towards him from the darkness. Raising his plated right arm, he intercepted the attack to great effect. Moving his limb down, to see if anything was coming, he heard the sound of more balas and a cero coming from his opposite side now.

Quickly charging up, the man returned fire with a high-powered cero of his own. The brown ray of light swallowing up the two lesser beams. The man smirked to himself, "Is that all you got!?" he taunted with a smirk.

His smirk soon fell away when the light of his cero revealed, Nel standing completely still as the attack came at her. She then opened her mouth and started to suck in air, drawing the cero into her mouth, as the eyes of her skull helmet lit up. Pointing both hand and spear forward, a green bala and red cero light appearing in each respectively, "Cero doble!" she shouted, her mouth opening widely so all three attack could shoot back at him.

The blinding fast attack nailed him in his chest, scorching his body and the muscles underneath, while sending him through a few marble pillars, which collapsed on top of his body. "Ugghhh…" the man groaned as he laid amidst the rubble, the sound of hooves approaching. He listened to the sound for a bit, until it paused and the woman's body jumped up unto the pillar, adding extra pressure, as she pointed her lance at his face.

"Ah, entiendo lo que hiciste." He said to the woman. "You were jumping every now and then in the shadows to throw off your sounds and position."

"Tan intelligent como recuerdo." She replied back, her hard glare remaining on her beautiful, if roughed up, face. "Now do you surrender?" she then jutted lance a little closer to him, eyes narrowing further. "O usted persiste?" she asked threateningly.

Reaching with his back arms, he smiled. "I persist."

Before the woman could run him through, the man launched the giant orb his backhands held forcing Nel to jump off the pillar to save herself. With the extra weight off, the man used his frontal arms and began to push the seven thick marble columns off his body, inch by inch, until with one might push he shot them off him, scattering around him, and nearly hitting Nel judging by the panicked sound of hooves.

Getting back to his feet, the centaur girl was hoofing tiredly to herself, several pillars embedded around her position. "I see." She replied, as she walked around the offending support beams. "If you persist then I must stop you at all costs." She then gripped her lance as hard as she could, raising it to where her helmet gently touched the smooth shaft. "Perdóname, amigo." The lance started to vibrate and emit a faint light, Yasotora knew that light. "Lanzador Verde (Jade Lance)."

Sighing to himself, he knew that he had to go all in now. Glancing at his white hand, five small points of light gathered at each point of his fingertips. Closing his fist, his entire left arm was enclosed in a powerful reishi. Sliding his left side back, he cocked his arm, the energy barely contained in his fist.

Raising her lance over her head, she twirled it until it was pointed at him. "Volar verdad (Fly true!)!" she shouted as she tossed the spear.

"El muerte directa (The direct killing!)! He roared in kind, as he punched forward, the reiatsu surging from his knuckles.

The two attacks flew at each other with intense force, the light of the killing blow engulfing the green lance as it kept going forward to the stunned centaur, smashing into her body.

Nel's scream of pain rang throughout the air as her body was shot backwards by the spiritual blast until she slammed into the wall, her bones practically breaking in two on contact, leaving her embedded in the skull shaped crater her body made. Feeling her spiritual pressure dwindling, her form changed from its beast mode back into the slender half naked human form she was used to.

Closing her eyes to fight through the pain, she used what little strength she had left to pull out one of her arms from the wall. Holding the freed limb forward, she reached out trying to reach her friend when she opened her eyes again, barely able to make out his blurry outline in the darkening distance. "Sado…I…How can…you be the one…who is right…?" she whispered, pleading for some catharsis in his answer, before her eyes were forcibly closed never to open again, her body falling free from its vertical prison unto the cold hard floor, dead.

On the far side of the room, Chad was barely able to see his friend himself, as the green lance had pierced through his chest, leaving a gapping visible whole in him. Spitting up some blood the man sank to his knees. "I…am a monster." He cried as tears began to fill his eyes. "I'm…sorry senora Nel. I wanted…to…be sure… we were righugghhh." The man collapsed on the ground, his blood pooling around his body. _'A-abuleo…would you be proud of me? For standing…by my beliefs? For…trying…to be half the man you are?'_

Feeling his extremities less and less, he closed his eyes, welcoming the darkness that wiped his conscience over the silence of his questions that haunted his soul.

(Elsewhere: Uryu)

Firing his reishi bow, Ginrei Kojaku, the lone Quincy watched as his arrow pierced the head of a bipedal rhino hollow, silencing its roar and returning peace to the corridor he had been heading down. "Another life spent for nothing." Uryu muttered dispassionately, as he pushed his glasses up with one hand while dispelling his bow with his Sanrei-gloved arm.

Hearing the sounds of conflict going on around him, the high school student looked straight ahead and ran forward. He ran straight for a few minutes, encountering no one as the sounds of battle grew fainter and fainter. As he kept his eyes open, he started to hear the noise of footsteps coming from the distance.

Sliding to a stop, he pulled out his bow and stood ready to attack.

Except what appeared on the other side of the hallway was not another Hollow or Arrancar, but a Shinigami with flaming red hair and tattoos. "Wait. I know you." He whispered more to himself than the man.

The man looked back at the blue haired kid as he relaxed his stance, whip-sword lowering back down to his side. "Hey-you're that kid from the town." Bringing his arm back down, Renji broke eye contact and looked behind him. "I thought you were with the twelfth division."

"I broke away from that genocidal monster as quick as I could." The Quincy replied hatefully, his scowl telling volumes of how he wanted to reduce the twelfth's captain to ash. "Besides, I have a more important job." He then turned to his left where a door was, "If you've come from that way, then I have to go this way into unexplored territory."

"Why's that exactly?" he asked as he followed behind the archer.

"This is why." Uryu muttered as the pair entered into a large laboratory. Machines and computers beeped as they processed the raw data held inside the consoles, while pockets of bubbles floated up the test tubes that lined the area.

Walking straight ahead, Uryu left the gaping Shinigami at the entranceway, while he went over to the easy chair planted into the ground in front of a large computer. Quickly tapping a few buttons on the keyboard, the screen began to change just a bit to a home page of some sorts.

Seeing the Quincy messing with the computers, Renji called out to him. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?"

Uryu didn't bother turning around, too focused on his task. "I'm hacking into their network so that we can get detailed schematics of the area and transmit them to all Shinigami in the area and to my great-uncle watching over us."

"You mean Urahara? But I thought we were cut off from the outside world."

The blue haired boy quickly typed in another small line of characters and clicked another folder open before speaking. "We can't communicate with them using the radio features, but he can still monitor our situation." He then paused and looked back. "That means that we can still send raw data back and forth to each other if we have the technology available, which we do." The man then looked back at the screen and pounded the spot on the table right beside him. "Give me your communication device. I've almost located the fortresses details."

Doing as he was told, the red head pulled it out of his pocket and placed it on the table. "Now what?" he asked the student that pulled out a wire and attached it to a port before bringing the wire to the coms device.

"Now you can make yourself useful by keeping watch so that I can work in peace." He all but ordered, as he returned his attention to the keyboard.

"Fuck you." Renji swore, as he looked away from the kid back to the door, keeping an eye out more for his sake then the cocky S.O.B.

The young man ignored him as he opened up another fold. Double clicking on a potential subfolder, the hacker smiled when he found his target. "Perfect."

Moving his cursor over, he clicked it and a pop up requesting a password appeared. "Knew it wouldn't be this easy." He mused as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a thumb drive. "Thank-you uncle." He offered as he placed the specially designed viral tool into the port beside the communication wire.

Typing in a few command, he brought up the potential users and created a new profile, as he did this he used a separate tool and pierced the firewall through the inside to gain administrative command. Typing in the password of his virus into the space previously asking for a password, he hit the enter key while the computer, ran a small loading before cheerfully showing a 'password accepted.'

Minimizing most of the screens, he opened up the schematics folder and clicked it. A large page opened up on the right hand of the screen showing a three dimensional image with a list of commands along the side. Hitting his finger against the arrow key, Uryu saw that different parts of the fortress city were highlighted per command. Closing the image, he opened up the accessories page, clicked the 'unknown device', and began to transfer the files into the Shinigami communicator, so that they could be shared to the others.

A large loading bar appeared on the screen due to the massive folder size, but it wouldn't matter since the hard part was over with. Getting up out of his chair, the bluenette walked over in the direction of the door and drew his bow using the Sanrei glove he'd been training with.

"Are you done?" Renji asked as he glanced back at the archer, barely a few feet away.

Uryu looked back over his shoulder at the marginally filled bar. "Close enough, but we can't have that computer be destroyed in the meantime." He pushed up his glasses, "It has to be protected at all costs."

"Alright then." Renji replied as he looked back towards the door.

The two of them remained like that for several minutes neither bothering to make conversation with each other, but both occasionally glancing back, silently cursing the machine to hurry it up. After about ten tense minutes, the two were relieved that it was almost finished, just another two percent left.

Looking back over his shoulders, Uryu lowered his bow as he saw another percent fill up. His sense of relief was short lived when, a face appeared on the screen, it was a man with pink hair, glasses and light colored skin. His golden eyes were taking bother of their forms in, before a white glove appeared and adjusted his glances. "Ah! What have we here, two little rascals messing with very sensitive equipment?" The man wagged his index finger tauntingly. "For shame! And what was it you were downloading, hmm?" The man's image glanced down to the bottom right hand corner. "The groundwork of our buildings? Ah, no, no. That is the data for adults to use, little kids like you have no business with it."

The man made a few swift motions on his unseen device and to the team's horror; the download began to cancel itself out. While Renji was left gaping, Uryu ran forward to the desk as quickly as he could and ripped out the Shinigami communication device from the computer.

Processing what happened, Renji ran over and grabbed Uryu by the collar of his shirt. "What the hell Quincy!? We needed that data! Why didn't use your hacking skills to try and get it!?

Uryu shoved the loud mouth off him before holding up the communication device between them. "This is more important. It was connected to the mainframe of the computer, which means that he could have hacked into it and gotten information on not only our forces, but on OUR locations. I'd rather wander aimlessly for hours then have to worry about every Hollow and Arrancar in this place hounding me."

The giant face of the anti-hacker smiled, glad to see that there was someone with common internet sense. "You should listen to your hacker friend little troglodyte. It would have been nothing for me to have broken into your cheaply made gadgetry and turn the tides of things; such is the power of invisible warfare." The man's smile soon fell away as a coldness settled on his features. "However, though you protected your comrades, there is one you should know."

"And what's that?" Renji asked the man's image.

The unknown individual said nothing, before he disappeared from the screen. Just as it happened the sound of an electronic door sliding open rang in the ears of both of them. Turning around, they saw the man walk in. "I've found you and your communicator." The man finished what he was saying as he pressed the off switch to a small tablet in his hand.

"Who are you exactly?" Uryu asked as he turned around, bow springing to life.

The man let out a small 'ah' as he began to take off his gloves, one at a time, revealing some dark marks on his hand. Raising his right hand to about chest height, he curved his hand, making his thumb touch his middle finger, revealing a bunch of black marks in the shape of an 'O'. Bringing his left hand beside it, he dropped all of fingers save his middle one, which remained standing up, a thin black line painted across the digit until about the nail. "I am the diez Espada, Szayelaporro Granz. A pleasure to flip you the fuck off worms."

Pulling the spiritual string back, Uryu launched a volley of arrows at the Espada who used his Sonido to move out of the way. Renji though followed up by swiping with Zabimaru attempting to cleave the man in half.

Seeing it coming the pink haired man canceled his Sonido and dropped to the ground, avoiding the strike. The man smirked before snapping his fingers. On cue to turret shot out of the walls over the door, and began orienting themselves at the targets. "Fire at will." Granz commanded

The spiritual bullets began to fire as the two pests quickly sought cover behind the giant computer mainframe. Pushing his glasses up the Espada sighed to himself. "Damn, I am loathe to lose such a good piece of equipment, but…" the man raised his hand a cero formulated, "No cover for you."

The ball of energy flew forward and exploded the computer. One of the two, the red haired troglodyte was thrown backwards, his back colliding against the hard floor. Szayel pointed his finger at the man to direct the turrets, but before they could open fire, two volleys of arrow surged forward behind the smoky remains of the mainframe, striking the CPU of the guns, shutting them down.

Frowning in displeasure, the Arrancar glared at the two rodents. "You keep leading to the destruction of my equipment, if that was you seek then allow me to aid you." The man pulled out the tablet with his free hand and with a few quick button presses a loud voice over the PA blared.

"Self-destruct sequence engaged. T-minus: 10 seconds to laboratory destruction."

Immediately, Uryu ran and picked up the body of Abarai and was about to turn head for the exit when he noticed a glass barrier in-between the Espada and them, no doubt blast proof. The offending monster gave a playful 'bye-bye' as he watched the events unfold.

Thinking fast, Uryu supercharged his arrows and jumped high into the air with Renji, aiming downward, he released one arrow that blasted a crater into the ground, before turning mid-air and releasing the second one, which shot through the roof, dislodging some of the building material around the hole.

From the far right hand side, the sound of explosions echoed as a roaring of a distant fireball came closer and closer. Falling back down into the hole he created, he brought Renji's body close as a shield as he closed his tightly as the debris from overhead painfully fell down on top of them, burying them under its thick material.

The pink haired Arrancar watched with interest the young lad's idea as the bright light of the explosion engulfed all the man could see through the blast, his entire side of the building rumbling as it rocked against the implanted bombs.

Once all the fire had died down and only the smoke created from the after effect remain, the man lifted his heel up and tapped it back down, causing the glass to sink back into the floor. Covering his mouth, he proceeded forward, shoes digging into the sand revealed beneath the floor, sword in his opposite hand. He kept walking until he came to the crater that the young man made to create his barrier.

The super-heated metal glistened underneath the giant strobe-light dome above them. He watched it carefully for any sign of movement. His patience was rewarded as a few seconds later, two large piles fell forward in front of him, revealing a heavily bleeding Quincy and unconscious Shinigami. The blue haired boy was wheezing to himself as his gloved hand gripped the Shinigami's body close, his other arm was obviously dislocated, while his hair was disheveled and glasses snapped in half.

Still, despite having his back slumped against the wall, he maintained his heated glare. "Quite gutsy, niño. You'd certainly make an interesting scientist." The man complimented as he popped another piece of chocolate into his mouth.

"I hate scientists." He replied back, his eyes slowly shifting away from the Arrancar and to another. "Especially him."

Looking back over his shoulder, the Espada could only quirk an eyebrow in fascination at the strange creature that was strolling leisurely towards him. It seemed to be a man, but he had quite a bit of black and purple make-up on his face. He had a strange headdress and Haori symbolizing his status as a Taichō. A wide yellow grin was on his face as he walked forward, flanked by a rather demure girl. "My, my, that was quite a lightshow. It got even me curious to see what all the fuss was about." He tilted his head to the side, finding some fascination with the situation. "And low and behold, a Quincy, a Shinigami and a Hollow fighting it out are what I come to find."

"Y usted es?"

"None of your concern." He replied callously, before turning away and addressing the cowed woman. "Nemu remove those two from here at once, I want this specimen to be captured in serviceable condition."

"Understood sir." The android replied, before flash stepping over to them. She picked up the body of Abarai without problem, but when she moved to lift Uryu onto her shoulders, he held his hand out.

"No, thank-you. I have unfinished business." He replied as he concentrated his spiritual energy around his body. The white reishi particles radiated off his persons in a strong powerful aura of light. It seemed down to his arm and with a sickening crack, put the limb back into place with nary a cry of pain from the young man's mouth.

"How did you do that?" The Hollow Scientist asked curiously, his mind unable to comprehend how the man was able to continue fighting despite nearly being crushed and then blasted to death.

"That's the ransotengai technique! I've yet to see a living Quincy use it before now, today marks a great day in the age of discovery." Kurotsuchi muttered interest piqued.

Cracking the bones in his wrist, Uryu brought his hand around to the edge of his glove, his finger clinging unto the spikes at the end. "On the honor of the Quincy." He stated calmly and proudly, "I sentence you to death."

He then pulled down on the spike breaking it off and destroying the entire glove while huge amounts of reishi poured off his body. His white outfit was engulfed in the light and transfigured. An armed plate appeared on his left arm, while his uniform morphed into a traditional Japanese bowman, an emblem of a blue cross on its guard. His hands were gloved and a brilliant white wing appeared over one shoulder.

The bespectacled man glared hatefully as energy gathered in his hands. He stared the men down, silently thankful that they were standing in a line. He gave just a brief glance at the woman that had been knocked on her back because of the force of Sanrei gloves release, she would want justice he was sure. Pulling his bow back as quickly as he could, the man drew his arrow and pointed it straight ahead…

And released.

The two scientists didn't have a chance to react before being punched completely through their stomachs by the Quincies attack. Granz chocked on his breath, before glancing down and falling over dead, Mayuri fared little better as he fell on his back, twitching for a moment before finally going limp.

Uryu looked on momentarily and only let out a sigh of relief once both men's bodies disappeared into the ether. "The Honor of the Quincy…has been restored. Lives lost, paid in full." He breathed out with some level of peace to what he did.

Turning over to the woman, he could see the shock induced neutrality on her face. She was just numb. Although, considering she saw her creator and father figure just die in front of her, Uryu figured it was to be expected. She sat there on the ground for a few more seconds, before speaking, her tone shaky and forced. "You…killed him." She stated accusingly.

"Yes…"

"You…killed him."

"…yeah…" he repeated much less satisfied with himself.

"Why?"

"He deserved it."

Her next question both stabbed him and upset him, though he kept his cool. "Says who?"

"The people he killed." He replied turning away, unable to stand looking at her sad face.

"I…see." Nemu replied eyes diverted at the ground. "You attacked a captain with intent of premeditated murder…there will be repercussions."

The man spared a small glance back, shaking his head in disagreement. "No. By the time that happens, this power of mine will fade and I will lose my Quincy powers. I'll just be a normal human; you Shinigami can't attack us, it's your 'duty' to protect us."

The android paused and considered the scenario he proposed before saying. "What if I kill you for what you did?" she asked hollowly.

The man sat back down on the sand. He was just going to bide his time and wait for this whole war to finally end. "Then you have the right to. I won't stop you." Uryu said, closing his eyes to meditate and reflect upon his 'victory'.

"I see." she muttered contemplatively, unable to decide which outcome would be for the best. "…I'll think about it."

(Soifon and Cirucci)

Walking through the corridors, the two women plunged further into the depths of the building. The captive Arrancar was barely half a step behind the diminutive captain, although the two spoke very little to each other, Cirucci could see that something was wrong with her traveling companion.

The captain's breathing was shallow and her eyes were being forcibly closed, as if she was trying to fight off something she couldn't see; on rare occasion, the Arrancar felt the already weak kido binding around her hands significantly weaken to the point of dissipation as the captain nearly stumbled in her step.

"Are you alright?" the fraccion finally spoke up, causing the woman to stop her forced march.

Clenching her fists tightly, Soifon bit down on the inside of her cheek forcing the nauseating sensation back down, as she concentrated on anything but her stomach. "I'm…fine." She gritted out, as the feeling of acidy bile slithered back down her throat. Giving a light tug on the kido rope, she placed her foot forward as her world began to spin. "Let's…goooo…urgggghhh."

Cirucci watched in surprise as the captain barely took a step forward, before stumbling over her own feet. Her entire front splattering against the ground as her breathing became even more erratic. The opera-slasher kneeled down beside to give her a hand, but instead recoiled them back into her chest, as the blue haired girl coughed and gagged, before throwing up some light green mucousy substance.

When the stream of liquid finished leaving her mouth, the teary-eyed captain placed one hand against her stomach as she tried to catch her breath. She laid there on hand and knees for a few precious seconds trying to catch her breath, before spitting out some stringy saliva.

"Are you sick or something?" Shaolin heard the voice behind her ask with surprising amount of concern. Wiping her mouth with her fist before wiping it against the legging of her clothing, she got back up to a vertical base.

"It's part of my condition." She answered as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small bottle that rattled with her touch. "I can't believe I have to take another dose already. I was sure it'd last for the full time…" the woman closed her eyes pensively, "or maybe it did…damn, that's not good." She muttered to herself.

Still confused to what she was on about, Sanderwhicc repeated her earlier question. "What kind of condition can bring even a captain to her knees? Is…is it contagious?"

"I highly doubt pregnancy is a viral disease." She replied, as she knocked back two pills down her throat.

"Graviditas?" Cirucci piped with surprise, giving the captain a once over her form. "You are fighting…even though you have a child?" The purple haired girl shifted uncomfortably, not sure what to make of that tidbit. It was almost scary to know that she was out here fighting because of them. "That man…" she changed the topic a bit to get her away from those kinds of thoughts. "Ichigo-sama, he isn't a Shinigami like you."

She paused when the woman nodded, her insistence that she was listening. "He is a Hollow too. So…why? Why have the child, captain? You know in Soul  
Society it will be persecuted for being different, no lo sabes?"

As her voice trailed off, Shaolin looked at the confused woman momentarily, before sighing and looking on the path ahead. "It doesn't matter." She replied simply. "I knew from the onset, before this whole Hollow heritage even came to light, that the moment that I said 'I loved him' that things would be difficult between us. I was right and knew it was only going to get harder, most of what you said are just minor problems on top of the grand scheme of things. But…despite all of that I remain true: I don't give a damn if he was a captain-class Shinigami, bestial Hollow, powerless Human, embittered Quincy, or some mix in between, I fell in love with him because of WHO he is, not WHAT he is."

The woman paused as she lowered her head, her thoughts resting on the life inside her briefly, imagining the life that would await them in Soul Society. "As for our child…" she replied quietly. "Yes, I'm afraid to say, you are correct, Cirucci. He or she will experience some hard moments for being different, but Ichigo, Senna and I will be there to help them, and I will personally ensure that anyone, be they Sotaichō or recruit, that lays a hand on them will be put in a body bag, as simple as that."

Cirucci tilted her just a bit, wondering, curious about Ichigo and this woman, both of whom seemed to look beyond her and her allies' Hollow exterior. "No lo entiendo. You come to our world, beat us up, spare our lives, and yet not only do you harbor no ill-will to our kind, but have attempted to understand us. Why?"

"I won't lie to you, more than likely there are some Shinigami out here today who are simply killing your kind not because it's their duty, but because it fun or you're different. But you shouldn't paint us all with the same brush. As Ichigo and I already told you: We're here to stop Aizen, that's it."

The woman shook her head, unable to wrap her head around these…people. They were nothing like the Shinigami she had met before, it was mindboggling. "No, no, eso no es lo que quiero decir. You Shinigami have fought us since time immemorable, why, even if it's just you two, why do you care to leave us alone when you are done here?"

The woman received an evasive glance; no doubt the woman was trying to find out the angle for her line of questioning. After a few moments, she turned back around, hand held on the rope of reiatsu that bound the fraccion. "Because there is good and bad in everyone." She replied solemnly on the subject. "I've fought alongside some sick people and I've also fought others against my better judgment. I'm just doing what I think it right."

She then glanced over her shoulder, "You being a Hollow has nothing to do with it. I will only kill you if my duty demands and that would only happen if you preyed upon the souls of humans…which I highly doubt you will." She then turned forward and resumed walking.

"I see." She replied quietly, as she moved her feet as the rope began to lose slack, _'She walks to peace with him.'_ She thought to herself, earlier thoughts of killing the woman alongside those two stalkers silenced.

The pair continued on their path, the girl in back providing more detailed helpful instruction to the silent leading woman until the pair came to a door. Pushing it open the two of them had to shield their eyes as bright sunlight rained down from the sky. For Cirucci it was welcoming, for Soifon not so much.

"How is it day time already?" Soifon asked with audible fear, turning around she saw the Arrancar facing upward to the sun, contented with its light. "Hey! Cirucci, why is the sun up? It was nighttime when we got here, how could time pass so quickly!?"

Opening her eyes, the ballroom dancer looked back at her partner momentarily confused. After thinking over what she said, her eureka moment came to her. "Ah, you are referring to the sands outside."

"Sands outside?" the puzzled woman parroted.

"Si." The woman replied, as she kneeled down and started drawing a circle in the sand. She scribbled for a bit until two circles were present for the captain to see, a smaller one inside a bigger one. "The outer most circle is the outside of las noches, it is eternally dark out there, always night time." She then dipped her finger into the sand between the two rings. "We are in the inner garden, near the 'almost' Espada, the sky you see overhead is actually a dome designed to mimic the sky of the human world so that we can be used to the shining light of the sun."

"Inner garden? 'Almost Espada'? What does that mean?"

Getting off the ground, the Arrancar continued her explanation. "The sand that we are standing on is the inner garden, called so because it houses the homes of us Arrancar." She stomped on the dirt below her shoe. "The safety mechanism have been set into place already as we anticipated your arrival, so our homes would remain safe."

"Rather…ingenious." Soifon muttered, rather impressed by the architectural skill and ingenuity needed to create such as complex safety device.

Cirucci smiled at her sincere complement. "Gracias, senora Soifon." Her smile then disappeared behind her usual aloof exterior. "For your second question, the almost Espada is a nickname for a powerful Gillian class hollow that is almost good enough to have reached the rank of Espada 10."

"But…it's not, right?"

"No, but it grows more powerful with each thing it consumes. It has the power to grow strong enough to surpass all things….given time."

That was an ominous statement if Shaolin ever heard one, a monster that could theoretically be Aizen 2.0 was not something she was interested in meeting. "I understand." She then looked back over the expansive dunes in front of her trying to sense for spiritual energy to know what exactly to avoid.

She didn't even get to scan for a full second, before her concentration was utterly shattered, by what she sensed. Her body went rigid and her mouth parted open. "N-no way…it's you…but…" she closed her lips, as she knew who it was, but…something was wrong. Turning back to Cirucci, she began to dissipate the rope binding the Arrancar's hands, much to her surprise. "You are no longer under any obligation to guide me. You are free to go." The captain said quickly.

For her part, the woman didn't know what suddenly came over the captain. She was suddenly looking like her thoughts were going a mile a minute as if she was trying to piece together a puzzle under the gun. "Why?"

Scanning the horizon with her eyes, she soon locked on to the spot where she was. "Because, I found my sister."

The woman immediately disappeared after saying her piece, leaving the fraccion in a stunned silence, left looking over the sea of sand she had warped herself into. "Famila, eh?" the pig-tailed girl annunciated the word, that seemed to drive the strange captain's every action. Tilting her head back to the fair sky above, she thought to herself quietly, before turning back around, hand on her whip sword. "Alright, come out of the shadows." She shouted as she walked away from the hot sands and into the cool shaded building.

From the four-way intersection just a few yards down, two women appeared from the left and right branches, having pursued them for quite some time. The one on the left had short blonde hair and green eyes, her skin was slightly tan and covered up by her white uniform. She had bracers on her arms similar to the chocker around her neck, parts of her hollow mask was on her right eye, her expression, unlike her partner, was serious and guarded.

In contrast the woman on the right had black hair done up into two pig-tails extending from either side of her head, her skin was paler then her companion almost as white as Cirucci, her outfit though was much more revealing showing off her stomach, arms and legs. Her face was contorted into a hateful sneer as she stared down the freed fraccion.

Gripping her whip, the woman tipped her head towards one. "Menoly Mallia." She said as the blond woman raised her fist up, pulling down on her glove, as the thunder witch looked to the other woman. "Loly Aivirrne." She greeted.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Loly shrieked, pointing an accusing finger at Cirucci. "Getting captured by a Shinigami is one thing, but aiding a Shinigami in infiltrating lord Aizen's compound, have you lost your damn mind!?"

"No, Loly. I was following orders." She replied curtly.

Loly was about to yell again to call her out, when Menoly grasped her friend's shoulders to calm her down. When the black haired girl bit her tongue, Menoly turned her attention to the traitor. "When you say follow orders, do you mean Sado-sama ordered you to perform this task?" she asked obviously concerned about the man's serious lack in judgment.

Cirucci's eyes slowly migrated from one end to the other as she considered her words. "No, I must amend my words." She replied as she straightened her back up, "The reigns of the Septimo Espada has changed. I was following the orders of the new seventh Espada."

The two Arrancar girls exchanged a confused look with one another, before speaking the words that were on their mind. "That doesn't make sense. The rules for a new Espada clearly states that a hollow must either kill or force an Espada to admit defeat."

"Si, correcto." She affirmed as she widened her stance and cracked her whip loudly, obviously challenging them. "Even though he is unaware of it himself, he is my Espada now, much like mi compañero fraccion Yasotora-san before him. My body and soul belong to him and I must follow him everywhere and fulfill his every orders faithfully as my duty until my death, such is the honor and privilege of a fraccion."

Raising the end of the whip up, she smiled darkly; her pride as a soldier shining through. "Rip off, Golondrina."

(Center Building: Byakuya)

Walking down the tenth flight of stairs, Byakuya Kuchiki didn't spare a backwards glance at all the Hollows that were being eviscerated behind, their blood thrown against the walls, their bodies ripped in half by the crimson sakura petals, not even their wails of pain and terror caused him to raise a brow. He merely kept marching forward toward his objective, the cold corpse of his sister still cradled in his arms.

The man's darkened eyes looked at the now peaceful face of Rukia, his heart. His expression held neither pity nor sorrow, he just felt…empty. Nothing at all, hollow. He felt unworthy, like a failure, and every time he saw one of the creatures, his anger would return subsiding only once the man personally stomped on their back, pinning them down before the killer swarm of his Shikai engulfed and put them out of existence, out of HIS misery.

Glancing back up, his eyes narrowed as he reached the bottom of the tenth floor, seeing his target a Hollow that was showing his back to him, though he could tell he knew of his presence. Walking to the side of the stairwell, he placed his sister's one-armed body against the wall carefully, before going over and meeting the Espada that was providing the obstacles the other Shinigami were inhibited by, HE had been inhibited by when he tried to reach Rukia. "So you are the master of the Calaveras." He asked emotionlessly.

The man in question was a little shorter than Byakuya, he turned his head to look back at him, entire face obscured by the mask of a dead cow. His hands were on his hips, pressing against his white uniform. Slowly the gold-eyed man turned back around, facing the large empty space in front of them. "Do you know where you are Captain?" the man asked somberly, trading question for question.

When no response was given, the man took a few steps forward, lifting his hands above his head, spread wide out as if to reach to some invisible object in the sky. "This is the site for my dream." He leaned his body to one side. "The Bad Joke comedy club." He continued emphasizing each word with a pounding of his hand, going from left to right as if showing the word on a billboard. "I wanted to make this place a little slice of heaven on earth." He spoke, his voice filled with tamed pride. "Shinigami, Hollow, Human, it didn't matter. The door would always be open; a place where you could come here and forget you troubles for a little bit."

The ambitious Arrancar took a few more steps forward and pointed straight ahead. "There. Right there is where the stage would be. Every day, once the place opened for business, the Primera Espada would climb up on stage and thank everyone for coming out that night and bid them to enjoy their time here." The man then brought both his hands together and then pulled them apart. "Next, the curtain would rise, and me and Barragan would do a little comedy routine." The man chuckled to himself, as he looked back at the stoic captain. "The old man would play the straight man to my wild crazy persona, ahaha."

He then turned back to the invisible stage ahead where this production would take place. "Once we killed the crowd with laughter, next all the beautiful Arrancar showgirls would come out from behind the stage and provide a spectacle of dance. They would move their bodies while Barragan's fraccion played live instruments right over there." He gestured just a little off to the side of the stage. "Their quite good. Redman can hit the high notes and Ggio can play any tempo song on the drums and with Findorr playing smooth on bass, ahhh, it will be a grand show."

The man's head then swiveled to the left. "As for me, once I've done my part in things I'd go over there." He raised his arm up pointing towards the wall. "I'd go over to the bar and sit next to Sosuke Aizen," he paused when he saw the captain scowl at the mention of that man's name, but he made no move of aggression. "I'd sling my arm over his shoulder and pull him in tight and tell him: 'Thank-you. Thank-you for making all this possible. You truly are our star that shines brightly over the eternal night-filled deserts of Hueco Mundo.'"

The masked man's arm slowly lowered as a fleeting look ran across his eyes, as if being awoken from a dream he wished to return to. "But… (sigh)…but it's just a dream isn't it?" he asked the captain, turning towards him, finally giving some level of regard. "After all, some of the girls, I won't be able to hire as dancers now. Some of the talents I had lined up, can't be given a gig now. Some of the patrons are going to be drinking to forget their sorrows away; instead of, celebrating together with their friends; and, some of my own personal friends; won't be there for the grand opening after this war is over."

Byakuya brought up the petals of Senbonzakura up defensively as the Arrancar turned to face him, hand drawing his sword from its sheath. "I am Rudbornn Chelute, the infinite soldier, one of the three conquerors of Hueco Mundo, eighth of the ten Espada and commander of the forces in this world. I swear on my Zanpaktou, the blade created from my soul, that, so long as I stand, this castle will not fall!"

Rudbornn raised his hand over his head, "Calaveras!" he commanded as a small legion of about twenty masked men in white appeared in between the two of them, standing at attention. Kuchiki looked at all the identical looking soldiers, trying to discern any weakness through their frankly intimidating loyalty.

The opposing commander noticed this and spoke. "I see that you command those petal to fight at your side." The man pointed his sword forward, while his men took a half a step back, hands all flying to their sheathed swords. "Tell me: Who do you think has the grander army?"

His hatred for the abominations manifesting on his face, the man coldly bit back. "You and your kind are sick jokes and I can't wait to end this foolish war once and for all, in her name."

The captain then shot his hand forward, commanding some of the petals to fly forward, while the rest came around his hilt of his sword and returned back into a sword state. In kind, Rudbornn ran forward leading the charge of his men into the onslaught of pink.

Utilizing Sonido, the hollow commander appeared in front of the captain sword drawn. Both blades collided into each other, pressing tight trying to cut into the enemy behind the sword.

Using his telepathic connection with Senbonzakura, the man commanded some nearby petals not engaging the Calaveras to strike Rudbornn.

Seeing the man's eyes divert away from his face, Chelute looked in the same direction and spotted a fast approaching spear shaped petal pattern. Removing one hand, he fire off a bala and intercepted the attack, but not without cost.

With only half his strength committed to the sword in front of him, the man quickly found himself shoved back and on the defensive as the captain renewed his assault on the distracted Espada. Rudbornn was forced to continuously jerk his sword in a deflective parry before having to retreat further half a step to avoid an offending sakura petal that tried to sneak attack him.

This continued for a few more minutes until the captain surprised him by flash stepping a distance away from him, giving Rudbornn a chance to breath. However, he would not be able to rest in peace. "All of your soldier are gone." The captain informed the man, who now took a moment to look around the battlefield to see that indeed all of his Calaveras were dead, while the murderous sakura petal returned to their master's side. "What an incompetent commander you are." The man taunted.

"At least I don't hide _behind_ my men the whole time and actually fight alongside them." He retorted about his plain to see cowardly tactics of hiding behind others to save himself. Raising his blade high above his head, the light from the ceiling twinkled brightly against his sword "Grow, Arbol."

Bracing himself, Byakuya was prepared for another monstrous transformation, but was instead surprised to see what happened. The light reflecting off the blade shot behind the Arrancar, creating the outline of a formulating tree that held branches but no fruits or leaves, it looked dead.

The man himself also didn't change in his appearance at all, he stayed just the same. _'This one seems almost more Shinigami in his release then the others.'_ The man thought to himself as the tree began to grow some strange skull shaped fruit, but the captain paid it no mind as he continued to look at the enemy commander. _'What are you Chelute?'_

Soon, behind the Arrancar, more Calaveras dropped down from the tree, hunched over awaiting orders, which the cow masked hollow was all too eager to give. "¡Atención! Ojos hacia adelante, la espalda recta, asumir la postura asalto, y mantener!"

The Calaveras did as he ordered quickly; joining back into their ranks behind their leader, while the commander brought his sword back to his side, ready to re-engage. "An incompetent commander I may be…" the Arrancar replied, as his men took a menacing step forward, blades drawn at their side. "But the loyalty of my men spits in the face of death and puts all of its emissaries into the ground!"

Eyeing the tree carefully and the fruits that had given birth to those soldiers he knew what had to be done to end this endless army of soldiers. "If that is the case then I'll send you, their commander, to hell first." The man then dropped his sword into the ground, which then faded from view, replaced a moment latter by pillars of blades that bursted in a vibrant display of pink blades.

"Como uno! Cargue!" Rudbornn roared as he ran forward backed by his men that thundered their battle cries in turn.

Bringing the uncountable petals around his body, Kuchiki swirled them around his body in a protective sphere, intercepting and turning away every sword strike made against his body, slowly growing wider in radius. The cold commander watched through the brief respites of the haze at the enemy Arrancar charging, renewing his assault against the shield wall, inspiring his men to fight harder. The man made one more desperate swing, his blade hitting against the shield allowing the golden eyed Arrancar to see into the expressionless face of Byakuya. "Gokei Senbonzakura." The man spat into the face of the Hollow.

On command the defensive shield suddenly burst outward, engulfing the entire room in the bladed haze of the sword petal, piercing and cutting everything not named Byakuya or Rukia. The sixth captain watched as Rudbornn was thrown high into the air slashed into from all sides while his men fared no better, either being cut in half, losing limbs or being crushed against the walls from the petals swelling of pressure.

As the pink blizzard calmed back down and returned to Byakuya's side, Chelute slammed back against ground, thrown unto the spot where his dream like stage would be.

It was time to end this.

From where he was, Rudbornn let out a pained gasp as he felt his body screaming out in pain from the attack that he been struck with at pointblank full force. Still, despite feeling woozy, he could hear the sound of footsteps coming from behind him. On instinct, he tried to move his body to no avail, the man let out a small wheeze between his lips. _'Looks like I gotta bow out.' _He thought to himself, as he closed his eyes, the images of Sosuke and Barragan smiling at him clear in his mind, calling him to tell them 'one more joke' or explain how he was going to get the female Arrancar to dance for his show. The man chuckled despite his pain.

"Así que este es el final? Qué gracioso." He said listlessly, tiredly. "Sosuke ... mi amigo. Sé que no me escuchas y me siento estúpido por decir esto sabiendo que no puede pero ... pero ... Te amo."

The man's body started to wrack from both the shudder of pain and feeling of guilt of letting them down. Tears were starting to fall from his eyes as he laid his head back down against the floor. "Tú eres mi amigo. Usted es nuestra estrella de la esperanza Sosuke." The man forced his arm to reach upward towards the ceiling light, his vision growing hazy. "Por favor, por favor, no vuelvas a caer desde el cielo ... sin ti ... nosotros ... cada uno de nosotros que nunca se ha dado una oportunidad ... estaríamos eternamente perdidos sin ti."

The echoing of footsteps stopping behind him brought the Arrancar's attention to the person behind him, looking over him, staring remorselessly at him. Rudbornn closed his eyes a smile gracing his face, to hide away the pain his heart. "Sorry…forgot you were there."

Though he didn't show it, Byakuya did see beyond this man, even if he didn't know what he said, his gestures were more than enough. "Any final words?" he replied in his ever even tone.

The man's body rocked slightly as a laugh escaped him, despite it hurting him even more. "Yeah, this…is all some bad joke." He replied to him as he saw the captain's sword raised directly over his head. "And I'm the punch line."

Those famous last words rang in the noblemen's ears as he thrusted the sword into the now dead Arrancar's skull before pulling it out a second later. He flicked the blade in the air, to remove some of the blood from the weapon as he turned away and walked back to his sister, the anger that had burned inside him, gone, replaced with a hollow sense of victory.

Walking towards the stair, the man kneeled down and leaned his back against the side of the stairs, beside his sister's body. He closed his eyes tiredly having been pushed to the brinks of his physical limits and sanity during this hellish excursion. "Rukia." The man muttered as he cast a longing gaze at his silent sister. "It's over now. We've won."

The man dropped his Zanpaktou on the ground, the blade dully clattering against the floor as he clasped her cold hand, tears falling from his eyes unbiddeningly. "I…I just wish you were here to see it." The man's body shook as powerful sobs came to him, more and more, unending and more powerful than the last. "I wish…I wasn't here alone without you."

The man cries echoed throughout the bottom of the tenth floor, yet no one but he would know that deep down, Byakuya Kuchiki was a human being that loved another, ever shall he remain as the cool sixth commander of the Seireitei Shinigami forces.

Rukia and Hisana would be disappointed.

* * *

(End fic banter)

Narrator voice: Previously in the last novella:

_Blackout2010: Not cool._

_Senna: Oh..c-come on, who take this stuff seriously._

_Blackout2010:... (pulls out a piece of paper and starts writing) I do._

_Senna: W-what's that?_

_Blackout2010: BUT UNFORTUNATELY FOR SENNA SHE WAS TOO SLOW AS THE TENTACLE GRABBED A HOLD OF HER AND RIPPED HER CLOTHES OFF DESPERATE IN HAVING IT'S WAY WITH HER BODY!_

_Senna: WHAT!?_

_D. Mirokumaru: YEEEEEESSSS!_

Narrator voice: And now the conclusion:

Day 1 of Senna's tentacle hell: Author mood: Furious

Day 37 of Senna's torture: Author mood: Pissed

Day 89 of Senna's labor: Author mood: Angry

Day 159 of Senna's trial: Author mood: Annoyed

Day 213 of Senna's experience: Author mood: Neutral

Day 299 of Senna's pleasure: Author mood: Calm

Day 364 of Senna's paradise: Author mood: Contented

Day 365:

"So how do you feel?" the author asked the previous two captives

Moving a strand of her now long hair from her face, Senna wheezed out "Not…cool."

Her hollow however looked like it was just given a years worth of time off with pay "It was MAGICAL! My only regrets were that you didn't sentence me to do such a thing Lord Ichigo or that you didn't condemn any other women to partake the experience with me, like Isane-chan, Unohana-san, Shaolin-sempai." She gave a saucy smile as she squeezed Senna "Well except my little servant girl."

The man nods his head "I admit I might have been a little heavy handed but I honestly think it was for the best." Put a hand on her shoulder "Go take a shower and get cleaned up. We got a lot of work ahead of us."


End file.
